William Scott House

Hillsboro, Highland County, Ohio

Certainly Hillsboro's finest classically inspired residence, completed about 1835. The Ohio Historic Places Dictionary, Volume II describes its architecture:

The building displays, through its overall massing and details, Georgian style architectural features. It exhibits classically influenced detailing which includes doorways with elliptical fanlights, six-over-six multi-paned windows, molded fascia board along the roofline, entrance porticoes with fluted Doric columns and pilasters. The unique cupola and projecting bay on the west elevation may have been later additions, since their detailing suggests the romantic influence of the Italianate style of the mid-19th century.

The author's labeling of the home as "Georgian" is perhaps labored; though it shares certain features — its cubic form and classical ornamentation, most prominently — with the style, the Scott House postdates the Georgian era.

The east porch. Note the differences between the home's doorways; this entrance features double doors, while the main entrance is trabeated, with sidelights.

The rear elevation.

This structure, like the Blackstone and Renick smokehouses, features ventilation slits clustered in the shape of a diamond. Presumably, Scott was a Virginian.

Mary Worthington-Macomb House

Chillicothe, Ross County, Ohio

Thomas Worthington, Ohio's sixth governor and owner of the outstanding Latrobe-designed Adena mansion, purchased this building shortly after its 1815 construction. Worthington's daughter, Mary, occupied the home for several years before relocating to Florida. Until recently, a complex of industrial buildings surrounded the structure.

The rear elevation. Note the stairwell window, sitting between the first and second floors; this configuration is typical of well-finished Federal-era homes.

The tool marks are quite visible.

Note the interior stone wall and altered, presumably six-panel front door.

Typical Federal-era woodwork. The mantel's removal is unfortunate.

Blackstone House

Paxton Township, Ross County, Ohio

One of few mid-19th century Ohio homes with original dormers. Though common in the Tidewater South (and other regions settled during the colonial period), dormers never gained popularity in the Midwestern states.

The OHPO's GIS lists the structure as the "Dr. William Blackstone House," built about 1840. The Blackstone family moved to Paxton Township from Botetourt County, Virginia, in 1802.

The house's rear. Note the rake boards and flush chimney.

The accompanying smokehouse is particularly interesting.

The clustered holes provided ventilation. A smokehouse adjoining Mount Oval, in Pickaway County, features similar ventilation slits; Frary included a photograph of this structure in Early Homes of Ohio (page 134), with the following description:

The smokehouse . . . may be traced directly to Virginia, as it should be, for the Renicks came from the Old Dominion. Just what were the antecedents of this attractive little building may not be known, but certain it is that the open diamond pattern in the brickwork is to be found on various buildings in Virginia, including Bremo on the James and Barboursville in Orange County, both of which, by the way, were designed by Thomas Jefferson.

Joseph Maltby House

Springfield Township, Williams County, Ohio

This residence is, so far as I'm aware, Ohio's only extant building with explicitly English antecedents (Muskingum County's Smith House, erected in 1833, is one possible exception); the stone trim, round-arched doorway, window configuration, and slate roof are elements infrequently seen in northern Ohio.

The home before its collapse. Photo by Jon Cutrell, 1996.

Joseph Maltby (1817–1879), a native of Derbyshire, England, immigrated to Williams County after his 1846 marriage, purchasing 120 acres in Springfield Township. Maltby's residence, now ruined, likely dates from the 1860s.

The house in 2014; its current condition is a travesty.