Walking Tour-43 North Main Street-Walking Tour
(West Side of Street)

This Queen Anne style house was built for Mr. & Mrs. Henry Kingsley in 1883 on the site of a barn which was a part of Nelson W. Clark's residential property. Mrs. Kingsley was the daughter of E. S. & Mary Hirst/Hurst. (See photo, page 59, Heritage.) The Hirsts/Hursts owned the Clarkston mills property for a time after purchasing it from Jeremiah & Nelson W. Clark in 1859.

The next owners of this house were Mr. & Mrs. Charles Lambert. At the turn of the century the Lamberts had a cottage described in the Pontiac newspapers of the time alternately as being on the shores of Deer Lake or on Cemetery Lake. Charles owned Clayton & Lambert Manufacturing Co. in Detroit. The Lamberts used this house only in the summer. Their son Frank & his wife, Elizabeth Edmonson, continued to use the house until their deaths. Frank founded Shore Acres Creamery in Pontiac. Then he was Vice President of Clayton-Lambert until his retirement in 1946. Elizabeth's grandfather, J. Edmonson, for a time, had a store on the northwest corner of S. Main St. & Depot Rd.

The house stood much as it was originally built until a major restoration in 1994. A two story addition was constructed to join the rear/west facade. The three car garage was also built as a part of this project.

The house has retained many of the picturesque details of the Queen Anne style: the tower with cone-shaped roof and lancet windows; the wrap-around screened porch with turned posts; the bay window on the third story of the east facade and the shaped shingles in the gables.

Official Property Description:

• Lot 1 Block 18 & Lake St. & part of Brandon St. of Nelson W. Clark's Original Plat of the Village in the Southwest 1/4 of Section 20 in Independence Township.
• Lot 19 of Supervisor's Replat of the Northwestern Addition & Part of the Original Plat.

Significant Property History:

[A Synopsis Of Property Transfers Derived From Abstracts
(when available) And Periodic Changes In Ownership Or
Assessed Value Derived From Township Tax Records]

• Note: All the properties currently located in the Historic District were originally part of a tract registered by Butler Holcomb with the federal government on October 22, 1831. Thus, abstracts for these properties, when they exist, show the original transfer to be from the United States to Butler Holcomb and may also include references to then President Andrew Jackson.
• 1844 Nelson W. Clark, Lot 1 Block 18, assessed value $5. Nelson W. Clark, Lot 2 Block 18, assessed value $5.
• 1846 Nelson W. Clark, Lots 1 & 2 Block 18, assessed value $6.
• 1847 Nelson W. Clark, "Lot 11 Block 18, assessed value $5.
• 1848 Nelson W. Clark, Lots 1 & 2 Block 18, assessed value $10.
• 1849 Nelson W. Clark, Lots 1 & 2 Block 18, assessed value $10.
• 1850 N. W. Clark, Block 24, assessed value $485.
• 1872 Map of the Village has the footprint of a building of this site, the barn of N.W. Clark's residential property.
• 1875 George Sibley, Block 24, assessed value $1300.
• 1884 E. G. Clark reportedly bought this property in 1883.
• 1882 E. G. Clark.
• 1883 N. Kingsley, assessed value $2100.
• 1886 Map of the Village, parcel owner, H. Kingsley.
• 1889 Henry Kingsley, assessed value $2500.
• 1904 H. Kingsley , assessed value $2500.
• 1910 Charles R. Lambert & Nettie Vliet Lambert, (his wife).
• 1927 Charles Lambert, estate.
• Mr. & Mrs. Frank Webster Lambert.