Thomas Murray built this house in 1881 shortly after his marriage to Eva Daniels. He had worked as a surveyor for Scott County for more than a decade. Murray was working as Davenport's City Engineer when this house was built.[2]
Architecture
The Thomas Murray House is typical of the Italianate style houses that were being built in Davenport after the American Civil War.[2] It forsakes the simplicity of Greek Revival decorative elements that were found in earlier Italianate houses for the verticality and millwork embellishment of the Victorian expression. The house features a square form, hipped roof with deck, roof cresting, projecting side pavilions, and a prominent bracketed wrap-around porch. The cornice has brackets and a scalloped motif that is applied to the frieze.
