Stop 26D. Victorian Manor
ADDRESS: 347 East Linn Street
YEAR BUILT: 1877
This house at 347 East Linn Street was originally built for Daniel and Maria Rhoads in 1877 by a local builder, Morris Cowdrick. Morris Cowdrick, whose name is preserved in Cowdrick Alley, was known as a brick mason. He did brickwork at the Brockerhoff Hotel and the 1884 Methodist Parsonage at 146 East Linn Street. This house has been the home of four Centre County judges: Daniel Rhoads, John H. Orvis, Ellis L. Orvis, and Arthur Dale, who bought the home in 1924. It remained in the Dale family until 1994, when a fire nearly destroyed the entire building. After the fire, the house was bought and rebuilt.
The house, like many in Bellefonte, has an amalgam of styles including a Second Empire mansard roof and Queen Anne style elements. Its sister house at 351 East Linn Street (to the left) has some similar elements. The house unfortunately was severely damaged by fire again in 2006.