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Farwell Wilson House, 1894

Farwell Wilson House, 1894 image
Year
1894
Description

1335 Hill Street

Farwell Wilson House, 1894

Though the Farwell Wilson house was built in 1894 for a lumber dealer and his wife, Mrs. Wilson unfortunately was widowed shortly afterward. By 1914 the house had been sold to Professor Clarence Johnson and his wife Bessie. Johnson, who was Director of the Davis Engineering Company, lived here for well over fifty years.

We can get a feeling for the type of social activity participated in by upper class women from a 1911-1912 program of the Ann Arbor Equal Suffrage Club. The program lists the meeting of February 1 to be held at Mrs. Wilson's residence. It featured "Women, their Organizations and Why?" by Mrs. Field and "Great Leaders, Past and Present," by the President, Mrs. Plummer, with helpers. The club met, usually twice a month, both at members' homes scattered throughout the neighborhood (see 406 North State Street) and most often at the high school.

The house is a typical high style Queen Anne with a round corner tower topped by a conical roof and finial. Turned posts with brackets and unusual railings and foundation screening enhance both the two story front porch and the long porch on the east side. Alternating bands of fish-scale shingles and clapboard carry out the typical Queen Anne exterior decoration.

In 1970 neighboring Delta Unsilon fraternity purchased the house and currently uses it as an annex. The Ann Arbor Historic District Commission honored the fraternity in 1992 for the sensitive way in which it repaired and replaced the porches and exterior trim.

Rights Held By
Photos used to illustrate Historic Buildings, Ann Arbor, Michigan / by Marjorie Reade and Susan Wineberg.