HISTORICAL IMAGES

RESTORATION ALBUM 1

RESTORATION ALBUM 2

The Warner house was built in 1855 in the Greek Revival style by early pioneers Timothy and Lucretia Warner.  The house is located on property purchased by Timothy in 1841.  Timothy married Lucretia Jones around 1847 and the couple moved to this site shortly afterwards, apparently in a log home.  Four of their six children were born in the cabin.  Family stories indicate that the cabin burned down forcing them to live temporarily in a barn while the frame house was built to replace it.  At one point reaching nearly 600 acres, the farm raised livestock, grew crops, boarded/trained horses, as well as sold honey and fruit.  A number of outbuildings were erected including two barns as well as a chicken coop, milk house, wood/coal shed, machine shop, gambrel barn, pig shed, and rabbit pens.  Now only a 40 x 48 steel panel post frame building stands on the property along with the relocated Hicks one room schoolhouse.  Eight generations of the family have participated in activities on the now twelve acre farm and it is owned by a sixth generation descendant.  Having lived in Brighton Township for over 180 years, multiple generations of the family were well known in the area and served in various civic, governmental, and entrepreneurial capacities over the decades beginning by helping to name the township when it was first organized.  The house is largely unaltered having only asphalt shingles and replacement windows as the most obvious modifications.  The farm was granted Centennial Farm status in 1955 and Sesquicentennial Farm status in 2009, the first to receive the one hundred fifty year distinction in the township.  Fifteen seasons of excavation and research on one of the few archaeological projects conducted in Livingston County have shed light on 19^th century life beginning in the frontier period in Michigan.

The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in September 2011 as a largely intact mid-nineteenth century example of the upright-and-wing house form in Greek Revival style characteristic of southern Michigan.  The popularity of Greek Revival design and Northeastern U. S. house forms in southern Michigan was a direct result of a broad pattern of early settlement by pioneers largely from New England and upstate New York, who brought their architectural preferences with them.  The upright-and-wing house form, along with side-gable forms such as the hall-and-parlor and “New England Large” house common in the Northeast became highly popular domestic structural forms in southern Michigan during the 1830s-50s.  The Warners were part of this important 1820s-50s trend in Michigan’s settlement history in that they arrived in Brighton Township from Livingston County, New York, in 1837, during the peak of the Michigan land rush.  A farmer by occupation, Timothy Warner started from scratch and carved a successful farm out of the wilderness, becoming a prominent citizen and successful entrepreneur who held a number of leadership roles from the time when the township was organized.  The experiences of the family, nine generations over 180 years in the township, are representative of those by other pioneers who arrived in Michigan during the first half of the 19^th century.

The Warner homestead is a classic example of Greek Revival architecture built in Michigan during the mid 19^th century and exhibits a number of stylistic elements, both common and unusual, found in this form.  The upright and wing design, with recessed porch and protruding lateral wing front room, is characteristic in southern Michigan, and is a reflection of house form preferences brought by Yankee settlers, primarily from western New York.  The home can also be considered an outward display of successful transition not only for the occupants but members of the larger community from the frontier era to an established settlement that became part of a larger regional and national economy.

Although mills provided sawn lumber as early as 1833, frame houses in the 1830s were the exception instead of the rule.  Col. Solomon Peterson of Putnam Township built what is considered the earliest frame house in Livingston County around 1828.  Lewis Fonda’s 1834 frame home in Brighton Township was regarded as the earliest one built there.  The house, “at the time … regarded as a dwelling of considerable pretension,” was built in section 32 from timber drawn from Ann Arbor, eighteen miles distant (Ellis 1880:222).  Another early frame house was built in 1837 by Maynard Maltby in section 31 in what would become the town of Brighton.  This house was removed for the construction of the Canopy Hotel in 1926.

