This is Garden Court today:

Of course, Garden Court wasn’t always like it is today. This is what looked like in 1870, 16 structures surrounding a large swale, occupying roughly 60% of the land area:

The complete history of Garden Court was written by a previous resident, Thomas Lent, in 2001, compiled into a booklet entitled “The Official History of ‘Garden Court’”. The following is a condensed version of that document.

Let’s start at the beginning. This block was designated “Square 40” by chief surveyor Andrew Ellicott during the planning of Erie in 1795. (He had previously planned Washington DC.)
Erie was designated a borough in 1805. Six years later in 1811, Ebenezer Henry procured “Square 40”, who sold it to Nathaniel Eastman in 1814. But Mr. Eastman didn’t keep it very long: He sold it four days later to Thomas H Sill, an attorney, for – get this – $28.33!

Mr. Sill held onto Square 40 until his death in 1856, at which time each of his five living children (Richard, Sarah, Thomas, Joseph, and James), inherited 1/6 of the block. The remaining sixth of the block was bequeathed to the 3 grandchildren (Joanna, Emma, and George D.) of his deceased daughter, Joanna L.
Other than the erection of a few houses and barns structures, the block was essentially unchanged between 1856 and 1870, at which time, likely due to the heirs needs to raise cash to pay debts and for other enterprises, the ownership of the block began to change.

What follows is an abbreviated version of the sequence of events of how Thomas H. Sill’s bequest of Block 40 to his heirs was lost.

In 1870, Joseph Sill sold his share to his brother James, the youngest sibling, an attorney who likely fancied himself as a would-be developer. In 1872, Sarah Sill Selden sold her share to James, which now gave him possession of ½ of the block. James evidently ran into financial problems and in 1884, his half of Block 40 was assigned to 2 creditors.

So sometime after 1884 it appears to have dawned on Thomas H. Sill’s heirs that they weren’t really all that into real estate development, and by 1885 all of Block 40 was either in the hands of creditors or estates of Sill heirs.

In 1885, the heirs of Joanna Sill Selden sold 2/3 of their share to George Selden, Joanna’s brother-in-law. A year later, in 1886, Richard Sill’s estate (Richard had died the previous year) sold his share to Kennedy T. Friend.
In 1888, James Sill’s creditors transferred his half share of Block 40, in equal shares, to George D. Selden (Joanna Sill Selden’s son) and George Selden (Joanna Sill Selden’s brother-in-law).
In 1891, Thomas Sill’s estate (Thomas died in 1871) sold his share to Matthew H. Taylor. In 1895, Kennedy T. Friend sold his share (originally Richard Sill’s) to Matthew H. Taylor. So now, Matthew H. Taylor possessed 1/3 of Block 40. He purchased an additional 1/18th share in 1898, from Joanna Sill Selden’s heirs. Matthew H. Taylor presumably intended to procure the remaining shares of Block 40 for commercial development.

However, in 1888, George D. Selden and his uncle George Selden were persuaded to sell their interest (half of block 40) to James Baldwin in 1906. George Selden had already sold the share he had purchased from his sister’s children in 1885 to James Baldwin in 1906. Matthew H. Taylor, realizing he couldn’t compete with James Baldwin, sold the shares he held to James Baldwin in 1906. So now, in 1906, all the heirs’ shares were reunited once again and under the control of James Baldwin.

Here’s a visual summary of the breakup and restoration of Block 40:

In the following year, 1907, is when something brilliant occurred: James Baldwin, quite the visionary real estate developer, teamed up with JW Little, president of People’s Bank of Erie, to form the Civic Art Realty Company. James Baldwin deeded Block 40 to JW Little who accepted the role of Trustee of the corporation and along with a board of 15 directors were charged with commercially developing the block.

A trust declaration established a unique configuration for the property, (later to become referred to as Garden Court, likely due to the enclosed garden area commons established in the layout), and restrictions governing construction of future homes.
The declaration restrictions required that none of the properties could be sold unless the deed guaranteed that the “restrictions and conditions remain as a covenant of the land for and during a period of 25 years from January 1907, and further until such time as stated restrictions and conditions were modified or abrogated by the vote and consent of three fourths of all the property or lot owners.” Civic Art Realty’s charter was recorded September 1907 and the company was incorporated to exist in perpetuity. The company’s business was limited to “buying, holding, leasing, and selling real estate”.

The company’s amount of capital stock was $6,000 divided into 120 shares with a par value of $50. Originally civic art issued stock certificates, but no longer does.

Subdivision restrictions established in 1907 required a 20 foot setback and a 5 foot side lot requirement. Also only single-family homes could be erected on each lot; homes had to cost not less than $3500 (based on 1907 prices for material and labor).

At some point after incorporation, civic art subdivided the property into the unique configuration existing today, namely individual parcels surrounding an interior courtyard, which had its own lot number and owned by the Corporation. A purchaser of one of the lots would become a member of the Corporation and own, hold, and control the park, walkways, and driveways shown to be part of their tract. Later on, the Civic Art Board of Directors instituted a semiannual assessment fee to defray maintenance costs of the park, walkways, and driveways, which were part of the property owner responsibilities. All parcels sold within several years of the establishment of the subdivision. Home building began in 1908 and continued through 1930, with a total of 27 homes built.

All homes now on garden court are classified by the 1984 Inventory of the National Register of Historic Places as “Contributing”, that is “a structure that adds to the historic architectural qualities, historic associations, because it was present during the period of significance, and possesses historic integrity reflecting its character at that time”. Moreover, all of the homes on Garden Court are designated by a name on the Historic Register, which generally bears the name of the family for whom the home was built.

The following 1951 Sanborn map shows the homes that were built on the Garden Court property. It has been augmented for this History to show the family name ascribed by the Historic Register and the date the home was built.

The Sanborn Map Company had created maps like it beginning in 1867. Its specialty was fire insurance maps showing building footprints, building material, height or number of stories, building use, lot lines, road widths and water facilities. The maps included street names and property boundaries of the time. They are historically significant because they often offered the best detailed map of a town or city dating from the mid-1800s.

The complete history of Garden Court as cited in the introduction can be found here: