A recent post detailed candidates for the oldest house still standing in Dayton. In this new article series, we’ll take a closer look at the histories of other interesting Dayton homes.
The house at 53 Green Street in the Oregon District was built in 1873 by William McHose as a wedding gift for his bride. McHose, one of several prominent Daytonians who settled in the Oregon neighborhood in the 19th century, was the founder of the McHose and Lyon company which manufactured ornamental iron.
The firm’s ironwork was used in many construction projects in Dayton as well as other cities across the Midwest, and much of the decorative metalwork and iron fencing you see in the Oregon District neighborhood today was made by McHose and Lyon. The company emblem was a lion head, and an adaptation of that design is today the symbol of the Oregon Historic District Society.
McHose would live in the house at 53 Green St. for 45 years. It is a Victorian structure with some beautiful details, as described in the neighborhood’s historic district nomination form:
“The two bay facade is broken right of center by a forward projection that sets off the left bay with its polygonal bay window and decorated gable. The semi-circular main entrance at the right bay has a smooth stone hood mold with keystone and decorated brackets … The second floor windows have plain segmental hood molds with decorative keystones and smooth stone sills, continuous for the paired windows over the front polygonal bay … The roof is a complex low truncated hip with elaborate cresting. Interior chimneys are located in the walls of the left west side front and rear of the wing.”
There’s a very early image of the home in the 1875 Combination Atlas Map of Montgomery County, Ohio.
And here’s the house as it looks today:
Thanks for helping educate us about Dayton’s history. It is long overdue as Dayton has so much to offer.
Keep up the great work.