The John W. Day House, also known as the Day-Dittman House, is a private residential structure located at 4985 Dryden Road in Dryden Township in southern

Lapeer County Lapeer County is a county located in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 88,619. The county seat is Lapeer. The county was created on September 18, 1822, and was fully organized on February 2, 1835. The name ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

, United States. It was designated as a

Michigan State Historic Site The Michigan State Historic Preservation Office is one of 59 state historic preservation offices established according to the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 that plays a role in implementing federal historic preservation policy in the ...

on September 26, 1987, and soon after added to 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 ...

on December 17, 1987.

History

John W. Day was born in 1810 to Erastus and Lucy Day in

Otsego County, New York Otsego County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 58,524. The county seat is Cooperstown. The name ''Otsego'' is from a Mohawk or Oneida word meaning "place of the rock." History In 1 ...

. Erastus and Lucy Day moved to

Macomb County, Michigan Macomb County ( ) is a county located in the eastern portion of the U.S. state of Michigan, bordering Lake St. Clair, and is part of northern Metro Detroit. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 881,217, making it the third-most populous c ...

in 1826, leaving John in New York. In 1836, John Day purchased this property and began farming. In 1837 he married Polly Parkhurst; the couple has six children, four of whom lived to adulthood. In 1863, Day built this house. In 1879, the Day family sold the house to

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

n immigrant Augustus Dittman and his wife Maria Kohler. August died in 1898 and Maria in 1901, after which the house went to their son William. William live dthere and farmed the property until his death in 1956. The house remained in his family until 1970 until it was sold once again. (Note. The house was not sold by the Dittman family in 1970. It was not sold until after the death of William J. Dittman, who passed in 1973.)

Description

Built in 1863 in the style of

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 ...

architecture, the structure is a wood framed, two-story house with a portico,

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedim ...

, and rounded latticework linking the four hexagonal columns of the portico. A 1½-story addition was built along the entire right side of the house in 1880, extending the length of the structure and adding a large room. Since then, the structure has remained largely intact, except for an

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

and porch added to the back in 1974. The house is clad with Flush-board siding, and has a center door with molded enframement. A recessed porch on the ell contains a secondary entrance door.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Day, John W., House Greek Revival houses in Michigan Houses completed in 1863 Houses in Lapeer County, Michigan Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Michigan State Historic Sites National Register of Historic Places in Lapeer County, Michigan