Jacob Beck House, 1864

1444 West Liberty Street

Jacob Beck House, 1864

Jacob Beck built this Greek Revival house in 1864 on twenty acres he had purchased from Eber White, a pioneer farmer in Ann Arbor Township. Beck had been a farmer himself for many years in Scio Township, where his family had settled in 1832. This was his retirement home, and he and his wife spend their last years here. "While residing in Ann Arbor he had no business cares, but enjoyed the rest which he had truly earned and richly deserved," a biographer wrote in 1906.

Interior living space was gained when the roof of the house was raised to permit the addition of the upper story. The bay window on the west is a recent embellishment. Well preserved after more than a century on its hill, the Beck house remains a private residence.