453 South Willard Street
453 South Willard Street is one of a trio of similar houses (#’s 443, 453, and 457) constructed in 1915 by Eugene C. Chausse, a local real estate entrepreneur, contractor and builder, in the Colonial Revival style. They were built on part of the former Lorenzo Lord property.
The houses on South Willard Street from Pearl Street as far as #’s 505 and 510, and on some of the side streets comprise the South Willard Street Historic District. The first owners of these three houses were professors at UVM.
The earliest houses on South Willard Street dated from the 1830’s. As the 19thcentury brought wealth to Burlington, some of the grandest houses in the city were built on South Willard Street. Many of them remain today, often repurposed as apartment houses, or as part of Champlain College. From 1880 to 1920, some multifamily houses were built, mainly on the northern part of the street, with smaller, contractors’ houses like #453 appearing among the older houses. The narrative for the National Register for South Willard Street states that the street has retained its character, and “remains Burlington’s finest residential street.”
Eugene C. Chausse lived on North Street. His father, Eugene Sr., had a shoe shop, also on North Street, part of the French Canadian population there. Eugene Jr. was enterprising. He had been acquiring property outside his own neighborhood, constructing attractive housing on what had previously been larger acreage. For instance, he had demolished the large Kingsland house on South Union Street and developed the property as Kingsland Terrace.
#453 South Willard Street is a Colonial Revival 2 ½ story house, gable facing the street, brick on the first floor, shingle siding on the second, and a slate roof. It is well-described in the National Register statement. On September 27, 1915, Eugene and Gertrude Chausse signed the house over to George P. and Nettie H. Burns by warranty deed, making them its first owners.
Dr. George Plummer Burns was a professor of botany in the College of Agriculture at UVM. He had come to UVM in 1910 from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where there is still a Burns Park named after him (he made it possible for the city to obtain the land for the park), and he is remembered as the first director of the university’s Botanical Garden and Arboretum. Earlier, Burns had come from Bloomington, IL to attend Ohio Wesleyan University, graduating in 1898 with a Master in Arts and a BS degree. He was elected to the scientific honor society Sigma Xi in 1903.
On September 27, 1915, Eugene and Gertrude Chausse signed over to George and Nettie Burns their new home, by warranty deed. (Volume 69, page 6, Burlington Land Records) The 1916 city directory has the first listing for the house. As was usual, Nettie is not listed. They would make the place their home for more than 35 years as active community members.
In the 1920 city directory, George R. Burns, a UVM student, is listed as boarding at #453. He is still there in 1924, but disappears after this. In 1929, Annette and Helen H. Burns were listed as UVM students. By the next year, Annette is listed as working in Princeton, NJ; Helen is still a student. In the 1933 directory, George P. is a professor at UVM and Superintendent of the Parks Department, a position he apparently held through 1934. Helen last appears in the 1933 directory as a research worker at UVM.In the early 1940s, George was an assistant dean; by 1946 he was a professor emeritus. His name is last mentioned in the 1951 directory.
George Plummer Burns died in the Brattleboro Retreat on November 15, 1953, of a stroke. He had been in the facility for 24 days with diagnoses indicating cardiovascular disease and dementia. The aged who developed dementia were not uncommonly sent to mental hospitals. The only other personal information on his death certificate was his date and place of birth, October 30, 1869,?Ohio. and the possible maiden name of his mother, “? Strawbridge, born Philadelphia PA”. He was buried in Springfield, MA.
Meantime, the Burns home had been sold by 1952 to Douglas F. Green, an optometrist, and his wife Helen. By the end of 1955 they had sold to Robert W. and Jeannette C. Coon. Robert was a physician, a pathologist, a professor on the faculty of the UVM Medical School, and a member of the staff of the local hospitals. They lived on South Willard Street until 1974. During this time they finished the basement to a rec room (1964) at an estimated cost of $1,000.
The new owners were Stewart and Stephanie McConaughy. Stephen was a lawyer with Gravel, Shea, and Wright; Stephanie was a UVM student, later a psychologist. The deed was in Stephanie’s name. In 1980 they replaced the original garage with a 2-car model (est. $4,000). In 1983 they remodeled the second floor, installing a bathroom between two bedrooms, opening a wall on the porch, and installing triple-glazed windows (est.$14,500),
In 1998 James M Dwinell and Susanna V. Nazarova bought the house. In 2002 they sold to Charles and Erin Rainwater, who sold in 2008 to Paul Herzog and Jolene Tritt.
The latter couple recently moved to McLean, VA. They sold their home to the present owners in 2017. This home and its neighbors represent attractive examples of early 20th-century homebuilding on one of the most attractive streets in the city.
Image credit: Hickok & Boardman
REFERENCES
Burlington Land Records
Burlington City Directories 1915-1990
National Register of Historic Places, South Willard Street Historic District
Burlington Vital Statistics Records
Chronicling America, Library of Congress, re George P. Burns and Eugene C. Chausse
Detail, map of Burlington VT, Hopkins, 1890
Detail, Sanborn Fire Insurance map, 1919, Burlington, VT
Ohio Wesleyan University Bulletin, via Google
Time Line of the City of Ann Arbor, MI, via Google
Find a Grave Web Site re Eugene C. Chausse