Client: Historic Erie Restorations
Location: 216 West 7th St., Erie, Pennsylvania
Dates: Original building — c. 1884; Renovation — In progress
National Register of Historic Places Listing: Significant building in the West Sixth Street Historic District.
Size: 7,300 SF
This Queen Anne-style house was built in 1884 for Clark Olds (1850–1922) and his wife, Livia Elizabeth Keator Olds (1855–1919).
Clark Olds was a descendant of early Erie area settlers. He had training as an engineer and surveyor and studied law at the University of Leipzig in Germany in 1872 and 1873. He was a prominent Erie attorney for over 46 years with a specialty in Maritime law. Clark married Livia Elizabeth Keator of Cortland, New York c.1877. They had one child who survived to adulthood, Irvin Sands Olds (1887–1963).
Irvin graduated from Yale University in 1907 and Harvard Law School in 1910. Following admission to the Erie County Bar, he was law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes in 1910 and 1911. He joined the prestigious New York law firm White & Case in 1911, becoming partner in 1917. In 1936, Irvin was elected to the board of U.S. Steel Corporation, serving as chairman and CEO from 1940 until 1952. In 1942, U.S. Steel named a 623-ft. Great Lakes ore carrier in his honor. An authority on naval history and art, he wrote U.S. Navy 1776–1815 in 1942 and Bits and Pieces of American History in 1951. He was a philanthropist and member of many clubs and charitable boards in New York City. Among these, he served as trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and American Shakespeare Festival, and president of the New York Historical Society.
The house was owned by the Olds family for 39 years. After the death of his parents, Irving Olds sold the property in 1923 to Berton W. Sweet, DO (1871–1957) and his wife, Myrtle E. Sweet (1869–1948). A native of Greencastle, Missouri, Dr. Sweet was a pioneer osteopathic physician in Erie and the country. He moved to Erie in 1902 and worked with Dr. J.A. Root for several years. Dr. Sweet used the property for both office and residence. Hazzard A. Sweet, DO (1900–1969) followed in his father’s footsteps as an osteopathic physician. The Sweets lived and practiced in the home for 46 years.
In 1971, Hazzard’s wife, Marie Luella Elliott Sweet (1904–1972), sold the property to Ronald R. Norman. He and his wife, Jeanne Fasick Norman (1935–2007) used the home for their residence and photography business. The highly regarded Ron Norman Photography Studio operated here for 50 years.
The property was acquired by Historic Erie Restorations in 2021.
This house was listed as 216 W. Seventh Street (Clark Olds House) in the National Register of Historic Places by the U.S. Department of the Interior as a significant building in the West Sixth Street Historic District in 1984.
