Eye candy of the week

Property: Darius B. Moon House at 216 Huron St., Lansing 

Owner: Thomas Stanton

Assessed value: $56,600

There’s long-held tradition in naming buildings — Monticello, Farnsworth and Robie, to name a few. Houses are typically named after the first owner or the architect. What do you get when the first owner is also an architect? In Lansing, you get the Darius B. Moon House.

Darius Bartlett Moon, the venerable late-19th and early-20th century architect, is responsible for the most stunning turn-of-the-century architecture in Lansing. Moon designed and built this impressive Victorian at 216 Huron St., on Lansing’s near west side, for his family. Decorative half-timbering on the exterior is combined with prominent brackets, woodcarvings, towers and cupolas reminiscent of the Gothic period — a popular style in the late-19th century known as Victorian Stick. 

Condemned to make way for the widening of Logan Street (now Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard), this house was saved by a fervent group of citizens and moved to Huron Street. Today, owners Carol Skilling and Tom Stanton appreciate its history and craftsmanship as they work to restore the house to the 1900 period. There is a lesson here: Advocate for architecture in your neighborhood that should not be lost. Eastside residents, in collaboration with Lansing Community College and the Ingham County Land Bank, recently saved 1501 E. Kalamazoo St. Architecture matters and restoration works.