The Ansel T. Walling House is a historic house in Circleville

Circleville, Ohio

Circleville is a city in and the county seat of Pickaway County, Ohio, United States, along the Scioto River. The population was 13,485 at the 2000 census.-History:...

, Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. An Italianate

Italianate architecture

The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...

 structure that was built in 1869, it was the home of Ansel T. Walling

Ansel T. Walling

Ansel Tracy Walling was a U.S. Representative from Ohio.Born in Otsego County, New York, Walling moved to Erie County, Pennsylvania, where he attended a local academy. He studied medicine and practiced a short time, and then learned the art of printing. He moved to Ohio in 1843 and engaged in...

, a state

Ohio General Assembly

The Ohio General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio. It consists of the 99-member Ohio House of Representatives and the 33-member Ohio Senate...

 and federal

United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

 legislator.

A native of New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, Walling settled in northeastern Ohio in 1843, where he began to publish a local newspaper. After serving as a clerk for the Ohio House of Representatives

Ohio House of Representatives

The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate....

, he and his wife Sarah moved to Circleville in 1863; there they bought land and soon began to erect a house. Completed in 1869, its brick walls rest on a foundation of sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

 and are covered with an asphalt roof. Elements such as a bracketed

Bracket (architecture)

A bracket is an architectural member made of wood, stone, or metal that overhangs a wall to support or carry weight. It may also support a statue, the spring of an arch, a beam, or a shelf. Brackets are often in the form of scrolls, and can be carved, cast, or molded. They can be entirely...

 cornice

Cornice

Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...

 and a pitched roof

Pitched roof

A pitched roof is a roof for which one or more roof surfaces is pitched more than 10 degrees, and alternately a roof with two slopes that meet at a central ridge. Some definitions are even more general, including any roof with a sloping surface or surfaces....

 with prominent eaves make the house distinctively Italianate

Italianate architecture

The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...

; it is one of Circleville's best Italianate houses.

Major dates in the Walling House's history include Walling's death in 1896, his widow's death in 1922, and its designation as a historic site

Historic site

A historic site is an official location where pieces of political, military or social history have been preserved. Historic sites are usually protected by law, and many have recognized with the official national historic site status...

 in 1987. In that year, the house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

, qualifying because of its connection to Walling and because of its well-preserved historic architecture. Two other houses in the same block

City block

A city block, urban block or simply block is a central element of urban planning and urban design. A city block is the smallest area that is surrounded by streets. City blocks are the space for buildings within the street pattern of a city, they form the basic unit of a city's urban fabric...

, known as the Morris

Morris House (Circleville, Ohio)

The Morris House is a historic house in Circleville, Ohio, United States. Located on Union Street near the city's downtown, it is an ornate Gothic Revival structure...

 and William Marshall Houses, are also listed on the National Register.