Howard, Horatio N., House

The Horatio N. Howard House is significant as a fine Oakland County example of the Greek Revival style and as one of only two large scale Greek Revival dwellings--along with the Wisner House (Pine Grove)--remaining in Pontiac, Michigan's oldest inland town. The structure is also notable as the one-time residence of Horatio N. Howard, one of Pontiac's most prominent early businessmen. The property on which the Howard House is located is part of the land acquired by Colonel Stephen Mack for the Pontiac Land Company in 1818. Mack, a veteran of the War for Independence, moved from Connecticut to Detroit in 1810, and after serving as the director of the Bank of Michigan, he became an agent for the Detroit-based Pontiac Land Company. Mack was among the earliest settlers in Oakland County and under his direction the Pontiac Land Company erected a dam and several mills which were largely responsible for Pontiac's early growth. A subsequent owner of the property was Horatio N. Howard, who came to Pontiac from Genesee, Livingston County, New York, in 1829. Howard initially operated a general store, but in 1832-33 purchased a large industrial property, including a flour mill, woolen factory, and a trip-hammer shop. In 1845 he sold a two-thirds interest in this property to A.A. Lull and Albert F. Draper and the resulting firm constructed a much larger flour mill known as the Pontiac Mill. Howard sold out in 1847. Horatio Howard was also involved in a distillery business and was a partner in the construction of a mill dam, race, and machine shop elsewhere in town. Howard purchased the property on which this house stands in 1849 and it appears likely he had the house built shortly thereafter. The structure remained in Howard family ownership until the 1870s. A somewhat later owner was Melvin D. Sly, a native of Oakland County, who was born in 1853, studied at the Wyoming Seminary in Kingston, Pennsylvania in the early 1870s, returning to Oakland County in 1873. Sly was a member of the dry goods firm of J.S. Stockwell and Company and in 1889 he was elected Registrar of Deeds for Oakland County. Sly owned the house from 1881 to 1906.

The Horatio N. Howard House is a two-story, end-gable, Greek Revival house, with a one-and-one-half-story, flank-gable subordinate wing, located north of Pontiac's central business district on the west side of Saginaw Street. Constructed of red brick, the structure has a wide entablature and porches with Doric columns. The Howard House has an L-shaped plan with the principal facade facing east. The structure stands on a stone foundation and its roof is now clad in red, asphalt shingling. The main portion of the house is two stories in height and has a low pitch, end-gable roof; it has classical cornices with returns and wide architrave and frieze bands. The east facade (front) of the house's main portion contains the main entrance, located in the southernmost bay. Its door is set in a recessed porch fronted by a distyle in antis portico with fluted Doric columns. The panelled door is framed by a pair of pilasters and has sidelights and a rectangular transom. The one-and-one-half-story wing is connected to the south flank of the main portion of the house. The wing has a low-pitch, gable roof which is pierced on its front side by small, gabled dormers. Two interior, brick chimneys rise above the roof ridge. The wing has classical cornices and cornice returns similar to those found in the main portion of the house. Across most of the wing's east facade is a porch containing anta-type pilasters and six fluted Doric, wooden columns. It has a wood deck. The porch shelters two entrances. In the wing's north end is one window in the upper story and a pair of windows at the center of the lower story. The rear (west) side of the wing has several irregularly spaced doors and windows, some of which are not original to the house. The west side has two frieze windows on the west side. The roof over the south end of the wing is hipped and extends over a raised porch at the rear of the house's main body. A wide entablature, which is continued around the porch, and the roof are supported by two fluted Doric columns and an anta-type pilaster. The porch deck is wood and is supported by brick piers. The interior of the two-story portion of the Howard House is essentially unaltered. A hall on the north side contains the main staircase, with simple turned balusters and newel post, against the north wall. Two doorways on the south side of the hall lead to a pair of parlors which are connected by a large, segmental arch-head doorway with panelled sliding doors. Each parlor contains a fireplace, with a large Greek Revival mantel piece, against the south wall.