During the 1860's everyone wanted a house by William Peake Jr.
He was the contractor of choice in the West River Country.
He was the contractor of choice in the West River Country.
Peake was born in Owensville in 1837, the third of 13 children. He attended school at the local Classical Institute.
He became an accomplished carpenter, but more than that, he appears to have been fascinated by new trends in architecture as shown in published pattern books, such as "Villas and Cottages" by Calvert Vaux. In order to jumpstart his career, Peake did something clever.
He introduced the new styles to Owensville by building a stylish house for himself.
His house featured five cross gables with enclosed Gothic arched windows, Gingerbread trim along the gable eaves, and a full width porch encasing a projecting front bay.
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| William Peake's own house built c1865 |
At about this same time, a proposed new rail line through West River caused a flurry of land investment and building activity. Peake, functioning as a designer and general contractor, began rolling out new houses with Gothic Revival and Italianate flare. Singlehandedly he changed the architectural face of the West River neighborhood.
But William Peake's moment in the sun was short lived. Forces outside his control crushed him.
The Financial Panic of 1873 ended hopes for the Baltimore to Drum Point Rail Line.
After the Civil War, without slave labor, farmland lay fallow and incomes plummeted.
There were bank failures and a second Financial Panic in 1893.
Many in Owensville moved to Baltimore in search of work.
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| Wm Henry Peake Jr (1913) |
Peake's last documented job was the GrandStand at the Marlboro Fair Grounds in 1893.
By 1897 he had lost his beloved house in Owensville and joined the exodus to Baltimore. He lived in rental properties with his son's family, and worked on and off at carpentry.
After 1910 he and his wife Jennie retired to a small dwelling in Galesville, an addition to the home of her sister Carrie Weedon.
William died in 1920, but his picturesque stylish houses live on:
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| Ashland, built for William Hill 1867 |
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| Quarter Place, for Augustus Hall 1860's |
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| Tamarack Hill, for Nathaniel Chew 1867 |
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| Farmhouse updated 1864 for James Owens |
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| Village house completed by 1870 for Hank Owens |
Where is Quarter Place? That looks familiar as a house that I bicycled in to selling raffle tickets and was chased away by the owner. I think it was somewhere near the old post office.
ReplyDeleteNo, Quarter Place is south of the Lothian round-about. You may be thinking of Chews Chapel Rd, the site of the PO in the 1980's.
ReplyDeleteWhat are your sources for this information? I ask only because I am looking into Peake's role in the building of the James Owens Farm house.
ReplyDeleteHello William. I am an amateur historian. But several of my sources for Wm Peake Jr are three professional historians: Susan Pearl who wrote the National Register nomination for Peake's construction "Ashland", and Betty Bird who wrote the nomination for Peake's "Quarter Place", and Donna Ware who wrote the nomination for "James Owens Farm". Donna and Betty agree that Wm Peake Jr was the designer/builder of "Js Owens Farm" and "Quarter Place".
DeleteBetty's contact info is below, and Donna is now at Historic Annapolis Foundation. Hope this helps.
Betty Bird & Associates LLC
2607 24th Street, NW, Suite 3
Washington, DC 20008
betty.bird@verizon.net
(Look on pages 3,5,and 8 of the "Quarter Place" nomination for references to Peake Jr.)