244 Church Street
(east side between Adams and Spruce)
Lois H. Coulter

Built before 1853 on a stone foundation this building retains substantially the same footprint as on the 1853 Presdee & Edwards map. Basically, it is a 2½ story 3x3 bay brick common bond Greek Revival structure. The original gable front façade has a projecting returning box cornice with an elliptical attic window. Across the front  of the house is a two story porch with Tuscan columns and a plain entablature. The second story railing is shingled; the ground floor railing has square balusters and a lattice apron. Hidden behind the porch is a three sided bay window and six over one sash windows. The trees that have grown up around the building now obscure much of the front of this house. What makes this house particularly interesting are the atypical details. A three-story 2x2 bay with a flat roof is attached to the north side; the south side has a one-story shed roofed brick stretcher bond wing with one over one sash windows and splayed brick lintels.¹ Additions of several styles creep towards the back of the property - the three story front is brick veneer with a hipped roof, a 1½ story multi level wing has a Colonial Revival gambrel roof dormer with a six over one sash window topped with flat arch radiating voussoirs. The wing has added porches and balconies covered with contemporary siding. Further back, on a different axis is a bonded brick ell with a gable front and returning box cornice. The bricks are laid with a row of headers every sixth row. Although this house was built ca 1840, the first known owner was Dr. Samuel Thayer who lived there from 1865 until his death at the age of 81 on December 12, 1885.² The house was purchased by George Hall, proprietor of Hall’s Furniture in the “Hall Block” on College Street. In 1924 he sold the house to Julia K. Kelly and in 1925 it was converted into apartments.³

¹ National Register for Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form, Battery, King Street Historic District (amendment), p. 13
² The Vermont Division for Historic Preservation, Vermont Historic Sites and Structures Survey, Burlington, Church Street
³ Burlington Land Records Volume 85, page 263, April 16, 1924