Thomas Ready House, 1858

206 North Thayer

Thomas Ready House, 1858

When Thomas Ready constructed this Greek Revival cottage in the late 1850s, its only neighbor was the former Ellsworth Boarding house up the street at the southeast corner of Catherine and Thayer Streets. Both were built after the University of Michigan decreed that students could no longer live on campus. President Tappan's edict in 1852 prompted a mad scramble by local citizens to accommodate the new demand for housing (see Harvey Bannister House). This overlapped with the expansion of the Irish community into this neighborhood.

The chain of title for this property reveals an almost unbroken string of Irish names, from Ready to Timothy Keating, James Evans, and Patrick O'Hearn. O'Hearn purchased the property in 1885 and his family owned it for the next 70 years. In 1888 O'Hearn built another house on the north half of this property (see Patrick O'Hearn House) which he used as a rental and never lived in himself.

Simple in shape and style, the main attraction of this clapboard house is its beautiful, intact Italianate porch with the filigree scroll work and thin chamfered columns typical of the style. Also characteristic is the absence of any porch railing. The house is an excellent example of vernacular architecture in Ann Arbor.

The current owners have taken meticulous care of their home and were given a preservation award in 1989 by the Ann Arbor Historic District Commission. They too are of Irish descent, though not related to the earlier owners.