by Rhonda Dedyne
Elements of a St. Johns’ landmark were available for sale this week in the form of furnishings contained within the brick walls of Oakland Place.
Seeing the sign on the front porch of General Oliver Spaulding’s historic home on Oakland Street immediately prompted memories of stories that have been written about the building – articles that hold a special place in my collection of writings about the people and places of our communities.
Hopefully readers will enjoy this brief history lesson about Oakland Place and the people who called it home.
Oakland Place: A History of the House and its Owners
The impressive brick Colonial Revival home located at 506 South Oakland Street in St. Johns has been a landmark and showplace in the community for more than a century. It has undergone many modifications during the years – and survived a major fire – but the house and its owners continue to link the present and future of St. Johns with its past.
General Oliver L. Spaulding, an early lawyer in the fledgling village of St. Johns, built the original home in 1861, prior to his departure for battle. He returned from the U.S. Civil War in 1865 as a decorated officer, and went on to serve his country in various capacities, most prominently as the Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury. Gen. Spaulding and his wife, Mary, enlarged and remodeled their home on Oakland Street in the early 1880s. The house was also veneered with brick at this time. The home and its landscaped grounds occupied the entire block.
In the early 1900s, the property was acquired by Charles T. Babcock, and his wife, Mary. Charles was the son of Marvin Babcock, Esq., who was the owner of a retail jewelry business and an early resident of St. Johns. Charles, a U.S. Government Indian Agent, prospered as a trader and investor in the Indian Territories. The Babcock’s remodeled and enlarged the home a second time about 1911.
They were prominent residents in St. Johns, and used the “Babcock Mansion” to entertain guests in the third-floor ballroom. Mary Babcock is responsible for the application of pastel frescoes as part of the decorative plaster in the music and library rooms on the main floor of the home. It was probably during this time period that the tennis courts were built on the property, which still encompassed the entire city block.
Charles Babcock passed away in 1926, and the following year the home and property was purchased by Ralph Ballantine and his wife, Beulah. The couple and their four children, Ralph Jr., Bobby, Betty, and Joan, lived here – in what the Ballantine children called “the Big House” – until 1940. During that time period, the home was filled with the sounds of children’s laughter. Bobby Ballantine Spicer has many memories of growing up in the Big House, including roller-skating in the ballroom, and playing on the landscaped grounds that still occupied the entire block. Beulah’s father, Reuben (Charles) Sowle, also lived with the family.
When the Ballentine family relocated in 1940, the house stood empty until 1945 when Dr. R. E. Benson, an osteopathic physician and surgeon, bought the home. It was during this time period that Oakland Place underwent a significant change. The Bensons divided the second floor into two, separate apartments.
Original tenants in the apartments were the Donald Strouse family and the Enoch “Ink” White family. Ink White, owner and publisher of the award-winning Clinton County Republican News for many years, lived in the apartment when he first purchased the newspaper and moved to St. Johns in 1945. He and his family later moved one block north on Oakland Street, occupying the home on the corner of Park and Oakland streets until his death in 1995. It was also during this time that portions of the property were sold. The Bensons sold lots on Buchanan Street, and constructed a home for themselves on Wight Street where they moved after selling the brick colonial to Tony and Agnes Kuntz in 1950.
The house quickly became known as the “Kuntz Home” after it was purchased by the community-minded Kuntzes. Tony and Agnes raised their six children here – building even more memories for a new generation of St. Johns youth who had occasion to visit at the Kuntz Home. Today’s first-floor guest room at Oakland Place is fittingly called the “Kuntz Room” – it is the only bedroom Agnes slept in during the 43 years that she lived here. It was during the time that the Kuntz family owned the home that additional remodeling was completed, resulting in a third apartment being incorporated into the second-floor layout. Agnes continued to live in the home after Tony’s death in 1979.
In November1992, the house itself was nearly reduced to nothing more than a page in the city’s history. Fire that was ignited accidentally by a workman’s paint-removing equipment roared through the old timbers. The entire third floor was destroyed before firefighters could bring the blaze under control, and the remainder of the building sustained heavy smoke and water damage. Residents from across the community gathered in front of the landmark structure throughout the afternoon and evening hours – many tears were shed as the roof caved in and it appeared that a part of St. Johns would be lost forever. Fortunately, Agnes was not home at the time the fire started, and tenants in the apartments were able to be evacuated without injury.
One of the people most affected was Mark Barber, a lifelong St. Johns resident who lived directly across the street from the Kuntz Home. An advocate of historic restoration, Barber helped in the clean-up of the building in the days following the fire, and later, approached the Kuntz family with an offer to purchase the property. After the sale of the property was completed, Barber and a crew of helpers worked quickly to construct a temporary roof over the building in an effort to provide a degree of shelter for the interior structure during the winter months.
Beginning April 17, 1993, Barber and a host of skilled tradespersons took up the challenge of restoring the building to the 1911 design of the Babcock family. Barber contracted with historic building specialists Wigen, Tinknell & Meyer Associates of Saginaw, who took measurements so that the building could be duplicated exactly – including rebuilding the entire third floor.
