TURNER-BACK HOUSE

ca. 1884/1917
1722 Center Street

Constructed in 1884-85 for William J. Turner, a real estate agent, this house was the first large, architect-designed house in what is now the Governor’s Mansion neighborhood.  Originally a rambling, red-brick Queen Anne, the house was extensively remodeled in the Craftsman style about 1917 for Gus Lyon, vice-president of a wholesale hardware company and builder of the house at 1710 Center. 

When Lyon died unexpectedly in 1918, his family moved back next door and sold their newly-remodeled home to William Back, a partner in a dry goods business.  The Back family owned the house through the 1940s. 

Divided into apartments in the 1950s, the house was purchased for rehabilitation in 1992 and returned to single-family use.