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404 College Street Lyon House-Acacia Fraternity, circa 1844   By Christian C. Carey

This house was originally constructed circa 1844 as a three by two bay Greek Revival style house and later converted to its current Italianate appearance. The house presents as a single rectangular volume constructed of brick. The roof is a hipped pyramidal low pitched profile. The roof is capped with a cupola which also has a hipped roof. Supported at the eaves with Italianate brackets. The College Street façade is articulated with a centered recessed entrance and portico. The portico also supports a second story bay window with paneled square columns. Flanking either side of the entrance are two over two sash double hung windows that have ornamental cast iron lintels and wood sills (2). Italianate brackets that help define the paneled frieze support the cornice of the roof. An ell addition was added (The exact date of construction was not documented) and incorporates a one by four bay porch. The west façade of the structure incorporates windows within the frieze. This façade also has symmetrically placed two over two sash double-hung windows. An entrance, which appears to have been added later, is located in the southern most bay.

The house was originally constructed for Captain Dan Lyon, a Lake Champlain steamboat commander (1). When Lyon moved from Burlington in 1865, he sold the house to Daniel Howard who remodeled (circa 1865) the house to its current Italianate appearance. The Acacia Fraternity came into possession of the house in 1956. This house is in a good state of preservation and contributes its Italianate style to the neighborhood.