1880. 1918 altered. 13 Main St., Frankford
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(Photograph by Matthew Aungst) -
(Photograph by Matthew Aungst)
This sixteen-room gingerbread showpiece of the Queen Anne style was built by Captain Joshua Townsend. The two-story house has steeply pitched gables, the long porch terminates in steep-roofed gazebos with stained-glass windows in tiny gables, and the windows are variously shaped. The colorful Ebe T. Chandler, captain of a sea-going tugboat, moved the house back from the street after he bought it in 1918 and added the exterior decorative details. Chandler held seances on the third floor, and his wife always set a place at the table (with a single red rose) for their son who had died. In the 1960s, the house was converted into two apartments, fortunately preserving the character of the building, one of Delaware's more imaginative.