HISTORIC MILAN WALKING TOUR
106 Center Street – Greek Revival Style 1820-1860
Built in 1848, the main portion of the house is a square, with a rectangular wing on the left. The
hip roof is crowned with a balustrade in the center. Four chimneys grace the north and south
walls, indicating a more open floor plan, and formal interior setting. The entablature, composed
of the architrave, frieze and cornice are classically simplistic. Anta, square shaped columns with
capitals support the entry porch roof. The door is framed with transom and sidelight windows.
115 Center Street – Greek Revival Style
Built in 1849, the house has a formal balance. The central portion of the house is flanked with
north and south wings. The wings have porches, supported with Doric columns. The front door
is framed with transom and sidelight windows. Stone lintel headers are used over the windows
and doorway. The entablature consists of a grooved architrave, plain frieze and a plain cornice.
This home is similar in its Greek Revival simplicity to the home at 106 Center Street.
128 Center Street – Greek Revival Style
The house was built in 1848 by one of the first builders of iron bridges in the country, Zenas
King. The temple porch or portico is supported by Ionic columns, has an entablature with dentil
detailing and a triangular gable known as a pediment. The tympanum, or face of the pediment, is
decorated with shells and scrolls. Pilasters are found at the front corners and give the illusion of
additional columns. The first floor windows are ornamented with anthemion, a conventionalized
leaf ornament which appears to radiate from a single point. The northern and southern wings
give the house an asymmetrical appearance.
59 South Main Street – Federal Style
Built circa 1823, this Federal Style has the characteristic elliptical fanlight over the entrance with
sidelights, ornate dental moldings on the cornice and the oval fan molding on the pediment.
49 South Main Street – Queen Ann Style
This style was the most varied and decoratively rich style. The asymmetrical composition
consists of a variety of forms, textures, materials and colors. Architectural parts include towers,
turrets, tall chimneys, projecting pavilions, porches, bays and encircling verandahs.
Milan Public Square
The square was created in 1868 when grass and trees were planted. Prior to that time, it was the
hitching lot for horses during the heyday of the Milan Canal.
Dedicated on July 4, 1867, the Civil War monument lists the names of those who served from
Milan Township and Village. In 1976 the stone eagle was replaced with one of bronze. The iron
fencing, which had surrounded the monument at one time, was re-established through the efforts
of the Milan Chamber of Commerce in 1995.
North Main Street – Western Square
In 1852 a fire broke out on the west side of the square and destroyed all fourteen structures with
the exception of the brick fronts (circa 1840). The two brick buildings at the south end were
added in the 1860s and 1880s.
Front Street – Northern Square
The Nathan Jenkins Building was built in 1821 (housing present day Sipe’s Hair Shop). In 1833
it was moved to the rear of the property and the Mansion Tavern was constructed on the site. In
1853 the Tavern burned and the little store was moved back to its original location.
The Andrews Building was constructed in 1826 and originally had three stories (present day
Wonder Bar).
The Odd Fellow Building (present day American Legion) was built in 1888 and housed the first
chartered bank in Milan.
Park Street – Eastern Square
The Hamilton/Standart Building (present day Key Bank) was built as a store in 1826. Through
the years the building housed several businesses. In 1874 the Masonic Order took over the
second and third floors.
The Kelley Building was build by captain and shipbuilder Henry Kelley in 1869-1870. The front
of the structure has cast iron Corinthian columns and window cornices.
The Milan Town Hall, built in 1876, was destroyed by fire in 1888 and rebuilt using the original
brick walls. When it was re-constructed a full story clock tower was added, donated by Captain
Henry Kelley.
Church Street – Southern Square
The Milan Library was created in 1846 and was located in a business on the north side of the
square. The present building was built in 1912 on land donated by A.L. Hoover and William
Galpin with a grant from the Carnegie Foundation. An addition to the rear was built in 1980.
The original Milan Inn was constructed in 1845, but destroyed along with the Town Hall in the
fire of 1888. After its rebuilding, the Inn housed several businesses and sleeping rooms were
available until the mid-1950s.
Greek Revival 1820-1860:
• Pedimented gable
• Symmetrical shape
• Heavy cornice
• Wide, plain frieze
• Bold, simple moldings
About the Greek Revival Style
In the mid-19th century, many prosperous Americans believed that ancient Greece represented
the spirit of democracy. Interest in British styles had waned during the bitter War of 1812. Also,
many Americans sympathized with Greece's own struggles for independence in the 1820s.
