Then and Now in Dover, Part 4

A 1911 Leiter postcard showing the earlier home of Dr. and Mrs. Stoll on the same parcel.

Part four in a series on the "real photo postcards" (RPPCs) of early 20th century Dover, now Westlake and Bay Village.

Residence of Dr. and Mrs. Christopher W. Stoll of Dover

This Leiter RPPC postcard shows the residence of Dr. and Mrs. Stoll. This home was most likely located at 2543 Dover Center Road. Christopher W. and his wife, Eva S., Stoll owned property at this address in the early 1900s. They most likely occupied the house pictured on the postcard during the time that their new house, circa 1912, was being constructed behind it.

The postcard shows an older home with a sidewalk in front of it which most likely would have occurred only near the center of Dover at “Dover Centre” – the intersection of Center Ridge and Dover Center roads. A Hopkins map of 1858 shows five buildings constructed in a row beginning at the northeast corner of Center Ridge and Dover Center roads. We think the home pictured on the postcard is the northernmost building depicted on the 1858 map. A 1914 Hopkins plat book shows the new masonry house which is currently located there with no other structure in front of it.

One interesting note is that Dr. Christopher W. Stoll’s sister Lydia married Herbert E. Pease in 1888. As noted in an earlier article, their son, Dr. Russell A Pease, constructed a home nearly across from 2543 Dover Center at 2570 Dover Center in 1923 (at the northwest corner of Seneca and Dover Center roads). Both Dr. Russell A. Pease and his uncle Dr. Christopher W. Stoll had their homes listed under their wives' names rather than their own.

The meticulously maintained c. 1912 Stoll house, with its clay tile roof, stucco walls, barrel vaulted entrance porch with Doric columns in an early 20th century Second Renaissance Revival style is the only one of its kind in Westlake.

William Krause

William R. Krause, AICP I am the Assistant Planning Director for the City of Westlake. I have worked for Westlake for 30 years. I served on the Bay Village Planning Commission for 5 years. I was a member of the Reuben Osborn Learning Center Steering Committee. I was a Board Member and Historian for the Westlake Historical Society and am a Trustee of the Western Reserve Architectural Historians. I have been married to Debra for 38 years and am the father of three grown children, grandfather of four and owner of a Shih Tzu.

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Volume 12, Issue 4, Posted 10:06 AM, 02.18.2020