McSweeney, John, House

Built in 1853, this brick house at 531 North Market Street in Wooster rests on a stone foundation and measures about twenty by forty feet. It has two stories, three bays by three bays, gable ends with small round windows, scrolled bargeboards, louvered shutters and a one-and-one-half-story brick wing on the east. Later changes include a frame porch with stone walls, an oriel window, rock-faced stone trim, a metal roof and painted brick. Inside, a central stairway divides a living room, reported as the earliest of its size in Wayne County, from the dining room. The house was the home of three generations of lawyers, all named John McSweeney. The first was a well-known criminal lawyer, the second served as Wooster city solicitor and Wayne County prosecutor, and the third served in the U.S. Congress from 1935 to 1950. The nomination ranks it the second most important house in Wayne County historically. The interior now holds offices, though no original partitions were removed.