Baker House
House. Contributing, ca. 1910.
Two and one-half story late Queen Anne/Classical Revival style house with a steep front gable roof, shingled in the gable ends. Aluminum siding. One-story wing at rear. Wraparound porch with a porte cochere on the east side and a sunroom above, which appears to date from the 1930s. Porch details include square paneled posts on brick piers. Two interior brick chimneys. Two-over-two and three-vertical-over-one windows; single light-over-panel door. Large lot, with house set high on a hill above street. This house was built by the Baker family from Charleston, South Carolina. Louisa Baker Snowden sold the property to Annie Gover in 1925. It was then sold by Annie Gover into the L. E. Johnson family, then to Life Insurance Company of Virginia in 1932. The property was then sold into the Miller family in 1942, who retained ownership until 1961. The house was then sold to the Shipman family, then to John P. Scholar, Jr. in 1985. That same year, Scholar sold it to the Kara family. The house was sold in 1996 to the Laniers, and in 1999 the present owners, the Wiermans, bought the property. When Miss Anne T. Miller owned the property from 1942 to 1964, the house was known as "Sunshine Lodge." The original lot associated with this house was much larger, including the current 615 and 601 Fourth Avenue West (#178 and 180). The Ambassador Apartments and 600 Fifth Avenue (#148 and 149) were also parceled off this property.
(Sanborn maps, city directories, deeds, owner)
Garage apartment. Contributing, ca. 1925.
Two-story frame garage apartment with shingle siding and a hip roof.
The 1920s postcard above came from Allison Wierman, November 2007.