7 East Washington St.

The original section of this house was probably built circa 1845. It is one of the simplest Midwestern adaptation of the Greek Revival style in the area, as is the house across the street. Since these houses are those which were closest to the oldest commercial buildings in the Village it is probable that these were homes for the first merchants. They may also have been part shop/warehouse & part home. This house like the one across the street, 8 E.Washington, have very simple, even rudimentary cornices as compared to other Greek Revival houses in the Village. Compare the entablatures of both these houses with the one at 24 E. Washington which is heavier, more sophisticated. Both houses at 7 and 8 East Washington have the entablature with broken pediment of the gable at right angles to the street giving them an earlier "Colonial", saltbox appearance. The tax records of 1846 listed Arthur Davis as the owner with the assessed value of $150. Davis was one of Clarkston's earliest residents. One year later, Warren N. Briggs was the owner of the east 1/2 of Lots 6 & 9, the site of this house. The assessed value for 1/2 of the Lots was $100, certainly high enough to suggest a building on the site. In 1848 and 1849 Briggs was listed with a person named Greenleaf for the property to the east of this site which is now part of the lot of 21 East Washington. John T. Bird purchased this house when he returned to Clarkston in 1903 after serving as a physician at the "Ionia reformatory". Bird died in 1907. This house was gutted and remodeled in the early 1980s. A new basement was dug; a two story addition was constructed to the rear of the house; the front door, which was originally in the center of the street facing facade between two pairs of windows, was moved; and the entrance to the front porch was moved to the driveway. The front porch roof was a circa 1990, Victorian/ Queen Anne, addition. (Porches became very popular at the end of the 19th century thanks to the Queen Anne style and many houses of earlier vintage and style were given new porches.) The present turned porch posts and spindles were part of the 1980s work.