The Weston House / Sandstone Houses

The Weston House, also, Sandstone Houses. . , The Weston House. This rare sandstone house was built for Austin (c. 1788-1848) and Roxanna (Sears) Lilly (c. 1793-1868). They came to Dover Township (now Westlake) in 1832 from Ashfield, Massachusetts, an area from which many Dover settlers originated. This lot had been owned by Ozias and Hiram Smith. The Lillys erected this house in about 1844 and lived here until 1867. It is made with sandstone blocks two feet thick, finely tooled and dressed in the front and less elaborately on the sides and rear. The basement is constructed with massive rectangular stone blocks. Thick hewn timbers support the massive roof structure. A brick wing was attached to the east side in about 1850. After 1867, the lot and house had several owners, including George Weston, James Beardsley, and August Trudel. Eventually, Alice (Mrs. Dezso) Ladanyi, the great granddaughter of George Weston, deeded the house to the city of Westlake for use as a museum., Sandstone Houses. The sandstone used to construct this house, which displays the skill and craftsmanship of early Ohio builders, came from a local quarry, probably near Porter Road. Sandstone was rarely used to build houses because of the immense labor to extract, transport, and assemble massive stone blocks into a residence. Wood and brick were more common building materials. This area has immense deposits of sandstone, used for the Canadian Parliament Buildings, public buildings in Toronto, plus sidewalks, curbs and buildings throughout Ohio. Several nearby houses are made of sandstone, including a small farmhouse farther west on this road, a finely crafted house at Schwartz and Nagel roads, and Stone Eagle Farm, 33065 Detroit Road, perhaps the region's finest early sandstone house. Nearby Amherst, home to the world's largest sandstone quarry, has a collection of moved and restored early stone buildings at Milan Avenue and Lake Street.