Wood House, 433 State Street, 1865, Italianate Style. Photograph by Peter Barr.
Located in the Dennis and State Streets Historic District, the Wood House at 433 State Street is an excellent example of Italianate architecture that not only showcases the wealth and prosperity of Adrian in the 1860s but also embodies the city’s connections to President Ulysses S. Grant and other figures of local, regional, and national importance.
Adrian was nearing a peak of its regional influence when clothing merchant Alfred Wood built the Wood House in 1865. In 1860, it ranked as the third largest city in Michigan after Detroit and Grand Rapids, with a population of 6,213. In 1870, it was the fifth largest. The local economy focused on the many railroad lines passing through Adrian, with twelve passenger trains stopping at the city on a daily basis. With the Civil War reaching its end, the economy in the northern United States was booming, and so was Adrian’s.
The Italianate style, one of the most common architecture types in the 1860s, drew inspiration from the designs of landscape architect Andrew Jackson Downing, who promoted it as an alternative to the earlier Greek Revival style. It utilizes two key features: elaborate curved brackets under overhanging roof eaves and arched window crowns often made of stone, wood, or iron. Homes built in the Italianate style often incorporate cubic or L-shaped profiles, with tall, narrow windows and sometimes third-floor cupolas. Many of the city’s historic homes follow this style, because its popularity coincided with a time of great prosperity for Adrian.
The Wood House is a classic example of Italianate architecture. Its L-shaped layout incorporates a cube-shaped, two-story main section flanked by a wing with an end gable. In addition, the house boasts many elite details not typically found on Italianate homes, such as the rosette motifs adorning the frieze under the eaves. The home’s other unique feature is the ornate front porch, which incorporates slender pillars supporting semicircular arches over the front walkway. Originally, this porch extended across the entire front façade of the house, but it was later reduced to its current size. The skillful paint scheme of dark blue for the porch, brackets, and frieze contrasts with the red brick walls, allowing the details to stand out in a postmodern clash of colors. When built in 1865, the house was valued at $3,000, a very hefty sum in those days.
The 13-room interior displays elaborate Civil War-era architecture as well. The home’s exceptional height is due to its twelve-foot ceilings, and in addition there is a third-floor attic which now houses a large billiard room. The Wood family showcased their wealth in numerous interior details, including marble fireplaces, elaborate wallpaper, and plaster ceiling moldings with corn and grape motifs. Carved balustrades adorn the two-story stairwell. A distinctive window bay with three ten-foot arched windows is another unique detail. Fearing fire, the original owners prepared their food in a small outbuilding, but a kitchen was later added onto the house. The interior has been restored by the current owners, who have also added several 20th-century touches that create a whimsical effect.
Adrian was nearing a peak of its regional influence when clothing merchant Alfred Wood built the Wood House in 1865. In 1860, it ranked as the third largest city in Michigan after Detroit and Grand Rapids, with a population of 6,213. In 1870, it was the fifth largest. The local economy focused on the many railroad lines passing through Adrian, with twelve passenger trains stopping at the city on a daily basis. With the Civil War reaching its end, the economy in the northern United States was booming, and so was Adrian’s.
The Italianate style, one of the most common architecture types in the 1860s, drew inspiration from the designs of landscape architect Andrew Jackson Downing, who promoted it as an alternative to the earlier Greek Revival style. It utilizes two key features: elaborate curved brackets under overhanging roof eaves and arched window crowns often made of stone, wood, or iron. Homes built in the Italianate style often incorporate cubic or L-shaped profiles, with tall, narrow windows and sometimes third-floor cupolas. Many of the city’s historic homes follow this style, because its popularity coincided with a time of great prosperity for Adrian.
The Wood House is a classic example of Italianate architecture. Its L-shaped layout incorporates a cube-shaped, two-story main section flanked by a wing with an end gable. In addition, the house boasts many elite details not typically found on Italianate homes, such as the rosette motifs adorning the frieze under the eaves. The home’s other unique feature is the ornate front porch, which incorporates slender pillars supporting semicircular arches over the front walkway. Originally, this porch extended across the entire front façade of the house, but it was later reduced to its current size. The skillful paint scheme of dark blue for the porch, brackets, and frieze contrasts with the red brick walls, allowing the details to stand out in a postmodern clash of colors. When built in 1865, the house was valued at $3,000, a very hefty sum in those days.
The 13-room interior displays elaborate Civil War-era architecture as well. The home’s exceptional height is due to its twelve-foot ceilings, and in addition there is a third-floor attic which now houses a large billiard room. The Wood family showcased their wealth in numerous interior details, including marble fireplaces, elaborate wallpaper, and plaster ceiling moldings with corn and grape motifs. Carved balustrades adorn the two-story stairwell. A distinctive window bay with three ten-foot arched windows is another unique detail. Fearing fire, the original owners prepared their food in a small outbuilding, but a kitchen was later added onto the house. The interior has been restored by the current owners, who have also added several 20th-century touches that create a whimsical effect.
