Client: Historic Erie Restorations
Location: 605 Cherry St., Erie, Pennsylvania
Dates: Original building — c.1861; Renovation — in progress
National Register of Historic Places: Individually listed
Size: 4,800 SF
This home was constructed by owner and builder Oscar Cornelius Thayer as a fusion of two styles: Tuscan Villa and Italianate.
Oscar Cornelius Thayer (1827–1905) was born and raised in Bennington, Vermont. In 1848, he moved to Michigan before coming to Erie in 1853. He became involved in the manufacture of stoneware in a factory on the Erie Extension Canal at 3rd Street. He was also engaged in the building business. The property had been purchased for $100 in 1860 by his wife, Anna Hughes, from her parents, James and Emily Hughes.
Victory Marion Thompson (1829–1887) and his wife, Rebecca, purchased the property in 1863. Victory came to Erie with his parents, Joseph S. and Rachel Thompson, from Madison County, New York, in 1832. They settled in a log house at the northwest corner of Liberty and 18th streets. When Joseph died in 1837, Victory began working at 8 years old, first peddling Yankee notions and later manufacturing washboards, while attending Erie Academy. In 1848, he sold his washboard business and bought a canal boat. He attended Meadville College for a year and began buying and selling coal. By 1855, his Thompson Line consisted of 16 canal boats in addition to a coal yard he owned on West 8th Street in Erie. He acquired a fortune in the Titusville oil wells and purchased the Thayer home in 1863. He formed the Thompson Oil Company in 1864 and later also owned and operated the Erie City Oil Works. In 1886, he moved to Cleveland, where he died the following year.
In 1940, John and Rose Banka purchased the single-family home and converted it into five apartments by 1945. They built an addition between the north wall of the garage and the west wall of the house to accommodate a master bedroom. They also removed three chimneys from the rear of the house at that time.
In 1972, the property was purchased by Micheline Justman. The property was acquired by Historic Erie Restoration in 20XX.
The house has been individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places by the U.S. Department of the Interior since 1985.
