The Blair House

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The Herbert S. Blair House

212 South Lane Street

The Blair House is located in a residential neighborhood east of the central business district. It is a two-story irregularly shaped building with a rock face ashlar stone foundation and horizontal wood siding construction. This Queen Anne style structure is 31 feet wide by 50 feet long and has as asphalt shingled hip roof. The house has one interior brick chimney with terra cotta panels.

The west façade is two bays wide. The left side of the façade features a three-story gabled projection. The first-floor level windows have multiple light transoms of leaded and stained glass. The second-story level is supported by purlins and features windows with the upper sashes bordered by small square lights. The attic gable is also supported by purlins and features a small window with square lights around its border and decorative panels. The right side of the west façade features an ornate gabled portico over the entrance. The original base and posts of the portico have been replaced with a limestone base and wrought iron posts and railings. Above the portico is a two-story gabled projection featuring a second-story single sash window and decorative panels.

Both the north and south facades have three-story gabled projections displaying windows with upper sashes bordered by small square lights and stained glass transoms. An open porch with lattice-like base extends from the east façade. Remodeling of the kitchen has altered the rear façade. In addition to the main house, a fifteen feet wide by twenty feet long shed with horizontal wood siding and a metal gable rood is located fifty feet east of the house and is likely of the same period as the house. A concrete block garage, built in 1960, is located forty feet from the house.

The interior displays wood carved doors, staircases and fireplaces done by the Roehr Interior Wood Trim Company, a local firm that designed the interiors of such notable buildings as the Philadelphia Mint and Annapolis Naval Academy. The front entrance displays beautiful double doors with wooden panels. Beyond a small foyer with al tile floor are a second pair of double doors with wooden panels. Beyond a small foyer with a tile floor is a second pair of double doors with etched glass panels. The stairway is ornately carved in cherry wood. A single sash window highlights the second-floor landing with a stained glass transom looking out the south façade. The front parlor features a carved walnut fireplace with a mirror. Decorative tiles highlight the fireplace.

The Herbert S. Blair House is an excellent local example of the Queen Anne style in architecture because of its excellent craftsmanship and detailing. Built in 1890, it has the highly decorative gables, ornate window treatment with stained glass and varying window patterns, different wall treatments (shingles in the gables and varying widths of clapboards), and massing (projecting bays and uneven roof lines) of the Queen Anne style, in addition to outstanding woodwork on the interior produced by the nationally known Roehr Interior Wood Trim Company of Bucyrus. The house is also important as the home of Herbert S. Blair, a manufacturer of husking gloves, husking pins and other specialties, who operated a shop located on the southeast corner of the public square. In 1917, the Blair house was sold to Ethel Sterling, who sold it to John Q. Pfouts, a mailman, in 1921. In 1944, the Priebes purchased the house. Robert Priebe was one of the original incorporators of the Swan Rubber Company, started in Bucyrus in 1927. Mr. Priebe came to Bucyrus to take over the duties of treasurer of the firm and later became secretary and purchasing agent, retiring from the industry in the 1950's. Mr. Ben Anslow acquired the property from the widowed Mrs. Priebe in 1979 and converted it to accommodate his advertising agency. The second floor has been converted to an apartment.