One of the most distinguished homes in Milford, the Grier-Rogers home, which sits at the corner of Lakeview Avenue and King’s Highway, was built by Dr. Frank L. Grier in 1890. The home, which he named Lakelawn, was constructed just after his marriage to Florence Lucretia Haines Caulk, daughter of Levin D. Caulk, founder of L.D. Caulk Manufacturing Company.
Florence’s father died of pneumonia after falling from his horse on the way to visit Dr. G. Layton Grier, Frank Grier’s brother, in 1895. His widow offered to sell the L.D. Caulk Company to the Grier brothers in 1900, and they moved the operations to Milford.
Not long after purchasing the company, Frank and Florence were engaged to be married. They married on March 2, 1897, in Camden. Soon after, they built and moved into Lakelawn. The couple had three children. Mary Osmond Grier married John D. Lockwood Pratt; Frances Layton Grier married Harold Kenneth Wakefield; Harold Caulk Grier did not marry and died at the age of 51.
Lakelawn was built in a Greek Revival style with gables, columns and balustrade railings over all porches. A formal garden was added to the grounds. The home was greatly expanded in 1923 with a two-story addition to host President Warren G. Harding during his whirlwind visit to Milford on June 9, 1923.
Frank died in 1937 and his children kept Lakelawn until 152 when John and Jean Rogers purchased the mansion and turned it into a funeral home. The Rogers lived in the home with their five children.
The basic plan of the house is that of a two-story, five-bay, center-hall, frame building. It combines many elements of the Queen Anne style and classic style into what some contemporary authors called the “free classic.” The hip roof is pierced with dormers that have rounded window cornice heads. The center dormer over the main façade is larger and more massive and matches the projecting center bay that includes the entrance block.
The center block has a Palladian window, while at the first floor the entrance takes the form of a Palladian window with its tripart division, but each section is of similar height and the whole is first at the top. The first floor right window bays are combined into a Palladian window. The center block has a two-story portico with slender, paired, fluted Ionic columns. A porch continues to the left from this portico around to the side of the house with single, fluted Ionic columns. The opposite side has a one-story porch with large Doric columns. The whole home sits on a raised brick foundation and is covered with weatherboard.
