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311 Harvard Avenue

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General Information

No:   311  
Street:   Harvard  
House Name:   A Sibley/Lloyd House  
Historic Plaque:     
Owner Info:   Y  
Built:   N  
Sec:   23  
Subdivision:   Sibley  
Lot:   135-136&pts134&137  
Architect:     
Cont/build:   J. W. Sibley?  

Description:    2 story greatly expanded Victorian, siding, gable roof.    
Original Use:   Residential  
Current Use:   Residential  

CHANGES:
As Built:   N  
Added To:   Y  
Subtracted From:   N  
Replaced:   N  

Description Of Changes:   Before 1950s? c1959 Butlers added a 1st floor bedroom and bath. 1963 - Konolds added a detached 2 car garage and patio. 1974 - Bill Konold added aluminum siding. 1991- Konolds expanded the kitchen. 2000 permit for Doug Burgess to make an addition. Fletcher Homes contractors. Andy Schaub architect.  
Deeds
Shows earliest property ownership records

Stories:

Story 1: This part of Terrace Park was known as the Sibley subdivision so Sibleys owned all of the surrounding land. They certainly had gardens (with many flowers and especially lovely peonies) where the 313 Harvard house now is and a swimming pool where 313's garage is. A lot was sold off for building 313.
Story 2: 2 different stories from Sibley/Lloyd relatives: From Liz Lloyd - house built for Henrietta (Sibley - daughter of James Hastings Sibley) & Sam Lloyd. From Sam Hicks - J. W. Sibley's house where he planned to stay a year or two and stayed until he died in 1893. In fact James W. Sibley, the developer, built this house for his son James Hastings Sibley. When the census was taken in 1900 James Hastings Sibley and his wife Cicely Burt Sibley were living here with their daughter Henrietta Sibley, her husband Samuel W. Lloyd and their daughter Cicely B. Lloyd. According to the Cincinnati City Directories from 1880 on, James Whitelaw Sibley lived on Grandin Road in Cincinnati. After his death in 1893 his widow, Mary, moved to Locust Street in Cincinnati.
Story 3: Leslie Jones says Aunt Hattie baby sat for her and her brother as children.
Story 4: This home was on the 2002 Heritage House Tour.
Story 5: Railroad Houses (from 2008 House Tour) James Whitelaw Sibley is responsible for developing more of Terrace Park than any other person. He was born February 20, 1816 in Montpelier, Washington County, Vermont and came west through New York state where he married Mary Alida Hastings in Clinton, Oneida County, New York, September 9, 1840. He settled in Cincinnati as a Commission Merchant. By 1880 he and his family were living on Grandin Road in Hyde Park where he remained until his death, April 6, 1893. It wasnt until 1886 that deeds show him buying up land in what became Terrace Park. He established four subdivisions: South of Oxford to the north side of Amherst in 1886, Myrtle to Miami and Marietta beyond Stanton to the bluff in 1890, Amherst to Marietta and Yale to Miami in 1891 and the south side of Amherst from Elm to Floral in 1892. By then he was 76 years old. Once he had some land he needed to start building houses. It looks as if he then found a Cincinnati architect, bought plans for a house from him for $25 and started building homes using this plan. These are the ones that have become known as railroad houses. Perhaps they should have been called Sibley houses since all of them are in his subdivisions. Why they were called railroad houses remains a mystery since it does not appear that they were built either by the railroad or for railroad employees. Certainly it was well know that there was easy rail transportation from this newly developing area into Cincinnati for work. The first home he built still stands, now greatly enlarged, at 311 Harvard Avenue for his eldest son James Hastings Sibley. He too was first listed in the 1880 and 1890 census as a Commission Merchant like his father but by the 1893 Cincinnati City Directory was listed as a Real Estate agent living in Terrace Park. Before that he and his brother were helping father. In 1887 J. W. Sibley built 306 Rugby Avenue, also now greatly enlarged, for his next son Frank Hastings Sibley. He also built homes for the West (203 Marietta Avenue) and Bellville families (710 and 716 Floral Avenue) as well as for the Lucius and Amanda Conking family at 615 Amherst Avenue in 1892. Stella Galloway Boone wrote a paper for the Terrace Park Garden Club in 1942 in which she lists 17 railroad houses. Exactly how each one looked when it was first built we will probably never know, but there seems to have been some variation as in 615 Amherst Avenue. Most have had significant additions but are still recognizable as houses built by the Sibley family in the 1880s and 90s. It seems sad the James Whitelaw Sibley died just as Terrace Park was becoming incorporated. According to Ellis Rawnsley both he and his son, Frank H. Sibley, were among the founding fathers of Terrace Park.
Story 6: Bill Konald died in 1993. Carolyn Konald moved to136 Miami Lakes Drive, Miami Woods, Milford in 1997. 1939 Map: Lloyd