Stately Streets

The exterior had been covered in steel siding, but the original angled clapboard siding remained and the exterior could be restored. All the windows, one exterior door, and most of interior doors are original; a portion of decorative porch parapet wall over the entrance remained, and the original trellis survived on the small back porch adjacent to the kitchen. The front porch and the entrance porch were intact, though some elements had been covered or removed. Inside, the house preserved most of its original plan and features, including floors, steps, windows, doors, fireplace, closets, built-in storage areas and some hardware.

The asymmetrically designed 2 ½ story house is distinguished by a gable-on-hipped roof with wide overhanging eaves giving it a picturesque appearance. On the north and west facades are two small gables that cut into hipped roof segments. This was a favorite device of Ward Wellington Ward and occurs repeatedly in his designs.

From the National Register nomination:

“Around 1911, Morgan Augustine Dunne (1875-1933) engaged Ward to design his new house on Allen Street. Dunne was a well-known businessman(secretary and treasurer of the Archibold-Brady Corporation, which manufactured structural steel and electrical parts) and a newly appointed city parks commissioner. He recently married Miss Helen Brennan, the principal of the Vine School, a local primary school. Dunne was also the treasurer and a trustee of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, active in the Knights of Columbus and founder of a candle company making candles used in religious services. He later served on the boards of the Catholic charities known as Loretto Rest, the Catholic Home for the Aged, and the Grimes Foundation. He was also a member of one of the committees that planned the Ka-Noo-No Karnival Commercial Parade, a Mardi Gras type event that featured floats from the various businesses and industries of the city. The parade and festivities were an annual event from 1905 until the 1920s. Helen Dunne was active with the cathedral’s Altar and Rosary Society and with local musical groups (the Harmony Circle and Civic Morning Musicals). While the house was under construction, the couple lived on East Genesee Street and moved into the house around 1914.

The house was an attractive adaptation of old English architecture, but the new house was more characteristic of Ward’s residential work in the Arts & Crafts Prairie style with its two-story main block and slightly extending two-story rear block.”

(updated August 2020)