| Travel far and wide and you’ll
still be hard-pressed to find a more elegant example of
Victorian Italianate architecture than The Billmeyer House.
Today, the building is part of the First Presbyterian Church
complex; however, it was built originally in 1863 by Charles
Billmeyer, a railroad car manufacturer. This unique building
features frescos by Costagini and Scataglia, two Italian artists
who assisted in the painting of the U.S. Capitol Building.
(These two painters also worked in the nearby Brownstone
Building, built by Billmeyer’s business partner, David Small.)
Not surprisingly, the Billmeyer House is today listed on the
National Register of Historic Places. Architectural features
include scroll-saw brackets,
quoins, cupola,
arched windows with
hood mold and foliate
keystone, multiple chimneys, and—on the
side elevation—an oriel.
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© 2002 by Scott D. Butcher
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