As sawn lumber became more readily available and as families prospered, frame houses were erected to replace the “temporary” log cabins initially erected on their farms.  By the early 1840s frame houses became more common.  Ellis writes in his 1880 History of Livingston County that “Most of these settlers built for themselves comfortable frame houses the same year of their arrival” (Ellis 1880:224).  Nevertheless, Timothy Warner built a log cabin on the homestead farm likely shortly after he purchased the property in October 1841.  This supposition is supported by diagnostic artifacts from that time period.  One family story suggests that the family resided in the “temporary” log cabin for several years until it was destroyed by fire forcing the family to live in one of the barns while the Greek Revival house was being constructed in 1855.

The construction date for the house comes from personal communication between George W. Warner (1848-1933) and his granddaughter Florence W. Warner-Chase (1911-2001), a former school teacher and family historian.  George, who was born in the log cabin, recalled that he was seven years old when tasked with carrying nails for the carpenters building the house.  This anecdote was handwritten by Florence in preparation for a family reunion circa 1997 and is currently the most reliable information available.  Timothy was known to be skilled as a carpenter, but exactly what was his involvement in the construction of the house is unknown. 

Archaeological evidence also suggests a mid 1850s construction date.  When the indoor bathroom was installed in the mid 1960s, former resident Elroy Warner discovered a brown, handleless transferware cup that has been identified as “Sydenham” by Joseph Clementson in the crawl space below the house.  Although the pattern was not registered with the British Designs Registry Office, it likely dates to circa 1852 based on similar registered patterns that date to that year.  This pattern in blue is the most commonly recovered ceramic pattern found in the living space area of the back yard.  Other decorated ceramics such as sprigware, blue edgeware, and red transferware in the “Bologna” pattern by William Adams dating to the 1840s–1850s were also found along the east side of the boulder foundation of the house from excavated units.

Access to timbers during restoration work allowed for several samples to be taken for dendrochronological research to positively determine the construction date of the house and its construction sequence.  While dendrochronology is fairly common in the Southwest and Southeast, it is relatively rare in the Midwest and particularly in Michigan.  The samples were sent to the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and analyzed under the direction of Dr. Henri Grissino-Mayer.  Ten samples were sent and six qualified to generate a chronology.  The analysis indicated that family stories regarding the 1855 construction date were correct and that the house was erected during a single construction event.  This date aids in understanding not only the history of the family but also augments archaeological research conducted at the site.  Results of this research have been published in an internationally peer reviewed journal, Dendrochronologia, in 2016.

The house was built in a style that swept through a number of countries including the U.S during the first quarter of the 19^th century.  Though the Greek Revival architectural resurgence began in northern Europe, it became so widespread in America that it became known as the “National Style.”  The adaptable style spanned the range of size, use, and cost including modest homes for farming families, businesses, and schools, as well as formal state and national structures.  Its popularity is commonly attributed to an affinity for the birthplace of democracy, especially after the Greek War of Independence in the 1820s, and as a departure from English styles after the War of 1812.  The style flourished throughout the U.S. between 1820 and 1860, manifesting itself in a variety of ways but typically included piers supporting frieze and cornice trim and other molding to form a triangular pediment mimicking a Greek temple.  Other important changes included a focus from the eave side based on the English style to the gable end and a reduced emphasis on chimneys.  The Greek Revival movement was especially prominent in New England and upstate New York, and became especially popular in southern Michigan and other upper Midwest areas such as northern Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois and southern Wisconsin where early settlers were predominantly Yankee.  Built in 1855, the Warner home falls toward the end of Greek Revival popularity.  The upright and wing house form, whose early popularity coincides with the Greek Revival style, continued to be a characteristic house form built across Michigan through most of the nineteenth century.

