Tour of Homes

225 E. Liberty St.

A pivotal house. This 1½-story house is an antebellum building with a low hip roof. Four columns on brick piers support a one-story open porch with a flat roof. Two 9/9, ceiling-to-floor windows are on the front. A recessed transom and sidelights frame the main door. The exterior is stuccoed, and the property is landscaped. Originally, this was a two-story house. The classical upper story of this building burned about 1905. The remaining lower structure was not destroyed due to the brick construction. A roof was put over the lower floor, and it remains this way today.
Originally, the house was similar to the Hart House (12) across the street. Outside circular staircases with carved wood banisters led from the ground to each end of the upper porch. Cement open arches enclosed the front opening of the ground floor porch and entrance to the lower floor. A picket fence enclosed the yard, and wisteria climbed on the front of the house.
Almost in the back yard, and a little to the east, was a building which housed the “marble yard”, where the late Thomas C. O'Farrell cut and lettered granite and marble tombstones. This was the forerunner of Wiley Brothers Marble and Granite, which is now located on the east side of the cemetery.
After the death of Mr. White's widow, the house was bought by Mr. Arthur Veeder Snell and his wife Jennie (Hart) as a retirement home. Mr. Snell is thought to have been the first City Manager in the United States, holding that position in Sumter, S.C. He was Executive Director of Chambers of Commerce in South Carolina, Florida, Pittsburgh and Chattanooga before retiring and returning to Yorkville.

North side East Liberty Street