This mansion, with its church like organ room, was built for the cities Cantaloupe King

Stephen A. Gerrard Mansion, Cincinnati Ohio

Date added: November 30, 2023 Categories:

The home was built for Stephen A. Gerrard, who began as a pushcart vendor in Cincinnati, and eventually built an empire by shipping cantaloupes in refrigerated cars from Colorado where they were grown, to markets in the Midwest and East.

To celebrate his success, Gerrard built this grand Tudor Revival mansion in prestigious Avondale in 1915. Used principally for large landmark houses before 1920, limestone cladding entirely comprises the walls. Various groupings of tall narrow windows and bays punctuate the walls which are topped with a multi-gable steeply pitched slate roof. Decorative elements include delicate stone hoodmolds with dripstones, tudor arches (above doors and window groupings), crenellation, and a stone beltcourse. The roofline is accented with two stone gargoyles and several tall chimneys with decorative chimney pots. The 7,000-square-foot interior is embellished with rich woodwork and paneling, strapwork ceilings, and marble fireplaces. An organ room costing $100,000 was completed in October 1929. Featuring a cathedral ceiling, the organ room has a marble mantelpiece sculpted by the David Hummet Building Company, creating a room so grand that Gerrard published a booklet commemorating the organ's construction.

The Gerrard House is located among other fine larger early 20^th century homes in Cincinnati's North Avondale section. The Gerrard House may be compared to "Lillibanks", in Rookwood Estates. While both houses feature stone wall cladding, stone decorative elements, and a steeply pitched roof, and are excellent examples of the Tudor Revival style as used on large landmark houses, the Gerrard House, with its elaborate organ room, cannot be matched in the city.

Stephen A. Gerrard, born in 1861 in Clermont County, began farming in 1880 when he sold fruits and vegetables in Cincinnati. By 1885, he opened a downtown commission house. When the public began clamoring for cantaloupes, he bought 104 carloads of the fruit from Colorado, and transported them by refrigerated cars in 1904 to markets in the Midwest and the East. He was one of the first to take advantage of refrigerated railroad cars. The S.A. Gerrard Company increased its involvement in cantaloupe production until it operated 42,000 acres of farmland nationwide. In many cases, the company financed the growers, and arranged the production of crops from providing seed to the actual sale of produce. One of Cincinnati's multi-millionaires Gerrard built this house in 1915 on the hill north of Avondale where Cincinnati's wealthy Jewish residents were relocating from the city's West End and Basin.

By 1928-29, the company handled 16,000 carloads of fruits and vegetables, resulting in a gross business of $15 million annually. Shortly after the company arranged the issuance and sale of 75,000 public shares, the Depression hit. Gerrard's company stock went from $35 to 10 cents a share two weeks after completion of his $100,000 organ room. With funds spread in the farmland and the crops, Gerrard, along with a few other principal stockholders, tried to buy back the stock to keep the price high. This effort caused him to lose his considerable savings.

With the company bankrupt and Gerrard penniless, the family mortgaged the house. However, the bank let them stay in the mansion until Stephen died of a stroke in 1936; his widow moved away shortly thereafter. The bank sold the house in the late 1930s, and auctioned off the furnishings. In a letter Gerrard wrote shortly before his death, he summed up his life: "As for myself, I have worked hard, and now almost am back where I first started."

Building Description

The Stephen A. Gerrard House, or the Cantaloupe King Mansion, sits atop the highest crest in Cincinnati's North Avondale at 748 Betula Avenue, just off Rose Hill Avenue. This neighborhood's large elegant residences, many from 1900-1930, were cut up into apartments after World War II as original families moved to the suburbs. After civil rights riots broke out in 1967, some houses were even abandoned. Starting in the 1980s, the neighborhood has improved as private owners buy and restore the homes, once again for single-family residences.

