Historic buildings, Ann Arbor, Michigan / by Marjorie Reade and Susan Wineberg.

1425 Pontiac Trail
Guy Beckley House 1842
The Reverend Guy Beckley, a devout abolitionist, came to Ann Arbor in 1839
with his wife Phyla and their eight children. In 1840 he purchased 28 acres of
land adjoining the farm owned by his brother Josiah, to whom he sold all but
the plot on which this house stands.
The New England Georgian style of this house is unique in Ann Arbor. The
walls are sixteen inches thick and made of field stone in the first story, bonded
and veneered with hand-made brick. (Beckley's brother, Josiah, had a brick
yard, see 133). The heavy oak timbers which make up the interior framing are
carefully doweled together. The trim is done in oak and glossy black walnut.
Instead of the customary fireplaces, the house was entirely heated by Franklin
stoves, an innovation of its day.
Beckley was a man of firm and ardent beliefs. He was well established in Ann
Arbor as a minister and lecturer, active in the antislavery movement. He published an influential abolitionist paper, The Signal of Liberty, edited by
Theodore Foster. Beckley's house was an important "underground" station on
one of the routes from the south.
The Reverend Beckley's time was short,
however, as he died
in 1847, followed by
his wife in 1850. The
house thereafter
changed hands many
times, although the
Pascal Mason family
remained there from
1862 to 1915.
Ralph W. Hammett
and his wife purchased the house in 1933, by then sadly misused and run-down. Hammett, a
professor of architecture and an authority on architectural history, took great
pleasure in restoring the beautiful home we see today. The many windows
with their small panes are original as are the front door and its sidelights. The
front porch is a restoration true to the shape and size tracings on the brick
work. The modernization of the interior was done with a minimum of change
to the structure. The Bertoni famnily who followed the Hammetts valued the
history and the architecture of this home as do the present owners.
IHP

148

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