Five Buildings I Don't Know Anything About

The case of the Brainard residence brougth to my attention that I need to do something to address the buildings that I simply haven't been able to learn much about. Some of these are historic building for which my research has just been fruitless - in the past, I've refrained from posting about them, because I know you want good content, not just "This is an interesting building, but, um, I couldn't find anything about it in my various research sources." Others, I simply haven't had time to look into, and may deal with in depth in the future.


17206 Neff Road, Cleveland, Ohio

This large house appears to have been built in the middle third of the 19th century. I can't be much more sure about a date than that. It is part of Wildwood Park, which is part of Cleveland Lakfront State Park. I'm unclear as to whether it is owned by the city or state.

Given the size, it has the appearance of having been a tavern or inn, but other than proportions, I have no justification for this claim. A house was present on this site in 1858, belonging to one P. Banhard or P. Bankard, but I do not know for sure that this structure was the house in question.


3465 Silsby Road, Cleveland Heights, Ohio

This nicely proportioned Greek Revival style farmhouse sits at the corner of Taylor and Silsby. One might miss it while driving by, because it faces Silsby rather than Taylor. It retains the original sidelights and transom surrounding the front door.

Update (August 10, 2010): This was the Frederick Silsby residence, as noted below by Kara Hamley O'Donnell.


4321 East 71st Street, Cleveland, Ohio

This house shares similar proportions to the Brainard residence and to 4216 East 93rd Street. If I had to guess, I'd say it was built circa 1850.


5619 Harvard Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio

This brick house has had a storefront added to it, which is cropped out in this picture. The more shallow pitch of the roof make me think the date might be closer to 1840 than 1850, but it could be a bit later than that, too.


11715 Miles Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio.

Finally, this little house on Miles is surely worthy of more research. It's thought by some to be quite old - perhaps as early as 1830, though I'm not sure I want to be quite that optimistic. It will surely make for a good narrative at some future date.