Lloyd Garrison Satterlee House

This cement block residence was built by Lloyd Garrison Satterlee, an inventor and entrepreneur, in 1905. Satterlee had invented a process for manufacturing cement roofing tiles and designed the house to showcase his product. He began construction in the fall of 1905, and in the spring of 1906, the Rochester Era reported on his progress:

"L.G. Satterlee is busy finishing his house in the Albertson addition, the cement walls of which were up last fall. He proposes a roof of cement shingles of his own patent and manufacture—both house and barn—which will furnish a practical test of their utility in all respects. The residence is a model of convenience and is to be finished in the best possible manner."

Satterlee's house was featured in the inaugural issue of the building trades magazine, Cement World, in April 1907. The magazine said this about the innovative house:

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The house shown was built in Rochester, Mich., by Mr. Lloyd G. Satterlee, treasurer of the Twentieth Century Cement Tile Roofing Company, for his own use. He used lap concrete shingles, 6 by 12 inches, with two ribs extending from butt to point of the shingle, which strengthens and adds materially to the general appearance....The house is 20 by 40 feet and contains eleven rooms and a concrete basement under the whole house. The blocks were made by the owner himself, costing ten cents apiece, the masons being paid one and one- half cents per block for laying and averaging from 100 to 120 blocks a day. They are rock face except below the grade line, where plain face blocks extending clear to the foundations were used. The blocks have but one air space. The gables are rough cast concrete with the exception of the panel work. The roof, as stated above, is entirely of concrete shingles....The chimney above the roof is of blocks; below it is of ordinary brick. The lumber for the finishing oak was supplied from the owner's farm at a saving perhaps of $100. The cost of the house the owner estimates was about $2,000, although it would probably cost $1,500 more than that to duplicate in a city.

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The house must have attracted positive attention in Rochester as well, because Satterlee and other local investors including E.S. Letts, William C. Chapman, and George A. Hammond formed the Twentieth Century Cement Tile Roofing Company in Rochester in 1907 to manufacture and sell Satterlee's invention. The company lasted but a few years, and Satterlee moved on from Rochester, eventually settling in Santa Cruz, California, where he died in 1949.

After the Satterlee family departed Rochester, the house was the residence of the Ira J. Brownell family, and later the Esther Schluchter family.

The Satterlee house was converted to business use in 1948 when Norman Hastings located his Culligan Soft Water franchise there. In more recent years, the house has been used for professional offices.

"L. G. Satterlee is preparing to build a cement house...," Rochester Era, May 12, 1905, p.1.

"L. G. Satterlee has patented a cement shingle machine...," Rochester Era, August 4, 1905.

"L. G. Satterlee is busy finishing up his house...," Rochester Era, March 16, 1906.

"House Built With a Cement Shingle Roof: New Residence in Michigan Successfully Roofed With Fireproof and Imperishable Material Made by Machine at Building Site," Cement World, 1:1 (April 15, 1907), pp.25-26.

"United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZQ5-3VG : accessed 16 July 2020), Ira Brownell, Sr, Avon, Oakland, Michigan, United States; citing ED 159, sheet 10A, line 45, family 220, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1992), roll 789; FHL microfilm 1,820,789.

"United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org /ark:/61903/1:1:XQ1V-HW2 : accessed 14 July 2015), Ira J Brownell, Rochester, Oakland, Michigan, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 0003, sheet 5B, family 124, line 66, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 1016; FHL microfilm 2,340,751.

"United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K6XV-4TN : accessed 14 July 2015), Ira J Brownell, 1917-1918; citing Oakland County no 1, Michigan, United States, NARA microfilm publication M1509 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,682,688.

"United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K4GB-HZF : 29 February 2020), Esther Schluchter, Rochester, Avon Township, Oakland, Michigan, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 63-3, sheet 8B, line 44, family 173, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 1798.

"Soft Water Service Opens in Rochester," Rochester Era, August 19, 1948, p.1.

"Satterlee [Lloyd G.; death notice]," Santa Cruz Sentinel, February 1, 1949, p.10.