ABOUT THEN AND AGAIN

Robert B. Fowzer constructed 304 N. Washington Street between 1880 and 1883. He was a bricklayer and built the house for himself and his family. Fowzer lived at 304 N. Washington Street until his death in 1925. Some time between 1885 and 1895 records show that the house's secondary front door was added to accomodate a separate apartment. It is assumed that Fowzer added the apartment to his home to compensate for a drop in income due to the economic Depression which began in 1893 and lasted 3-4 years.

Upon the death of Fowzer and his wife, Mary, title to 304 N. Washington Street passed to a granddaughter, Mary Josephine Fowzer. Mary owned the home for 12 years. In 1945 she sold the house to Robert Kinzer, a clerk. This sale ended 65 years of ownership by the Fowzer family. The house was designed in the Italianate style, the most popular style for homes in Southwestern Pennsylvania between 1860-1885. Italianate hosues built in small town, and rural settings in Pennsylvania were often constructed with centered entries and side-gabled roofs, like 304 N. Washington Street. Typical details of Italianate houses included arched window openings, protruding window hoods, and decorative brackets supporting box gutters.

The ornate window hoods that were used in construction of 304 N. Washington Street are typical of Italianate houses built in Southwestern Pennsylvania in the early 1880's. Interior details of Italianate homes often included flared newel posts and spindles, marble or wood mantles with arched openings, four-panel doors wtih porcelain knobs and ornamented cast iron hinges, and non-symmetrical door and window trim with diagonally mitered corners. In Southwestern Pennsylvania, many Italianate homes were built with stairways that incorporated landings located about three steps below the main level of the second floor.







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