In reviewing literally hundreds of photographs in which the house appears, the Warner homestead has changed little from the earliest images, dated to 1889, to the current day.  Minor changes such as the removal of the square-plan front porch columns, replacement of windows, and re-roofing with dimensional shingles have taken away very little from the overall character of the Greek Revival home as it was originally built.  Despite the prosperity of Timothy and Lucretia, their descendants led a working class lifestyle and had few resources for renovation/expansion of the house during the next one hundred years, allowing it to escape any substantial modifications.  George’s son Herbert (1885-1980) was well known for keeping up the farm equipment, maintaining the barns, and keeping his livestock in good health but largely ignored the house.  In fact, his youngest son Robert Warner indicated that for a long period of time the exterior was even left unpainted.  Lucretia’s obituary from 1900 mentions that repairs were being made to the “old home” while she was being cared for by her daughter, but precisely what these included is unknown.  Newspapers including the Livingston Republican dating to 1901 that cover the walls of the storage room suggest early twentieth-century renovations.  A farm ledger with an entry from 1915 does indicate that minor updates were made including new interior paint, wallpaper, and plastering.

Other more significant changes began in the 1930s.  One of the most visible modifications included the removal of the columns on the front porch.  Six years old at the time, Robert Warner recalls electrical service being installed in the spring of 1930.  Robert vividly remembers the date not because of new electrical service but for a violent hail storm that broke several windows on the west side of the house and a lamp inside.  Wood, coal, and oil stoves were removed, now replaced by a forced air natural gas furnace.  More recently, new energy efficient windows replaced their drafty counterparts but still maintained the six over six pane double-hung style.  Batten insulation was added to the attic though the walls are still largely absent of any.  Flower boxes hung below the windows were removed around the 1950s. 

The function of rooms adjusted over time but the floor plan of the house is virtually unchanged.  The most significant alteration included the conversion of a bedroom to a bathroom in the mid 1960s.  The back storage room, located above the cistern, was formerly the kitchen.  The utility room, formerly a bedroom, was earlier used for the storage of apiary equipment.  The house also served as the domicile for multiple families over time.  Extended family members, especially the elderly, moved in to be taken care of by their children.  During the mid 20^th century the house was “separated” for use by the families of Leroy Warner and his parents, who lived in different sections of the home.  Cousins, hired hands, and nephews also made it their residence.

As of May 2009, the assessor’s office listed over 9,000 properties located in Brighton Township.  For properties with available construction dates, just 14, or 0.15% of all homes in the township, were listed with dates of construction before 1856 – suggestive of the scarcity of surviving pioneer dwellings in the township.  This number is likely substantially reduced when considering the amount of minimally altered homes and the fact that several have obvious erroneous construction dates including some listed before European-American settlement began.  Thus the Warner house is clearly one of the oldest, largely unmodified homes in the township.  Rapid development, especially in the last three decades, has transformed the once quiet agricultural landscape into a commercial, industrial, and retail center among a largely suburban setting.

The one- and two-story 1,752 square foot timber frame house is painted white with dark green accents.  The gable-front unit or upright section is two stories high while the lateral wing is a single story.  Supported by a foundation of mortared fieldstone, the exterior gives an overall impression of a Greek temple with exterior wood trim below the roofline including “antae” or piers supporting an entablature consisting of an architrave and frieze topped with cornice on all sides.  In addition, the gable ends are finished with horizontal cornice returns suggestive of a pediment.  The main door appears in the center of the gable-front section with its own piers and entablature.  The walls are finished with 6” wood bevel lap siding that terminates at the piers appearing at the corners.  The gabled roof, originally clad in cedar shakes, is now finished with forest green asphalt dimensional shingles that complement the piers painted dark green.  A recessed porch on the front is located in the wing between the upright section and a projecting room at the far end of the wing.  A second recessed porch appears in the back at the intersection of the two sections.  The house and a modern steel-sided building behind it stand on twelve acres of the historic farm property still in the original family’s possession.

The house is located five miles northeast of Brighton in the region known locally as Pleasant Valley, roughly the eastern half of Brighton Township that follows Mann Creek (formerly named Pleasant Valley Creek).  The area is now divided into multi-acre, middle class suburban plots nestled among gently rolling hills on land previously farmed by the Warners.  The Lyon one-room school, a Michigan historic site, is located just a quarter mile west.  A two-lane road with moderate traffic curves around the property and intersects a second unpaved road in front of the house.  A private driveway runs the length of the east side of the property and a fourteen home subdivision is located at its southern boundary.  Warner descendants live in the area on the original plot of land.

