This stately white house with the yellow trim stands in downtown Hastings. A Michigan historical marker is proudly displayed in front of it and reads:

Oakland County physician George W. Lowry (1850-1922) purchased this lot and a medical practice from Dr. William A. Upjohn in 1887. In 1892-1894 he built one of Hasting’s finest residences, which also housed his medical office. The asymmetrical composition, stately turret, decorative bargeboards and spindlework typify Queen Anne architecture. In 1922 Dr. Haroutoune A. Adrounie (1882-1936) purchased the house and Lowry’s practice. Dr. Adrounie’s wife, Dorothy, lived in the house until her death in 1988.

The house is now a bed and breakfast. The interior is stunning and you can see pics of it on their website HERE

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I was roaming around Port Huron and I came upon this beautiful old victorian house. The sign out front read “Ballentine House Bed and Breakfast.” The house is named after Silas Ballentine who built it in the 1860s. He was the founder of Ballentine Dry Goods, which operated for nearly 100 years in Port Huron.

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This sandstone house sits just outside of downtown Ionia. It’s hard to miss when driving through town and the historical marker in front tells the story of the house and the man who built it.

John Celsus Blanchard (1822 – 1905) epitomized the American “self-made man.” He left his home in Cayuga County, New York, at the age of fourteen for the western frontier. Blanchard worked as a laborer in Detroit, Livingston and Shiawassee Counties before walking sixty miles to the U.S. Land Office at Ionia. Using $50 of the $53 he had saved, he purchased forty acres of land in 1837. Two years later he began “reading the law” as a student in the law offices of Roof and Bell in Lyons. His appointment as Ionia County prosecuting attorney in 1850 began a distinguished public career. That year Blanchard and his wife, Harriet, moved to Ionia where they devoted themselves to civic affairs and became generous benefactors to churches and schools, including Albion College.

The brick walls of this substantial Italianate House are veneered with variegated sandstone selected by John Blanchard from the Ionia Sandstone Quarry, which he co-owned. The house stands where the Blanchard’s first Ionia home was located. In 1880 they moved that house to the back of the lot and began constructing this elegant residence, completed in 1881. The house looks much as it did when Blanchard’s lived here and retains many original interior features, such as brass chandeliers, faux marble fireplaces and walnut shutters. In 1974 the Ionia County Historical Society purchased the house. The Blanchard House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

The interior of the house remains as it did when it was constructed, you can see photos of the inside at the Ionia County Historical Society’s website HERE

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It’s hard to miss this grand old house standing in downtown Niles. Henry A. Chapin and his wife built this beautiful queen ann home in 1882. Henry lived in it until his death in 1933 and then donated it to the city of Niles which used it as their City Hall for several years.

Chapin built one of the first general stores in the area. He did well as a merchant but it was his property in the Upper Peninsula that he gained his fortune from. In 1865 he purchased a large tract of land near Iron Mountain. A vast deposit of iron ore was discovered and the Chapin Mine was opened. “Mr. H.A.” as he was known, received up to $300,000 yearly in royalties from the mine. The house is now used as a historical museum.

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