Pieffer-Bennett Building,
1840s

Huntington-Wellers Building,
1850

Before restoration, but after stabilization and removal of a modern addition.

After restoration.  

Built during the 1860s, the McCoy-Russell House is an almost square (24- by 26-foot) balloon frame, two-full-story vernacular house.  Its unknown builder, however, was able to capture some of the popular Italianate style by shaping the overhanging roof rafters to imitate a decorative bracket.  Triangular window and door pediments also add a classical feature to this otherwise simple building.

Occupied continuously until 1990, the McCoy-Russell House had received the typical "upgrades" over time, including composite fiber overlay siding in the 1950s as well as inappropriate additions.  During the restoration process all of these were removed.  The landscape immediately surrounding the house had also been altered in 1952 when the adjacent highway was built up to avoid flooding.  The house yard was also built up to the new highway grade, completely obscuring the limestone foundation.  The restoration process included the raising of the house 30 inches and extension of the existing foundation up to the new height of the house, thereby re-establishing its original landscape relationship.

The current house is built upon the foundation and deck—sills, log joists, summer beam—of an earlier house.  The fate of the earlier house is unknown, but it probably was torn down to the deck for the purpose of building a larger, two-story house, or possibly to have a new and "modern" house about the time of the Civil War!  Quite a few of the earlier house's components have been reused in the existing house.  Some pieces of roof sheathing show paint lines indicating their original use as siding boards; many interior wall studs and second floor ceiling joists are oak and cut by a waterpowered up-and-down sawmill; and early door and window trim pieces have been reused as lath nailers.  So we can be quite sure that the earlier house on this deck dated to the 1840s.  All of the building components are, of course, preserved in the restored McCoy-Russell House.

The restoration of this house has been an ongoing project, worked whenever the Trust had available funds and the time to spend.  The last phase took place in the summer of 2007 with finish painting of interior plaster and installation of kitchen cabinets and fixtures followed by finish landscapting and building of a decorative yard fence.  Its use will be residential, with two living units, one upstairs and one first-floor unit.  These units were created with only minor alteration to the historic floor plans of the interior.  The McCoy-Russell house is located at 5860 Sheldon Street in the Village of Gratiot.

< View showing summer kitchen addition detached and moved away from the house, preparatory to raising the structure.

< Installation of new wood shingle roof on the house in September 2001.

Closeup showing sill splice made during repair. >

< View of exposed north sill showing replaced portion of sill.

Extending the foundation up to the sills of the house after the building was raised 30 inches. >

Finishing mortar joints of the extended foundation.>