2524 Euclid Heights Blvd. (1983)

Between 1915 and 1917 Harold Hays Brown, secretary, treasurer, and manager of the H. W. Brown & Son General Contracting Company, bought and developed, with architect Edward G. Hatch, the piece of land on the south side of Euclid Heights Boulevard (then called Euclid Boulevard) between Berkshire and East Overlook roads.

The ten homes which he built constitute an example of early tract housing, a development essentially unknown in this neighborhood and thus imaginatively disguised. Although the structural similarities are unmistakable, there are major variations in the attached/unattached garages, the character of the main staircases and second floor hallways, and the size of the front porches. In addition, there is variation in the facades — Dutch Colonial, Prairie Style, Georgian, Tudor — which is echoed in interior details of the fireplaces and front window construction. With the substantial price tag of $30,000 in 1917, these houses were built as homes for upper middle class (H. H. Brown himself lived the middle of the block).

At the western end of the block¹ is one of the three homes in H.H. Brown's development to have an attached garage. The homes with this feature, although they vary in other structural details, seem to have a more elaborate stairwell and landing.

Note the similarities between the houses on the tour. Certain traits are earmarks of the whole development—the roomy entrance foyer, the narrow, accented hardwood floor, the wainscoting in the dining room and the center hall, the crown molding throughout the house and the pantry with sink between the kitchen and dining room.

The differences are also interesting. In this house, bought three years ago by the present owners, the wide staircase leads upstairs from one side of the center hall, turns, and continues up to a curved hallway with three bedrooms opening into it. At the first landing is a room accessible from a side hallway to the servants' quarters in the back of the house. It is easy to see why this room, with its high windows overlooking the drive, is a favorite of the owners.

¹ For the house at the eastern end, see 2570 Euclid Heights Boulevard, which was also on the 1983 House Tour.