706 SE 1st St

706 SE 1st St View all images of 706 SE 1st St

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1860	House is built
c1871	Remodeled

Location

Architecture

History

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Lewis Howes1860/c1871gillette/newman, Built in the 1850s for Lewis Howes, an early Evansville merchant, the home was sold in the spring of 1861 to banker William Lowry. In 1871 Lowry made substantial improvements to the home. The elegant iron veranda with upper portico and a third story with mansard roof with dormer windows were added, transforming the home into a French Second Empire mansion. A bay was added on the north side of the home without disturbing the balanced facade or the view from the street. The interior was finished tulip poplar with gold leaf caps on the windows and doors, molded plaster cornices, carved marble mantels, fluted stiles on the door and window trim, and ornamental chandeliers. The walls were decorated with frescos in pastel colors done by Evansville artist John Alt. The bay window area of the drawing room was attractively decorated. The tall drapes, and pier mirrors reflected a continuous view of the room. After Mr. Lowry died in 1873, Mrs. Lowry gave the home to their daughter who was married to Simeon P. Gillett, cashier and later president of Citizens National Bank. The Gilletts lived rather modestly but did have dinner parties from time to time until the death of Mr. Gillett in 1910. second empire three windows across the front, more ornamental lintels over the windows and richer bracketing under the eaves. Its large two-storied iron porch on the front is exceptional, a feature that is reminiscent of similar galleries on buildings in New Orleans. The date giving for its construction is 1860-61 and if correct one suspects that the mansard roof and some of the trim were added in the seventies s p gillett president citizens national bank wooden porch now metal

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