Dr. G. B. Stillman House
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Franklin Club (Dr. G. B. Stillman House)
c. 1866, with additions. 1340 Liberty St.
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Venango County Jail (Photograph by Matthew Aungst)
This elaborate house built during the oil excitement reflects that time when people spent money with giddy abandon. It has a fanciful turret with dormer windows and corbeled chimneys piercing the intersecting gable roof. Its original owner is unclear, but according to the Franklin Evening News of January 25, 1889, it was purchased on behalf of the club from Dr. G. B. Stillman. The group of young single men bought it for their “Nursery Club,” which had been founded in 1877 and took its name from a Franklin history that called the town a “nursery of great men.” Over the years, Oil City architect J. P. Brenot transformed the single-family home into a clubhouse by including a ballroom, billiard room, and bowling alleys. The entrance hall and grill room were designed by Franklin architect Samuel D. Brady c. 1914. A sweeping two-story porch with a central pediment supported by columns was added about this time to give the facade a Colonial Revival aspect. The name was changed to the Franklin Club in 1913.
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Data
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Location: Franklin, PennsylvaniaRegional Overviews:Styles:Materials:no metadata available
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Citation
Lu Donnelly et al., "Franklin Club (Dr. G. B. Stillman House)", [Franklin, Pennsylvania], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/PA-01-VE9.
Print Source
Buildings of Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania, Lu Donnelly, H. David Brumble IV, and Franklin Toker. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2010, 527-527.
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