H. A. Childs House, 343 M.A.C. Ave. (1911)

H. A. Childs House, November 2003. Photo Credit: Kevin S. Forsyth.

Architect Harold A. Childs created this house, one of his earliest designs, for his in-laws Samuel and Lucy Cochrane. After their deaths in 1914–15, it became Harold and Ethel (Cochrane) Childs’ own residence. Their daughter, Lelle Childs Robertson, owned and lived in the home for decades until her death at age 88 in 2001.[Landmark Walking Tour. Ingham Country Records. LCD (1916), p. 243]

Harold Childs also designed the Orchard Street Pumphouse “and several other structures in Greater Lansing, including the Reuter House in Eaton Rapids” (now the English Inn). The Childs house, along with a modest foursquare across the street at 338 M.A.C. Avenue, remained in the family as of 2019. Both are now rental properties.[ELi, 13 Mar 2019]

Note that although the assertion that Childs was the architect of this house comes from city records and historic commission documents, recent sources have called that provenance into question.