19th-Century Adrian Architecture is an award winning website that presents images and information about popular styles of architecture in Adrian, Michigan, that can be found on ordinary, everyday houses and public buildings throughout North America from the middle of the nineteenth century until the first third of the twentieth century. The names of the styles are listed to the left.

The main texts for this site were written by Peter Barr, Professor of Art History at Siena Heights University in Adrian. The website also includes numerous links and additional texts available as PDF files. Many of them have been written by Professor Barr's students.

Rich in photographic illustrations, this site can help you become familiar with the styles of these buildings and estimate their ages. Accompanying information helps place these styles within their historical contexts. One page provides a sketch of Adrian’s history; another defines key architectural terms. You will also find here a selected bibliography and a quizzing feature that you can use to test your knowledge about architectural styles. (The results of the quiz are neither recorded nor reported; only the person taking the quiz receives the results.)

Finally, the site contains information about a self-guided walking tour of Adrian’s Dennis Street/State Street Historic District, which is available in the form of a five-page full-color brochure for $2.50 at the Lenawee County Historical Museum. This district is located next to the Museum and contains a remarkable variety of nineteenth-century architectural styles. The entire purchase price of the tour brochure helps to support the Historical Society.

This website and the printed tour brochure have been a collaborative effort involving students from Siena Heights University, the Lenawee County Historical Museum (where the students conduced much of their research) and the Dennis Street/State Street Historic District Commission. The resulting research papers by these students have informed much of the Dennis Street/State Street tour brochure and have been published in their entirety within the pages of this website. Click here to read the students' research assignment.

In April 2005, this site received Special Recognition from Imagining Michigan, which identified "Nineteenth-Century Adrian Architecture" as a model for a Campus-Community Partnership. Members of the Awards Committee felt that the project was "quite meritorious and worthy of attention," noting that "the philosophy of the project embodied Imagining Michigan's vision of taking the campus into the community and involving multiple parties with distinctly different goals.  They commended Siena Heights University for engaging in significant historic preservation scholarship, and wished that colleges and universities across the state would follow suit.  Lastly, they praised the website for its impact and its long-term potential, and encouraged all partners to continue working in this vein."

This site was designed by Todd Marsee with generous financial support of the Teagle Foundation, the Sage Foundation, and Siena Heights University. Arthur Parker created the program that makes the quiz function properly. Printing of information and images from this website for non-profit educational purposes is encouraged; no permission is needed. For all other purposes, please contact Peter Barr through Siena Heights University.

Bibliography (PDF)

Note: In order to read PDF documents, you must have Adobe Acrobat. To download this free software go to the Adobe website.