The two-story limestone house was built for Stephen A. Gerrard in 1915 by Cincinnati architects C.C. and E.A. Weber. A fine example of Tudor Revival architecture, this massive masonry house, with its fifteen rooms and 7,000 square feet, was made extraordinary when an ornate organ room was added in 1929.

The (south) facade of the house has two steeply pitched gable-front projections that protect a central recessed doorway. The west two-story gabled projection has four long narrow casement windows at the first level. They are surrounded by a delicate stone hoodmold and drop labels. The second-story paired windows with double-hung sashes have similar stone trim. Above them is a single opening that pierces the attic peak topped with a stone gargoyle. The two-story gabled projection on the east side of the facade has subtle differences. One difference is the two-story semi-hexagonal that begins at the ground level where an open veranda porch is enclosed by a stone wall. The first-floor of the bay has five long narrow panes of glass under a simple stone hood molding. This window arrangement continues on the second level, but ends in crenellation before the attic level. In the gabled peak, a matching recessed single opening provides light for the attic. This projection has the gargoyle on the rear elevation facing the backyard.

Between the first and second stories, a continuous stone belt course forms the sill for the windows of the second floor, and draws the eye to the central entrance. The entrance has a pair of cast iron gates under a Tudor arch with a Renaissance-style stone pediment and drop labels. Above the entry is an oriel window with four double-hung sashes and crenellated coping.

The multi-gabled slate roof of the entire house is dominated by tall chimneys with decorated caps. A roof dormer with paired windows is flush with a side wall on the east side where a sun room with trios of casement windows framed with Tudor arches admit morning light. The sunroom overlooks the front veranda and the stone garden steps. Guarded by a pair of stone lions that display a coat of arms, the steps lead into the remnants of a formal garden. Once resplendent with a lily pond, fountain, and pergola, the garden will be restored.

A fanciful iron arch between two stone pillars spans the driveway as an entrance to the two-car limestone garage to the northwest of the house. Since it does not show on the 1922 Sanborn map, the garage was probably built in 1929 when the organ room was added.

Added to the north side of the house in 1929, the large luxurious organ room cost $100,000. Measuring about 25 feet x 35 feet, it was built to hold the nation's largest home organ, according to the owner, Gerrard. Also constructed of limestone, it has its own smaller exterior chimney that compliments the massive chimney of the house.

The house has a grand entry with outer iron gates and inner wooden double doors that lead into a richly paneled foyer. To the right is a luxurious living room with paneled walls, a molded plasterwork ceiling, and a marble fireplace. Attached on the east side of the living room is the sunroom.

The double French doors on the north side of the living room lead to the two-story organ room with a cathedral ceiling where the massive console was set in the vaulted west wall. Marble columns and a small flight of stairs separate the living room from the organ room. On the north wall, a tall hand-carved wooden screen with intricate figurines hides the massive wooden wind chests and 21 sets of pipes, a set of chimes, and a harp. Both the console and screen were carved by Cincinnatian H.J. Millard, who later worked on the U.S. State Department Building. The marble mantlepiece on the east side of the room was sculpted by the David Hummet Building Co., and artist George Debereiner painted three idyllic murals on the walls; "Mendelssohn's Spring Song", "The Four Arts", and "The Minstrel Song." The room was so grand that Gerrard published a booklet commemorating the organ's construction. It was titled, The Organ - The Gift of Stephen A. Gerrard to his Wife Estelle E. Gerrard. Although the organ is in ruins through neglect and termite infestation, the room is being restored.

In the main part of the house on the other side of the central entry and foyer, the formal dining room with paneled walls adjoins the kitchen which is to the north. In the center of the foyer, an open stairway has hand-carved pineapples in the balustrade. The landing halfway up is lighted by a stained glass window with a pastel floral design.

The upstairs of the house has four bedrooms. From the master bedroom which is above the living room, a balcony with an iron railing overlooks the organ room. The third story of attic rooms was used for servants' quarters, and the finished space has a bathroom and closets. Gothic arched windows allow a magnificent view of the surrounding neighborhood.