Bunnell-Read House

The Bunnell Read House is an amazing Gothic Revival house, and is considered a transitional example, because it also shows some Greek Revival influences. Very little about this house has been changed.

Features include the decorative verge board and steep pitched roof. The brick cross-shaped portion is the original house, with a first floor addition circa 1860 of beveled siding. The entrance has a heavy entablature.

The front bay windows have arched tops, with an engraved lintel and pilasters between. Upstairs, the window has brackets that show the Greek Revival influence. The house also has narrow windows to the side.

The house was apparently built as an investment property. This land was originally owned by David Hudson, then Benjamin Whedon. After a variety of land divides and sales, this lot/portion came into the hands of Anson A. Brewster in March 1849.

Brewster sold it to Frederick Bunnell in September 1850 for $250, repurchasing it in November, 1851 for $900– the increase due to the presence of a new house. Brewster transferred ownership to Matthew C. Read and G.P. Ashmun in October 1852, with Ashmun’s name soon disappearing from the record.

M.C. Read grew up in Ashtabula County where his parents and grandparents had settled. He came to Hudson to study at Western Reserve College, graduated in 1848, and earned a Masters there in 1850. In 1851, he married Orissa Andrews and brought her to settle in Hudson. Five generations of Reads subsequently grew up in this home and owned the property until 1950.