More than a year later in May1994, Oakland Place Bed and Breakfast welcomed its first guests. The restoration project included a total of 4.5 miles of copper pipe and 13 miles of copper wire; five boilers and a massive 25-ton air conditioning unit; more than 250 gallons of paint, 150 rolls of wallpaper in the main hallway alone, and 2,200 square-feet of wood flooring in the hallways and kitchen.
Attention to historic detail is evident in the six guest rooms, each of which bears the name of one of the original owners; Barber turned the third floor into private quarters. The blend of classic, traditional style and modern conveniences in each room includes individually controlled heating and air conditioning, private telephone lines, cable TV with VCR, private baths with whirlpool tub and walk-in shower units.
From its awesome 35-foot-tall twin white columns that grace the front entry, to the wrap-around porches and upper-level balconies, to the driveway by the side portico, Oakland Place today stands ready to greet its visitors – just as it has for the past 125 years.
A labor of love
Fire-damaged historic home becomes bed, breakfast
Not only has the impressive Colonial Revival home located on South Oakland Street in this mid-Michigan community been a showplace for more than a century, the building literally rose from its own ashes to assume its current form of Oakland Place Bed and Breakfast.
Built in 1861 by Civil War Gen. Oliver Spaulding, the 29-room structure was ravaged by fire in November 1992. The entire third floor was demolished and the remainder of the building was heavily damaged.
Many area residents feared the historic structure would have to be razed, leaving a void in both the landscape – and soul – of the community.
“I remember crying that day,” says St. Johns native Joann Martis, who is a former director of the St. Johns Area Chamber of Commerce.
Fortunately another lifelong resident and historic restoration advocate had a vision of what the building could become.
Mark Barber purchased the property several weeks after the blaze and began the arduous task of rebuilding.
“We took measurements and tried to duplicate the building exactly,” Barber says of the extensive project that was completed in May 1994.
“The work just seemed to go on and on, but it was worth it. We’ve taken a piece of St. Johns’ history that would have been lost and preserved it.”
The restoration project included a total of 4.5 miles of copper pipe and 13 miles of copper wire; five boilers and a massive 25-ton air conditioning unit; more than 250 gallons of paint, 150 rolls of wallpaper in the main hallway alone, and 2,200 square-feet of wood flooring in the hallways and kitchen.
Attention to historic detail is evident in the six guest rooms, each of which bears the name of one of the home’s owners during its long history. The blend of classic style with modern conveniences in each room includes individually controlled heating and air conditioning, private telephone lines, cable TV with VCR, private baths with whirlpool tub and walk-in shower units.
Mark Barber with Rep. Mike Rogers at the grand opening
While Barber and his partner, Terry Theriac, enjoy entertaining visitors from around the globe at Oakland Place, they did recreate a piece of history for themselves as well. The former third-floor ballroom that was destroyed was rebuilt as Barber’s 1,750 square-foot private living quarters, complete with 12-foot ceilings and skylights.
A focal point of the rooms is Barber’s father’s 1913 Old Town canvas canoe – which hangs suspended from the living room ceiling.
“My father said he took that canoe down every river in Michigan,” Barber says with a laugh.
From its awesome 35-foot-tall twin white columns that grace the front entry, to the wrap-around porches and upper-level balconies, to the driveway by the side portico, Oakland Place is a picture of grace and elegance.
Cherry and mahogany wood trim is featured throughout the hallways and downstairs rooms, highlighted by contrasting solid oak floors that are scattered with majestic Oriental floor-coverings. Guests can enjoy books from the collection of classic volumes housed in cherry bookcases in the study, and sink into burgundy leather chairs near a fireplace with original, iridescent Pewobic tile.
A 10-foot mahogany table holds center stage in an adjacent room which can be used for small group meetings. The room is equipped with a fax machine, TV-VCR, and overhead projector. A set of 12-foot, beveled-glass, sliding pocket-doors offer privacy for both sets of rooms.
Breakfast is a memorable experience in the dining room that provides a view of the north lawn through the wall-length window, flanked by built-in china cabinets filled with antique pink depression glass and “flower fairy” plates. The hand-painted plates bring the poems of Cicely Mary Barker to life.
Navy and burgundy wallcovering in a plum pattern helps highlight the mahogany sideboard and trim, along with another Pewobic tile fireplace.
Completing the main floor public rooms is a bright, airy sunroom located at the west end of the house, overlooking the backyard.
An Italian marble fireplace in the main floor hallway is adjacent to the open stairway that leads to the guest rooms. Each room is uniquely furnished, beginning with the master suite named for the home’s first owner, Gen. Spaulding, that features a king-size bed with detailed cherry-panel headboard.
Other rooms offer private balconies, and unique decorative touches like the antique armoire that hides the TV-VCR in the Benson Room, or the nautical theme in the Ballentine Room with its brightly polished brass bed.
In addition to overnight guests, Oakland Place is available for private parties and small receptions, as well as for business meetings and group conferences.
Published in “Michigan Vacation,” 1998; written by Rhonda Dedyne