{"nrhp_refnum":"79001828","name":"Melville-Milne, William Gordon, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"319 Lawrence St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Sandusky","county":"Erie County","state":"OH","lat":41.45199972300003,"lon":-82.71704858899994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-03-28","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A house at 319 Lawrence Street in Sandusky, Erie County, Ohio, built around 1840 by the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad. The front half is limestone and the rear is stuccoed wood frame.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is significant for its unusual cottage design, with a central gable, wide eaves and low roof, within Sandusky's common limestone building tradition. It is also one of several residences built as employee housing by Ohio's first railroad. Its owners were representative Sandusky citizens.","narrative":"Built around 1840 at 319 Lawrence Street in Sandusky, this limestone-fronted cottage was constructed by the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad, Ohio's first railroad, as employee housing. The stone came from a nearby Washington Street quarry. It is named for William Gordon Melville-Milne, a Scottish-born railroad employee who settled in Sandusky in 1847. His widow raised eight children there, and his son James, later the city's postmaster, became sole owner. In 1912 Frederick Emmons, a paper company executive, remodeled it, adding a stuccoed rear wing, a Tuscan-columned porch and a shallow gambrel roof, nearly doubling its size. Limestone houses are common in Sandusky, but this one's central gable, wide eaves and low roof make it unusual locally. Its design, railroad connection and ownership by representative townspeople led to its recognition as a local landmark.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad (builder)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied as a private residence; altered in 1912 but the interior is described as intact apart from later redecoration.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:12.043005-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/79001828.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001828/edf943fef4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001828/edf943fef4-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Gordon_Melville-Milne_House.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Gordon_Melville-Milne_House.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71988114","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q137771058"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/erie-county/melville-milne-william-gordon-house-79001828/"}