1854 Wyandotte Village | Ford City | Glenwood & Mt. Carmel | South Wyandotte
28. Marx House, Biddle 2630, Wyandotte Museums offices, Italianate townhouse, Built 1872, Retored 1976
A wonderful example of an Italianate, 2-story, residential brick townhouse. Characterized by the low pitch hipped roof, bracketed eaves, windows with round arch at top and brick segmental window hood, and widow’s walk along the roof.
From the time the building was constructed it was occupied by people of progressively greater influence to the Wyandotte story, until purchased in 1921 by John Marx, the son of George Marx, founder of Wyandotte’s famous Marx Brewing Company in 1862.
Built in 1862 for Warren Isham, the home was purchased by John Robinson (an early Wyandotte masonry contractor) in 1864. Wyandotte’s first druggist, Charles W. Thomas, purchased the home in 1874, and in 1881 the home was sold to Anna Armstrong, whose husband, William, was the city Treasurer in 1875.
Leo Marx and Mary T. Polley, son and daughter of John Marx gave the building as a gift to the City of Wyandotte in 1974. After extensive research and restoration, the home was formally opened to the public on September 29, 1996, and in 2001 the Wyandotte Historical Society moved their archive and administrative offices there to the 2nd floor.
Listed on the State Register of Historic Sites January 16, 1976
National Register of Historic Places August 13, 1976.
Wyandotte Historical Society plaque accepted June 7, 1991.
When the interior and exterior of the house were repainted in 2004, the concrete window sills on the exterior should have been left unpainted. Otherwise this was a tasteful and appropriate paint job to help maintain the wooden portions of the building (cornice, brackets, and porch).