Greek Revival architecture began with public buildings in Philadelphia. Many European-trained
architects designed in the popular Grecian style, and the fashion spread via carpenter's guides
and pattern books. Colonnaded Greek Revival mansions - sometimes called Southern Colonial
houses - sprang up throughout the American south. With its classic clapboard exterior and bold,
simple lines, Greek Revival architecture became the most predominant housing style in the
United States.
During the second half of the 19th century, Gothic Revival and Italianate styles captured the
American imagination. Grecian ideas faded from popularity. However, front-gable design - a
trademark of the Greek Revival style - continued to influence the shape of American houses well
into the 20th century. You will notice the classic front-gable design in simple "National Style"
farm houses throughout the United States.
American Federal 1780-1820:
• Low-pitched roof, or flat roof with a balustrade
• Windows arranged symmetrically around a center doorway
• Semicircular fanlight over the front door
• Narrow side windows flanking the front door
• Decorative crown or roof over front door
• Tooth-like dentil moldings in the cornice
• Palladian window
• Circular or elliptical windows
• Shutters
• Decorative swags and garlands
• Oval rooms and arches
About the Federal Style
Like much of America's architecture, the Federal (or Federalist) style has its roots in England.
Two British brothers named Adam adapted the pragmatic Georgian style, adding swags,
garlands, urns, and other delicate details. In the American colonies, homes and public buildings
also took on graceful airs. Inspired by the work of the Adam brothers and also by the great
temples of ancient Greece and Rome, Americans began to build homes with Palladian windows,
circular or elliptical windows, recessed wall arches, and oval-shaped rooms. This new Federal
style became associated with America's evolving national identity.
It's easy to confuse Federalist architecture with the earlier Georgian Colonial style. The
difference is in the details: While Georgian homes are square and angular; a Federal style
building is more likely to have curved lines and decorative flourishes. Federalist architecture was
the favored style in the United States from about 1780 until the 1830s. However, Federalist
details are often incorporated into modern American homes. Look past the vinyl siding, and you
may see a fanlight or the elegant arch of a Palladian window.
Queen Anne 1880-1900:
• Steep roof
• Complicated, asymmetrical shape
• Front-facing gable
• One-story porch that extends across one or two sides of the house
• Round or square towers
• Wall surfaces textured with decorative shingles, patterned masonry, or half-timbering
• Ornamental spindles and brackets
• Bay windows
About the Queen Anne style
Queen Anne became an architectural fashion in the 1880s and 1890s, when the industrial
revolution brought new technologies. Builders began to use mass-produced pre-cut architectural
trim to create fanciful and sometimes flamboyant houses.
Not all Queen Anne houses are lavishly decorated, however. Some builders showed restraint in
their use of embellishments. Still, the flashy "painted ladies" of San Francisco and the refined
brownstones of Brooklyn share many of the same features.
Definitions
An anta is the post on either side of a doorway or entrance directly connected to the walls. When
there are columns between antae, as in a porch facade, rather than a solid wall, the columns are
said to be in antis
Palmette also called anthemion (from the Greek, a flower) is an art style based on the
fan-shaped leaves of a palm tree. It was largely employed in the Greek/Roman era as decoration
The architrave (also called epistyle) is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of the
columns. As such, it is the lowest part of the entablature consisting of architrave, frieze and
cornice.
A balustrade is a row of repeating balusters -- small posts which support the upper rail of a
railing. Staircases and porches often have balustrades.
A column is an upright pillar or post. Columns may support a roof or a beam, or they may be
purely decorative. The lower portion of a column is called the base. The upper portion of a
column is called the capital. The classical column designs are:
From Ancient Greece
Tuscan
From Ancient Rome
The cornice is the uppermost section of moldings along the top of a wall or just below a roof.
A dentil is one of a series of a series of closely spaced, rectangular blocks that form a molding.
The dentil molding usually projects below the cornice, along the roofline of a building. However,
the dentil molding can form a decorative band anywhere on the structure.
An entablature is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above the
columns, resting on their capitals. Entablature is commonly divided into the architrave—the
supporting member carried from column to column, pier or wall immediately above; the frieze—
an unmolded strip that may or may not be ornamented; and the cornice, the projecting member
below the pediment.
A frieze is a horizontal band which runs above doorways and windows or below the cornice. The
frieze may be decorated with designs or carvings.
A pediment is a low-pitched triangular gable on the front of some buildings in the Grecian or
Greek Revival style of architecture.
A pilaster is a rectangular support which resembles a flat column. The pilaster projects only
slightly from the wall, and has a base, a shaft, and a capital. Greek Revival homes often have
pilasters.
A transom is the term given to the horizontal member which is framed across a window,
dividing it into stages.
A tympanum (plural, tympana) is the semi-circular or triangular decorative wall surface over an
entrance bounded by a lintel and arch, within the pediment.