Presbyterian Parsonage (Samuel E. Hart Memorial),  435 Dennis Street

The Presbyterian Parsonage (Samuel E. Hart Memorial), 1893-95, 435 Dennis Street, Queen Anne style Designed and built by Adrian architect and builder C. F. Matthes. Photograph before 2026 © Peter Barr

For weeks in the autumn of 1895, local residents watched a grand modern home rise on Dennis Street. Neighbors took note of the opulent structure, assuming it was being built as the future residence of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Galloway Hart. But on November 11, 1895, the true purpose of the house was revealed in spectacular fashion. Gathering for what they believed was a routine housewarming party, guests were stunned when Judge Norman Geddes presented the trustees of the First Presbyterian Church of Adrian with a deed for the brand-new, state-of-the-art parsonage at 35 Dennis Street (known today as 435 Dennis Street).

This magnificent surprise was a “loving conspiracy” carried out by the descendants of local druggist and respected businessman Samuel Ellis Hart (b. August 23, 1823), who had passed away without a will on October 22, 1892. According to his widow Hattie, Samuel had harbored a secret wish to purchase a parsonage for his beloved church. 

To honor his memory, Hattie–along with their daughter Kate Elizabeth (Hart) Elmer and son Charles Galloway Hart–quickly acquired the conveniently located building lot and commissioned a custom-built home, successfully keeping the church in the dark until the final reveal. The emotion-filled dedication featured the placement of an oak frame housing a silver plaque at the landing of the home’s main stairs. Engraved by Tiffany’s of New York, the plaque read:

Parsonage of the First Presbyterian Church of Adrian.
A memorial of Samuel E. Hart, deceased.
Presented by his heirs. 1895.

The ceremony concluded with tears of joy and a shocked pastor, Rev. W. K. Spencer, who spontaneously led the crowd in singing "Praise God from whom all blessings flow."

This was the third house built by the Hart family in “Berry’s Southern Addition” (now the Dennis and State Street Historic District). Originally from Albion, New York, Hart moved to Adrian in 1840 to seize a business opportunity offered by his brothers-in-law, Ambrose Spencer Berry and Langford Greene Berry, who platted this neighborhood four years later. After clerking for them and learning the pharmaceutical trade, Hart established his own thriving business in 1850, S. E. Hart & Co. Pharmacy at Main and Maumee Streets (the current site of Harmony Grove: Spa and Wellness Center). In 1856, Hart and his first wife, Ann “Annie” Delia Crissey, moved into their palatial, new Italian Villa style home directly across the street from where the parsonage would later stand. Following Annie’s death, Hart built a handsome brick Italianate home at 417 State Street in 1873 for himself and his second wife, Harriet “Hattie” Galloway King.

Today, the "Presbyterian Manse" stands as a remarkably well-preserved monument to Adrian’s late-19th-century golden era–a time when the city flourished as an important railroad hub and the “woven wire fence capital of the world.” Designed and built by Adrian’s premier local architect, Christian Frederick "Fred" Matthes, the home carried an extravagant $10,000 price, twice the cost of any of the other elaborate Queen Anne-style homes that Matthes was erecting at the time. Matthes was so proud of this home that he featured it in a
full-page advertisement in McEldowney & Sons’ Lenawee County and Adrian City Directory in 1897. 

Advertisement in McEldowney & Sons’ Lenawee County and Adrian City Directory in 1897

Typical of the Queen Anne style, the home features a sprawling asymmetrical layout, a complex interlocking roofline, and a richly textured exterior clad in contrasting clapboard, gingerbread trim, and octagonal shingles. The facade displays dramatic recesses and projections on every level highlighted by a hulking L-shaped “Eastlake” veranda on the first floor, a recessed porch tucked into the second-floor gable, and a semi-circle cut out on the top story. The veranda—supported by double-turned posts and accented with decorative wood cutouts—is crowned by a gable featuring a classic, radiating sunburst motif. Above it, the second-floor porch is adorned with two lobes of intricate ornamentation that together resemble a horseshoe. Freshly repainted in 2026 in a modern palette of muted sage siding with greenish charcoal trim and a dark pewter foundation, the  residence remains a striking visual anchor in a neighborhood celebrated for its historic character.

​Step inside the massive structure, and the scale of 1890s luxury becomes immediately apparent. Boasting 66 feet of hallways and 35 doors, the interior has remained largely unchanged since the first minister moved in. Soaring ceilings span five spacious first-floor rooms as well as five second-floor rooms plus a bathroom. Rich, warm cherry defines the living and music rooms—the latter highlighted by a beautiful leaded-glass window and Italian ceramic tile around the double-sized fireplace. Nearby, a grand oak staircase wraps upward to the second floor and is bathed in light from a brilliant, multicolored stained-glass window. Lovingly maintained across the decades by six Presbyterian ministers and, after 1950, four subsequent owners–including an antique dealer, a dean at Siena Heights College, and, recently, the owners of Whitcher Plumbing & Heating–the house remains a physical testament to the optimism of historic Adrian.

Remarkably, the Queen Anne style was already past its peak when the home was completed. Following the devastating nationwide economic depression of 1893, American architectural tastes turned away from ornate Victorian "frills" in favor of simpler, more restrained forms. Within a few years, builders would trade wrap-around porches and stained-glass windows for the clean lines of the Colonial, Classical, and Craftsman revival styles. Yet despite these shifting fashions, the Samuel Hart Memorial Parsonage has stood the test of time, serving the church until 1950 and remaining one of Lenawee County’s architectural treasures today.

Citations:
“An Old Citizen” (Samuel E. Hart obituary), Daily Telegram (Adrian, Michigan), October 23, 1892, p. 3, col. 5.
“Surprised,” Daily Telegram (Adrian, Michigan), November 12, 1895: p. 3, col. 4, 5.
“Looking Forward,” Daily Telegram (Adrian, Michigan), November 30, 1895, 15, col 2.
“Samuel E. Hart,” Knapp, John I., and R. I. Bonner, Illustrated History and Biographical Record of Lenawee County, Mich., 1903, p. 192.

© Peter Barr 2026