Laws, Alexander, House
Front and Walnut Sts., Leipsic, DELocated on the southwest corner of Front and Walnut Streets in Leipsic, the house is a two-and-a-half story, gable-roofed dwelling of braced frame construction, with frame wings extending to the rear of the structure along Walnut Street. The exterior of the structure is presently covered with aluminum siding, but the house is distinguished by a fine Eastlake porch, round-arched roof dormers, and handsome Greek Revival entry.
The earliest portion of the structure may be the kitchen wing, one story in elevation with a large gable and hearth and an overhead loft originally reached by a ladder-like stair. Such low-profile dwellings were common in Leipsic and several may still be found moved behind larger additions now fronting the village's primary thoroughfares.
Between 1820 and 1830 the main block of the present structure was added fronting Front Street and the Leipsic River. The first floor of this section contains a Federal period side-hall plan, one room deep with an interior gable end chimney pile. All the rooms of the Federal period block retain their mantel pieces typified by the east parlor with a composition made up of a bulls-eye capital on an engaged fluted pilaster and bearing a full entablature. The paneled front door has a three-light transom, side lights and pilasters, and a box lock and bell (dated September 8, 1868) on the inside. The stair passage contains an open string stair with a turned newel and stick-type balusters. Outbuildings, no longer extant, included a smokehouse immediately behind the house and a horse barn and loft located across Front Street.
By 1868, this property had come into the ownership of Alexander and Elizabeth Laws. Alexander Laws represents the non-water-oriented component of nineteenth-century Leipsic and Little Creek, through his activities as a farmer and merchant. The commitment of Laws to farming is illustrated in the 1850 census, which lists his wealth at $33,000--86% of which was tied up in the real estate.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.