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(Lisa Pfueller Davidson and Catherine C. Lavoie)
Union Bridge’s exuberant late-nineteenth-century residences were designed and erected by a handful of local builders and likely informed by the many pattern books of the times. Among the most prolific was Joseph Wolfe, a carpenter-contractor and dealer in lumber, sash, and other wood building components. Of the many houses that he designed and erected, particularly noteworthy is the frame house with quoining resembling cut stone that he built for himself. Wolfe undoubtedly chose wood, instead of the brick prevalent along Main Street, to showcase the millwork produced in his carpentry shops. Built on a corner lot, the Wolfe House includes a secondary side entrance with porch.
It is one of many similarly styled houses in town distinguished by scalloped barge-boards, steep center gable with decorative cross-bracing and pendant, bracketed eaves, and porch with jigsawn detailing. These include the Norris House (1885; 103 S. Main), Peter Shriner House (1882; 9 S. Main), and the house at 33 W. Broadway, likely erected by Wolfe as well.