Visitors enter the house through a double door carved with ornate motifs, with each door curved at the top to fit snugly into the arched entranceway. Photograph by Peter Barr.
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The floor-to-ceiling height of the windows in the Wood House is a classic detail of the Italianate style. Photograph by Peter Barr.
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Alfred H. Wood was one of many 19th-century businessmen who found wealth in Adrian’s prospering economy. Wood grew up in a pioneer family that came to Lenawee County from New York state in 1833, when he was just four years old. As a young man, Alfred worked in the John R. Clark dry goods store, rising to become part owner of the establishment. In 1860 he opened a clothing and tailoring store on Maumee Street, which he ran for the next sixty years. As the store grew into a prosperous establishment, he took his son Alfred W. Wood into the business as a partner. Later W. H. Crane also joined the firm, and the business became known as Wood, Crane & Wood.
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Alfred Wood, b. 1829, remained active in the Wood clothier business until his death in 1920.
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Walking down State Street, you might notice that the two Italianate homes at 433 and 443 State Street resemble each other. Alfred Wood built them both. His father, Leander Wood, was among the earliest owners of this property along State Street, which had been subdivided by brothers Langford and Ambrose Berry in the 1840s. After Leander Wood died, Alfred inherited the land and built his first imposing Italianate home in 1863 at what is now 443 State Street, next door to the Wood House. It is unclear what happened, but the story goes that a family feud broke out, likely involving Alfred’s stepmother Luana Wood. Alfred and his wife Almira then built their own impressive Italianate home next door, slightly larger than their previous house but with a very similar design and floor plan. Luana Wood remained living in the original home, which Alfred and Almira eventually sold to their brother-in-law Jerome Chaffee.
The first Wood House, on the right, was built in 1863. The second and larger Wood House, on the left, was built in 1865. The two homes have very similar designs and floor plans. Photograph by Paul Plassman.
The Woods were able to afford such elaborate homes at least in part because of their family connections. Almira Wood was a first cousin once removed to Addison Comstock, the founder of Adrian. Her sister Miriam married Jerome Chaffee, who would become a banker, mining baron, and United States Senator from Colorado from 1876 to 1879. However, the Wood House is best known for its ties to General and President Ulysses S. Grant. In 1880, Almira’s niece Fannie Chaffee married General Grant’s son in New York City. Their two daughters, Fannie and Julia Dent Grant, often visited their Great-Uncle Alfred and Great-Aunt Almira at the Wood House in Adrian and vacationed with them at the Wood family cottage at Sand Lake. Julia in particular became close friends with the Wood daughters, Gertrude and Eloise. When Julia Dent Grant married Edmund King in 1910, she held the ceremony in the Wood House, with the marriage vows taking place on the home’s grand stairway. The next year, her sister Fannie also held her own marriage ceremony to Isaac Hart Purdy in the Wood House. Thus, two of General Grant’s granddaughters got married in the Wood House, and it is thought that General Grant himself may have visited here from time to time.
Although the Wood House is now 160 years old, there have been only a handful of owners. When Alfred Wood died in 1920 and Almira in 1933, the house remained in the Wood family, serving as the home of three of their children, Gertrude, Eloise, and Alfred W. Wood. Eloise Wood died in 1955 at the age of 89, having lived her entire life at the house. James Sacksteder resided there from 1956 to 1977, and Ken Faust for the next couple of years. In March of 1979, Jack Mowat and his wife Jean purchased the house and remodeled the interior in 1981. Mowat, an Air Force veteran of World War II, served in the Michigan House of Representatives from 1970 to 1978 and as a state senator from 1978 to 1982. He also ran Mowat and Son Orchards in Adrian, winning an award from the Kellogg Foundation for his farming practices. Attorney David Cooper and artist Patricia have owned the house since 1985, renovating it extensively in 2001-2003 and filling it with their collection of art.
© Paul Plassman, 2025
Although the Wood House is now 160 years old, there have been only a handful of owners. When Alfred Wood died in 1920 and Almira in 1933, the house remained in the Wood family, serving as the home of three of their children, Gertrude, Eloise, and Alfred W. Wood. Eloise Wood died in 1955 at the age of 89, having lived her entire life at the house. James Sacksteder resided there from 1956 to 1977, and Ken Faust for the next couple of years. In March of 1979, Jack Mowat and his wife Jean purchased the house and remodeled the interior in 1981. Mowat, an Air Force veteran of World War II, served in the Michigan House of Representatives from 1970 to 1978 and as a state senator from 1978 to 1982. He also ran Mowat and Son Orchards in Adrian, winning an award from the Kellogg Foundation for his farming practices. Attorney David Cooper and artist Patricia have owned the house since 1985, renovating it extensively in 2001-2003 and filling it with their collection of art.
© Paul Plassman, 2025
