1817 Decatur

This ell-wing Folk Victorian with Italianate influences was originally built as a Gulf Coast cottage in 1878 by William Craine in the middle of two lots.  John E. Riordan, a timekeeper and then a bookkeeper in the H. & T. C. shops, bought it in 1882 and lived there for a decade.  In 1892 he sold it to Gustave A. Herzog, a German immigrant and machinist, who lived at 1817 Decatur until about 1908, when he moved the 1-story house a few feet eastward and built a new 2-story house for himself on the corner lot at 1819 Decatur.  Either Riordan or Herzog expanded the original Craine cottage into an ell-wing house before 1896.  It had a prominent Italianate bay window in the front that was probably removed in the 1950's.  1817 Decatur, now on the next-to-corner lot, has been rental property since it was moved.   The two corner lots had the same owner until 2006. 

For additional historical details click here.