The David and Elizabeth Bell Boldman House was a private house located at 3339 Canton Center Road near Sheldon in

Canton Township, Michigan Canton, officially the Charter Township of Canton, is a charter township of Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the township had a population of 98,659. Canton Township is Michigan's second most-populated townshi ...

. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 2000. The former site of the house is now vacant.

Description

The David and Elizabeth Bell Boldman House was a basilica-style

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...

with a two-story center section flanked by single-story wings. The center section had an open, two-story portico with a square

Doric column The Doric order was one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of c ...

at each end and a triangular pediment above. The basilica style of Greek Revval house is unique to southeast Michigan, western New York and northeast Ohio, and the two-story portico is relatively rare in the north. The front facade had a center door with two flanking windows surrounded by fluted molding, and two matching windows on the second story. The house was built of wood with a foundation of fieldstone, and portions of hand-hewn log construction were visible in the basement.

The Boldmans

Henry Boldman came to Canton Township from Scotland via New York, one of the first settlers in the township. He built this house around 1835. It was enlarged by his son David Boldman, the establisher of a cheese factory, around 1858. David Boldman was very involved in township government, holding the posts of highway commissioner, constable, and township treasurer multiple times between 1847 and 1875. The David and Elizabeth Bell Boldman House is significant in its reflection of the growing affluence of the area's settlers and their sense of pride in their improving situation.

Description

The Boldmans

References

See also