207 Howard St
ADDRESS: 207 Howard Street
BUILT: 1887
ARCHITECTURAL STYLE: Stick, or Eastlake
In 1887, Charles G. Shafer purchased a block of three lots bounded by James, Howard, Racecourse, and Duncan Streets in the Racecourse Addition of the town.
This house was built on part of Lot 19 by investor Charles G. Shafer in the Stick style or Eastlake style of architecture, which was very current in 1887. Stick Style, was reminiscent of the Tudor styles of the 1500s, especially the exposed frame and half-timbered construction. In Stick-style homes of the late 19th century, however, the stickwork is not structural but is for decoration only.
It can be interpreted as part of the Queen Anne style, with its multiple roof and window styles, turrets, paneled chimneys, wrap porches, porch railings with spindle details, and gable peak decoration. The Victorians would have painted the house in earth tones and brought out the stickwork in contrasting colors.
A house salesman according to the US Census in 1890, Shafer apparently built the house on speculation and sold it to Sarah V. Paynter. Tax records indicate that the new house was worth $2,000, which was a considerable house at the time. After she died in 1890, Mrs. Paynter’s heirs sold the house to Sallie G. Holladay, wife of Richmond lawyer Addison Holladay. Sallie was the daughter of Charles Gwathmey, developer of the Gwathmey neighborhood about a mile south of Ashland on the Center Street extension.
Mrs. Holladay sold the house to Tate and Hettie Taylor Chenery in 1890. Unfortunately, the Richmond firm of Chenery and Peatross, a shoe company, of which Tate Chenery was a prinicipal owner, was forced into bankruptcy. However, Hettie’s brother Warren P. Taylor purchased the home so the Chenerys could continue to live there. Taylor sold the house to George O. Allen in 1929 when the Chenerys moved to Richmond.
The house had seen 12 turnovers in ownership between 1887 and 1986, when current owner Schuyler Miller bought it, becoming the longest tenant of this elegant old home.