John Archer House

John Archer House

John Archer was the Centreville's first postmaster and was the owner of the "Sign of the Crossed Keys" tavern.

Address: 
8661 Dayton-Lebanon Pike
Centerville, OH 45458

Date:  Circa 1809

Features:  This is a two-story four-bay native limestone house with the door off center to the right.  A four-light transom is over the door.  On the first floor, the windows are nine-over-six.  Plasterwork covers the stone on the exterior and is scored to look like very carefully spaced stonework.  An I-house, there are two rooms down, two up with three working fireplaces in these four front rooms.  The chimneys are interior in the gable ends, the fireplaces downstairs of stone.  A brick fireplace remains upstairs in the bedroom to the north.  Early federal mantels remain.  There is a significant overhang of the roof on the gable ends.  A frame section on the northwest side may have been part of the original house plan or an early addition.  Other two-story additions to the west were made in the 1960s including a plant conservatory near the kitchen.  The house is now covered by a coat of plaster.

 Owners:  The deeds for this house skip the ownership of John Archer, a native of New Jersey; only the auditor's tax records indicate that Archer owned 100 acres beginning in 1807.  The 1809 tax list gives the value of some of the houses including the one on this property for John Archer, Sen., at $225.  That value would indicate a fairly substantial house.  This limestone house represents the earliest settlement of the community.  It continues to be a residence.