William G. Sutherland House

 townhouse, Greek Revival (architecture)

3-story (plus raised basement) Greek-revival residential building completed in the early 1850s. It has a brownstone stoop and basement with a typical Greek-revival doorway framed by pilasters and an entablature. The 3-bay upper floors are clad in red brick. The windows have stone sills and white metal cornices. The building is crowned by a bracketed and dentiled white metal roof cornice.

The house was first owned by William G. Sutherland. One of his sons, William Jr., remained in the house until 1867 when he moved and sold the 18th Street house to Joseph M. Schute and his wife, Mary. It was most likely Schute who updated the house by adding Italianate details. The parlor windows were extended to the floor and pressed metal lintels were added to the openings. Not long afterward the Schutes sold the house to carriage maker Frederick R. Wood and his wife, Mary. It was sold again, to Philip G. Becker, in 1895. It appears the property was operated as a boarding house in the pre-World War I years. In 1924 The Margaret and Sarah Switzer Foundation for Girls purchased the house; It is unclear how long the Institute remained in the house. By 1957, the building had a quite unusual occupant: The Animal Talent Scout Shelter, run by Lorrain and Bernie D'Essen, acting as casting agents for non-human performers for television, motion pictures, operas, plays and advertisements.

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