The Weess house, a large, somewhat urban version of the French Second Empire style, was described in the 1880s as a “Palatial Residence.” The Daily Democrat for August 1, 1897, noted that “the noble dwelling cost $24,000 and is as pleasant a habitation as the most fastidious and luxuriously inclined could demand.” 28 One assumes that a house three stories in height, measuring 79 by 73 feet and containing 17 rooms, would indeed fill at least the basic requirements of its occupants. As with a number of structures that were labeled “French” in the nineteenth century, many details of this house are what one would normally expect in an Italianate house. What is specifically French is the concave mansard roof, the classically carried out quoining at the corners of the wall, and the front entrance with its high pediment.