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

S415 South Fifth Avenue
Gaskell-Beakes House 1838 1859
Probably built by Clayton Gaskell around 1838, this house then passed
through inheritance to the Beakes family who enlarged it in 1859. With its
pedimented gable-front orientation, attic lunette, elaborate cornice, pilasters
and classical entry, the house resembles many Greek Revival houses in upstate
New York.
The house was the residence for two Ann Arbor mayors: Hiram Beakes, mayor
from 1873-75, and Samuel Beakes, mayor from 1888-1890. Hiram lived in the
house from 1860 until the late 1880s and also served as Probate Judge of
Washtenaw County in the 1870s. His daughter Annie Beakes married Samuel
Beakes (no relation).
It is Samuel Beakes after whom Beakes Street is named and it is he who
authored the voluminous history of Washtenaw County in 1906 known as Past
and Present of Washtenaw County. Samuel Beakes was also a major figure in local
politics as chair of the county Democratic party, city treasurer, and editor of
the Ann Arbor Argus, a local newspaper with a Democratic orientation.
In 1909 local historian Cornelia Corselius wrote of the house: "Mrs. Hiram
Beakes spent over sixty years under that roof as maiden, wife and widow. It has
been modified and modernized, but the low, spacious rooms are still charming
and old fashioned. A spirit of kindly hospitality always pervaded this home as
Mrs. Beakes enjoyed having her friends around her."
Although the house underwent considerable interior alteration in the 1920s
when it was converted to apartments, its exterior remains largely intact. An
addition on the south elevation includes a bracketed Italianate bay window. In
1936 it was photographed and studied as a candidate for the Historic American
Buildings Survey (HABS) by Emil Lorch, former Director of the University of
Michigan College of Architecture.
IHP