Edward L. Adams House, 1917
Creator: Stanton, Samuel McCoskry

This noble Georgian Revival house was built in 1917 for Edward Larrabee Adams, Professor of French in the Romance Languages Department at the University of Michigan. Adams, whose specialty was Old Provencal, joined the faculty in 1904 as an instructor and retired as Professor in 1949. In 1917 Adams hired local architect Samuel McCoskry Stanton to design his house. Stanton created this side-gabled, center-entry brick structure to resemble early 18th century American houses. The balanced design, end chimneys, central roof dormer flanked by eyebrow dormers, and the porticoed entry with Chinese Chippendale railing are all features of this style.

Stanton, the grandson of the first Episcopal bishop of Michigan, was born in Detroit and educated as an architect in Paris and Stuttgart. He came to Ann Arbor around 1900 and had a fairly well-established practice by the time he designed this home. His other well-known local buildings include the University of Michigan Homeopathic Hospital (now known as North Hall), the Hobbs house at the corner of Hill and Oxford Road, and his own family home at 501 Onondaga. He also supervised the construction of the Equitable Building in New York City. He practiced in Ann Arbor for over 40 years and died in 1946.

Professor Adams lived on in the house after his retirement until his death in 1958. A few years later it became the home of his son, Edward L. Adams, Jr., a consulting psychologist, who lived here with his wife until 1986. He and his brother Dwight perpetuate their father's name through an endowment to the Romance Languages and Literatures Department which is used to support the department's alumni newsletter. Due to this long continuity of ownership, the house has remained in almost pristine condition.

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