The house stands on what was once a large farm.  Of the ten outbuildings that formed a farmstead near the house, only a new 40’ x 48’ red with white trim steel sided, shingled roof post frame barn remains.  Despite the removal of many older farm buildings in 2002, the foundations for a number of them are still intact.  The first structure erected on the site was a log cabin; however, its precise location has yet to be determined though family stories indicate that it was located west of the present driveway.

The current twelve-acre property, ten acres of which is rented out as a hayfield, forms Brighton Township’s only certified Sesquicentennial Farm.  It is gerrymandered into a modified Z shape due to the sale of three two-acre lots, one on the northeast corner and two on the southwest corner.  With its gravely soil (Fox sandy loam), the land is mostly flat among surrounding low-lying hills with a shallow depression west of the house, formerly a swamp that was partially filled in during the 1920s.  As many as twenty whitetail deer frequent the hayfield and several Sandhill Cranes are common visitors.

Eleven black locust trees line the west side of the driveway and are scattered throughout the front yard.  Tree ring analysis suggests that nine are over a century old and one, located within the driveway-outlined circle, is estimated to have been a seedling when the property was purchased in 1841.  Also along the road is a red cedar, a sapling in pictures from the 1950s that was transplanted from one of the south fields.  Lilac bushes, some appearing as mature plants in photographs also from the 1950s, continue to thrive along the west side of the driveway.  The front of the house is lined with rhododendrons, morning glories climb the west side of the house, tiger lilies are planted along the east side, and roses align the back of the rear wing.  A large forsythia bush is located on the east side of the front yard.  A sesquicentennial marker erected in 2009 is located in the front yard, held in place with white vinyl Doric style columns complementing the house. 

The timber frame house is constructed with a combination of hand hewn beams and rough sawn lumber.  Heavy beams typically of white oak, some measuring 8” x 10", are used for the sills and plates of the walls and as corner posts.  Horizontal beams on the gable ends are attached to the vertical corner posts utilizing mortise and tenon joints held with wooden pegs.  The plates on the eave sides sit atop the vertically oriented corner posts.  Rough sawn wall studs measuring a true 2” x 7 ¼” are spaced 18” on center.  Square nails fasten the exterior cedar bevel lap siding to the studs.  The roof is made with true 2” x 5 ½” rough cut rafters, spaced 24” on center, and lacking a ridge board.  Tongue and groove 1” x 7 ¼” flooring lies on top of the true 2” x 7 ½” floor joists.  Ceiling joists match the size of the wall studs and floor joists and are set in square pockets cut into the sides of the beams.  The original roof decking remains and measures ¾” x 13” – 16.”  The house is supported by a boulder foundation that, dry set below grade, is 12” – 14” thick and 24” deep.  The chimneys are built of unmarked low-fire red brick.

The exterior trim around doors and windows is relatively consistent utilizing 4” rough sawn stock with the exception of the main front entrance that has its own trim of piers supporting an entablature.  A number of doors and windows are capped with thin cornice trim that extends outward about ¾.”  Interior trim is less homogeneous than that of the exterior.  Windows and doors in the formal living room and utility room are trimmed with multi-ply wood border with successively thicker sections from the inside out forming a step-like pattern measuring 6 ½” wide with 1 ½” square “ear” extensions appearing on each side at the top.  In addition, each of these windows has a rectangular beveled wood panel bulkhead, outlined by trim, beneath down to the baseboard and spanning its width.  Windows and doors in the central dining room have 4” trim around them, though the windows in this room also have a rounded 3” x 8” “ear” extension on either side at the top.  The trim around openings in the central dining room and front bedroom utilize a three piece combination consisting of two rectangular members with the outside piece slightly raised while a third beveled piece sits on top of the juncture of the two.  A simplified version of this trim also appears in the kitchen, back dining room, and rear bedroom, omitting the middle beveled piece.  The bathroom and storage room uses a single 4” stock for interior trim around openings.  Baseboards in the living room are 9 ½” wide while 5 ½” wide stock is used in the central dining room and front bedroom.

