The George P. MacNichol House, also known as the Ford-MacNichol House, is a house located at 2610 Biddle Avenue in

Wyandotte, Michigan Wyandotte ( ) is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 25,058 at the 2020 census. Wyandotte is located in southeastern Michigan, approximately south of Detroit on the Detroit River, and it is part of the coll ...

. It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1973 and 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 1984. The house is currently used as the main

historic house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a ...

of Wyandotte Museums. The Marx House is also owned by the Museums and used for art exhibits and community meeting space.

History

Edward Ford (also the builder of the Ford-Bacon House across the street) was the son of glass pioneer

John Baptiste Ford Captain John Baptiste Ford (November 17, 1811 – May 1, 1903) was an American industrialist and founder of the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company, now known as PPG Industries, based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Early life Born in a l ...

and the founder of the Michigan Alkali Company in Wyandotte and the Ford Plate Glass Company in

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

, (later the Libbey–Owens–Ford Company). In 1896, Ford hired

Malcomson & Higginbotham Malcomson and Higginbotham was an architectural firm started in the nineteenth century and based in Detroit, Michigan. A successor firm, Malcomson-Greimel and Associates, still exists in Rochester, Michigan as of 2010. History Architects William G. ...

to design this home as wedding gift for his daughter Laura on her marriage to George P. MacNichol. MacNichol was a medical doctor, but was active in research and development work for both the Ford Plate Glass Company and the Michigan Alkali Company. The couple lived in the house for seven years before moving to Toledo to be closer to family. After the MacNichols moved, the house was purchased by Jeremiah Drennen, a local lawyer. The Drennen family owned the house until the 1970s, when it was purchased by Yvonne Latta. Latta restored the house, and in 1977, it was purchased by the city of Wyandotte.

Description

The George P. MacNichol House is a two-and-one-half-story wood-framed rectangular-plan gabled Queen Anne house. It has 32 rooms and 6600 feet of interior space, with 6 fireplaces, 65 windows, and 53 doors. The roof and gables are steeply pitched. The front facade features a one-story wraparound porch with Tuscan columns and under-eave latticework, and a corner turret with conical roof. Most of the house is sheathed in

clapboards Clapboard (), also called bevel siding, lap siding, and weatherboard, with regional variation in the definition of these terms, is wooden siding of a building in the form of horizontal boards, often overlapping. ''Clapboard'' in modern Americ ...

, with the gable ends and upper portion of the tower covered in shingles. The house is significant as an example of the residential architecture of the firm of Malcomson & Higginbotham, and for the house's association with some of the community's most prominent people.

References

External links

Wyandotte Museums
{{DEFAULTSORT:MacNichol, George P., House Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Queen Anne architecture in Michigan Houses completed in 1896 Houses in Wayne County, Michigan Michigan State Historic Sites National Register of Historic Places in Wayne County, Michigan