816 Court Street
Architecture:
Style: Queen
Anne Style
Description: This is a two-story wood frame structure with wood
clapboard siding, wood shingles and detailing in the gables, and a cut stone
foundation. The patterned roof is
cross-gabled. Facing the street is a
gable-on-hip and a lower front gable framed by short returns with
brackets. Both gables exhibit elaborate vergeboard and finials.
The two side gables have detailed triangles in the peak that extend
slightly outward from the building. All
gables contain Palladian windows. There
is a large front wraparound porch with ionic columns. To the rear is a porch with turned wood posts
and a newly built square tower. A
two-story semi-hexagonal bay is on the east.
Other decorative elements include two stained glass windows and chimney
pots on the roof.
Significant
Period:
Construction Date: before 1873
Architect/Builder: Unknown
Context: Daniel
J. Guerin paid taxes on property valued at $600 in 1873, and lived there to at
least 1894. Born November
26, 1843,
he came to Michigan in 1854 from Tompkins County, New York with his parents. He lived and worked in Algonac, then St.
Clair where he married Isabella Smith August 19,
1867
at the home of Larued Smith, her father. Soon after they moved to Port
Huron. Their children were Arthur Smith Guerin (a
stenographer) and Abner Claude Guerin (a bookkeeper). When Daniel’s mercantile business burnt in
1870, he rebuilt. His boot and shoe
business in the early 1870’s was located on Huron Avenue between Butler and River. It was sold in 1874. He then opened a livery business, Livery and
Hack Emporium at Quay and Michigan, then at River, then at 946 6th Street. His large stock included fine open and closed
carriages, buggies, and horses. Daniel
Guerin also served as Alderman. Several
others lived in the home. George M.
Granger (from Ohio), whose insurance business
was in the Meisel block, lived at the home in 1900
with wife Sarrah J. (from Vermont), daughter Olive Grace and
granddaughter Ruth Wells. Amanda Geel, widow of Burton, lived there with
daughters Agnes and Ella from 1901 to 1904.
Dr. Eldon E. Lewis occupied the home in 1906. The home was remodeled about 1907. Sanborn Insurance Maps show slightly
different outlines between 1903 and 1911.
City records show water service was turned on in 1907. Inspection of the attic reveals evidence of a
previous roofline. Samuel E. Wilson, a
contractor and builder, was later involved in the insurance business. He and his wife Lois resided there at least
by 1909. They raised a cousin Ethel B.
Beal as their daughter. She married
Ralph Haradon in the home and her children Myron and
Madeline were born there. Samuel died
in 1935, Lois in 1939. Their funerals
took place at their home.