Though the exterior entablature detail is found on all sides, the width of the architrave on the wing portion is somewhat narrower than that of the upright section.  Piers appear at each corner and are slightly wider on the upright portion than the wings.  Besides the cornice trim at the top of each pillar, a number of them still exhibit a thin piece of trim about twelve inches below the top.  Each pier also has a wider member at the bottom, mimicking a base.  A pier also appears in the center of the east side wall, an unusual feature for a generally simple Greek Revival design.  The siding for the recessed porches on the front and back departs from the cedar bevel lap style found on the remainder of the house in being of tongue and groove lumber.  The siding begins at 15” above grade, exposing the mortared boulder and cobble foundation.  A 5 1/4” wide baseboard runs below the first row of siding, and just above it, another wood member set horizontally juts 2” past the siding.  The front porch is of poured concrete while the back porch utilizes a composite 5 ¼” gray decking product.

Over its 167-year history relatively few modifications have been made to the home.  Two square classical columns located on the front porch were removed about eighty years ago.  The wood flooring for the recessed front porch was replaced with poured concrete, likely around the time the columns were removed.  Three brick chimneys were removed above the roofline when the roof was re-shingled in January 2008 to avoid potential water leakage trouble areas.  The original roof decking remains though now covered by 4’ x 8’ plywood sheeting.  The formal front door, located in the center of the upright portion, remains intact.  When the bathroom was installed in the 1960s, the back door was removed and the location framed in as well as the window for the bathroom shortened.  Photographs dating to as early as 1889 suggest that the house was painted white until accent trim was painted dark green in the 1980s.  Conversely, interior trim was painted green earlier in the history of the house, but is now painted white.

Restoration work on the Warner house began in earnest in May 2015.  The priority of the restoration work focused on stabilizing the exterior of the home that had been neglected for a number of years.  Issues with the exterior were many including cracked siding, a rubble foundation crumbling in areas, deteriorating drip cap and sill beams, exposed timbers, broken cellar windows, a collapsing corner in the cellar, misaligned beams, inoperable doors, water seepage, and overall failure to exclude insects and other pests. 

A historic restoration specialist, Randy Klepinger, of Klepinger Construction with over 30 years experience was hired to lead the project.  The work was conducted to adhere to the Secretary of the Interior standards for a NRHP listed structure and funding provided exclusively by the owners.  Mr. Klepinger replaced cracked and deteriorating siding boards, particularly one to two rows at the bottom perimeter.  Like new members were installed as replacements.  When possible siding and other trim members were repaired or salvaged from otherwise damaged pieces.  Substantial deterioration to the hand-hewn sill timber in many places along the perimeter was mitigated with epoxy and wood fill.  The sill timbers were still structurally sound and did not require replacement.  Deteriorating sections of the rubble foundation was repaired and repointed with mortar.  One of the cellar windows was also repaired with a new wood frame.  

Intact siding and trim was meticulously scraped by hand by family members to remove loose and peeling paint.  The surface was then brushed by hand with an oil based primer and a high quality lifetime white paint applied.  Paint exhibiting good adhesion remained intact and was painted over with a fresh coat.  Accents in forest green were made to several parts of the facia as well as trim around windows and doors.  Six stars were painted above the parlor entryway to signify sixth generation family ownership.

Modern updates such as the front porch screen were removed.  Square wood columns, dismantled in the 1930s, were reinstalled using images from 1889 and 1902 as a guide.  A section of plywood was removed from the front parlor entryway to reveal the original door.  Half round galvalume gutters were installed, similar to those appearing in photos from the 1940s.

The exterior of the house, now vastly improved from its former condition, will aid in keeping the NRHP listed home in good repair for many decades to come.  Restoration work conducted over the spring, summer, and fall that concluded in December 2015 resulted in a transformation that might be described as a now stunning example of mid 19th century architecture.