East Hancock

When Hancock was first platted by the Quincy Mine the town’s eastern border was a deep ravine in which the Quincy Tramway ran down to the mine’s stamp mill along Portage Lake. As the town expanded, and more space became necessary Quincy platted out new neighborhoods which sprawled out from the town’s early borders. Known as “additions” these new neighborhoods had names such as Hillside, Condon, and Grove. By 1880 Quincy platted out yet another neighborhood to the east of the ravine and began to sell off lots. The area was known at the time as the Quincy Addition, but is known today as East Hancock.

Due to the deep ravine along Reservation Street, the new neighborhood was geographically isolated from the rest of the town. Buffered from the rest of the city’s population, East Hancock could only be entered from one of two narrow bridges which crossed the ravine. These unique conditions created one of the area’s first “gated community”, and as such attracted Hancock’s rich and elite who quickly bought up large lots along the steep hillside and built several opulent houses. Most of these houses still stand today.

Between 1880 and 1900 - when most of the East Hancock Neighborhood was built up - the prevalent popular architectural style was an americanized “Queen Anne Style”. These houses featured asymmetric facades, polygonal towers, covered porches, dominant front facing gables, bright colors, and busy shingle work and wood details. This was the same style prevalent in the construction in Laurium’s high class neighborhoods as well. Today these houses are usually referred to as Victorian, though most were built at the very end of the Victorian Period (which was between 1840-1900). The house I show above features plenty of Queen Anne Style elements, but its Gambrel roof is out of place. (for some reason I didn’t take a picture of a classic Queen Anne Style house)

Besides the large collection of wood framed Queen Anne Style houses, there is also a large amount of masonry houses in the neighborhood. This one features Portage Entry sandstone quoins (corner blocks), and lintels (stones over the windows and doors). To further establish the prestige of the owner, a large portico sits over the main entrance.

East Hancock sits along a fairly steep hill side, which creates the need for some creative landscaping. Here’s a terraced garden built from field stones, capped with concrete details. Most of the yards for these houses are terraced, and feature a large amount of rock and sandstone retaining walls. This is the first time I’ve seen field stone, which leads me to believe its a more modern addition.

Here’s a another shot, showing a close up of the entrance stairway. Amazing stuff.

This striking brick house is the Liebert House, built in 1907. This house was built after the Queen Anne Style’s reign, and is instead merges a Bungalow and Jacobean Revival Style. It definitely looks like nothing else in the Copper Country.

This brick and shingled building is the Close House, built in 1902. This large house sits on an even larger corner lot which rises up a steep hillside. It was built for a bookkeeper at the First National Bank of Hancock, who later went on to own his own wholesale business.

This large double-porched house partially hidden by large trees is the Kauth House, built in 1907. Kauth was owner of a very popular upscale saloon in Hancock and laid the foundation to this massive building several years ahead of time, to allow it to “settle” apparently.

Much of the information in this post was obtained from the excellent Copper Country Architects website created by Michigan Tech Students as part of a History of American Architecture Class ( under the supervision of Kim Hoagland, Professor of History and Historic Preservation in the Social Sciences Department.) Its a great resource for those interested in historic architecture (as I am), especially local building design. One of the best local sites around, that no one known about (until now).

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