Leonard Eaton House

This house was probably constructed shortly after the property on which it sits was acquired by Charles and Belle Mccrady from George W. Wellham in 1892. It was purchased in 1904 by Leonard and Mary Eaton. Leonard Eaton was Crescent City's most prominent architect and builder during the historic period. He was born in Annapolis, Nova Scotia in 1852 and spent time in Boston before coming to Crescent City in 1880. He married Mary Lillian Harp, eldest daughter of pioneer residents John H. and Mary E. Harp, in 1885. Eaton designed and built numerous houses in the city for wealthy winter residents and was responsible for many of the early commercial buildings along Central Avenue. He was primarily a builder, taking his designs from readily available pattern books. The eclectic nature of his work is seen in such houses as the frame vernacular J.R. Hill House at 20 North Prospect Street, the Carpenter Gothic style Sidney Lee Benham House at 32 North Park Street, and the classic Craftsman Bungalow of Frederick and Bessie Bill at 301 South Prospect Street, and the Cartledge/Preston House. Eaton continued to live at the residence on Summit Street until his death in July 1935. Mary Eaton sold the house in the early 1940s to Arthur Watts and moved to a smaller home, also constructed by Leonard Eaton, at 208 South Summit Street.