<- Main Directory     <- Lexington Avenue

628 Lexington Avenue

PhotosLegacy Version

General Information

No:   628  
Street:    Lexington   
House Name:     
Historic Plaque:     
Owner Info:   N  
Built:    1929   
Sec:   23  
Subdivision:   Sibley's 3rd BL 16  
Lot:   7-11  
Architect:   Robert McGrew Critchell  
Cont/build:     

Description:    2 story stucco Cape Cod, steep gable roof with dormers.     
Original Use:   Residential  
Current Use:   Residential  

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

Description Of Changes:    1935 - a brick garage was built by Jack Douglas & George Sommer (called Popoo by Flach). 1964 - Jack Douglas added a 12' x 24' family room.  
Deeds
Shows earliest property ownership records

Stories:

Story 1: Flach Douglas reports that his parents bought (or built) 628 Lexington Avenue in 1929. He was born in 1931. He lived there until he was married - 1953. Then there were army, college and law school. He bought 723 Floral in 1959, sold it and bought 1 Circus Place about 1965. His wife died in 1985. Since it was a big house and all 4 daughters were gone by then he sold it in 1987 and moved to Milford. He remarried in 1989 and moved to 625 Miami in 1990.628 Miami was a duplicate of 628 Lexington.
Story 2: John Flach Douglas was born 6 July 1907 and died 9 September 1978, aged 71 years. Laura Willey Douglas was born 10 July 1907 and died 26 December 1992, aged 85 years. They were both buried in St. Thomas Church Columbarium, Section 6, Niche 165.
Story 3: Cathy DeDiemar is a granddaughter of John and Laura Douglas. Cathy's sister lives at 900 Miami. They grew up in the Robinson Circus House with their parents Flach and Angela)

Story 4: Cathy Douglas maintains that 628 Miami, 628 Lexington, 620 Lexington & 627 Lexington were all originally the same Sears Roebuck plan.Flach Douglas, her father, refutes that. He says 628 Lexington was definitely not a Sears house. George Sommers and his son, William (Bill), built it in the late 1920s. According to Debby Gammons Pendl next door (620 Lexington) their house & 627 Lexington had the same floor plan but NOT the same as 628 Lexington (both built 1950). We have no records that would tell us any of them were Sears houses. 628 Miami and 628 Lexington were built in 1929 using the same plans with Robert Critchell as architect.



Cindy Cattanzaro, Sears researcher, says it doesn't match ay of the Sears models with 2 dormers.  



Tom Cox is related to Bill Fay, the artist (427 Terrace Place from 1966 to 1979). Tom is a descendant of the Wade family, 2nd owners of Promont. (information from Virginia Critchell) Ancestor, Cecelia is buried at Greenlawn Cemetery in Milford, Section 6.|
Nicole Cox, wife of Tom, says, "My husband's great-grandmother was born at the Promont House. The property below the house where Kroger sits used to be a horse track. Cecelia's father lost the Promont House in a horse track bet. My mother-in-law remembers her grandmother telling the story of her ponies being taken away. We also have an ancestor that was the commander at Camp Dennison during the Civil War. "