Lakewood Landmark is Preserved by Many Owners and City

If someone mentioned “the house inside the wrought iron fence at the corner of Lake and Nicholson,” it would be a rare Lakewoodite who couldn’t immediately picture the house—a one-of-a-kind Lakewood landmark.

While everyone is familiar with the Neoclassic architecture and park-like grounds of the house, its history is not so widely known. According to an article in the September 5, 2005 Lakewood Historical Society News, it is known as the Faerber/Morse House in honor of its first two owners: George Faerber, who had it built, and Agnes Doyle Morse, who added, among many other things, the solarium, the pergola, the glass canopy over the rear entrance and the fence.

George & Katie Faerber acquired the land in 1911, and hired Gustave Bohm, a Cleveland native trained in New York City to design the house. George Faerber, a self-made man who never finished high school, was the secretary/treasurer of the Forest City Savings & Trust Company. He lived in the house with his family for about one year, until his death at 52 in 1915.

Katie Faerber sold the house in 1916 to Mrs. Agnes Morse for $49,500. “Mrs. Morse watched the place go up, board by board,” said Mrs. Faerber. “She told a nearby Realtor that if it was ever sold, she wanted to hear about it first.”

Mrs. Morse was an anomaly in her time. She went to work as a bookkeeper at age 16, later becoming secretary to George Morse, president of the Parish & Bingham Company. She married the boss, but he died in 1910, just eight months after their wedding. She inherited the stock of the company and proved a very astute business woman, helping the company prosper through its merger with two other companies to create Midland Steel, of which she became president and general manager.

Mrs. Morse spent $100,000 on improvements to the house. She employed a full-time gardener and spent $3,000/year on tulips (9,000 of them) alone. Her mother, sister, two nephews and a niece shared the house with her. In 1949, two years after Mrs. Morse died, Willson and Wilma Hunter bought the house for $28,000, slightly more than half what Mrs. Morse paid for it 35 years before. The Hunter family occupied the house for five years.

The fourth owners of the home were Margaret and Elmer Nyerges, who purchased the house in 1955. Judy and Otto Lombardo bought the house in 1977 for $165,000. In 1979 the house served as the Hope House for the American Cancer Society—the first west side house to be selected.

Lakewood saw the house show increasing signs of disrepair in more recent years, and there were frequent rumors that the house was on the docket for sheriff’s sale. In 2005, a Kiko Auctioneer’s sign advertising the sale of architectural elements of the house appeared on the fence, which was itself one of the items up for sale.

Shockwaves reverberated through Lakewood as people were galvanized into action, and scrambled to come up with a solution to forestall the auction. In the long run, the mortgage holder saved the house from being stripped of its fixtures when the court granted its restraining order. The Lombardos then tried unsuccessfully to sell the house, fixtures included, but it went to sheriff’s sale on August 26, 2005.

There was spirited bidding when the auction opened, but most of the prospective buyers dropped out as the price exceeded $400,000. The tension mounted as two bidders raised the ante incrementally. The auction ended after a bid of $605,000 was answered by a bid of $610,000, and Sako Satka became the sixth owner of the house.

As evidenced by the constant stream of work trucks at the property, Mr. Satka has extensively remodeled the house and grounds during his term of ownership. In fact, he only moved in earlier this summer.

The threat of destruction of this landmark property awakened Lakewood to the need to protect our historic properties, and prompted the Lakewood Historical Society to create the Lakewood Preservation Fund. The purpose of the fund is to assist in the preservation or rehabilitation of historically or architecturally significant buildings or structures in Lakewood. The first project identified for use of Preservation Fund monies is the Hall House. Built in 1870 by Mathew Hall, it is located at 16906 Detroit, and is slated to be demolished for a parking lot. The Lakewood Historical Society is working to preserve this historic gem by moving it to a new location. For more information on the both the Mathew Hall and Faerber/Morse Houses, go to www.lakewoodhistory.org and click on Artifacts.

The newly-launched Preservation Fund stands at about $5,000, substantially short of the $30,000 budgeted for moving the Hall House.

Mr. Satka has generously offered to open his home to the Lakewood Historical Society for use as a fundraiser to benefit the Lakewood Preservation Fund. The tour will occur on September 30, noon to 6:00 p.m. Tickets are $15 and are on sale at Geiger’s and Rozi’s in Lakewood; Liberty Books & News in Rocky River, Border's in Westlake; through the Lakewood Historical Society at 216-221-7343, or at the door, availability permitting.

Take advantage of a rare opportunity to view this remarkable house and support preservation in Lakewood!

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Volume 3, Issue 19, Posted 11:44 PM, 09.01.2007