318. P. Oscar Leak House (FY 952)
1101 Glade Street
Contributing, 1912
The Leak House is an unusually handsome Colonial Revival dwelling with a hint of the emerging Craftsman style. The two-story weatherboarded house has a pyramidal roof with overhanging bracketed eaves and an asymmetrical facade with a left front entrance porch treated with paired Tuscan columns on brick plinths and a balustraded terrace which extends from the porch across the remainder of the facade. On the southeast side of the house is a sun room, and at the rear is a second floor sleeping porch. The front entrance is elaborated with fancy leaded and beveled glass sidelights and fanlight transom, and the fanlight transom is repeated above the windows of the parlor and dining room. The interior is richly detailed with a variety of well-designed Colonial Revival details including mantels, a stair with a double balustrade and spiral newels, and a high paneled wainscot in the dining room with a plate rail and a glass-enclosed cupboard next to the fireplace.
P. Oscar Leak purchased the property in 1912, and by 1913 he and his wife, Louise, were listed in the city directory at this location. In 1913 Leak was listed as a farmer, but by 1915 he was listed as president of Leak-Cobb Company, a real estate and insurance firm. He in fact owned numerous pieces of property in the West End. In later years Leak held additional executive positions in a variety of companies. (TR, CD, SM)