Sweat-Comings Company House - Richford, Vermont - Relocated Structures on Waymarking.com

This vernacular, two story, hip roof Colonial Revival style duplex was built in 1909. It is on the edge of a residential neighborhood a few steps from Main Street in downtown Richford, across the street from the former Sweat-Comings furniture factory.

The address is 10-12 Powell Street. That's over the doors, it's on the sign identifying it as a rehab project, and it's the address listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

The weird thing is that the house next door is #27; unusual, if not unheard of, to have an odd number next door to an even number; on every other east-west street in town, houses on the south side are odd-numbered; evens are on the north side.

So why is this oddball even number on what is supposed to be the odd side? The basic albeit incomplete answer is that it was moved.

The house was built on the north side of the street, next to the Sweat-Comings Company complex (almost directly opposite its current location), as a boarding house for employees. In 1924, the plant expanded and this building was moved to its current site where it served as a dwelling for the Company watchman.

But that's only a partial explanation. Today, an address goes with the lot, not the structure. You move the house, you change the address. When did even-odd street numbering come into effect, and why did they exempt this one address?

Something like this could really mess up 911. Good thing it's immediately behind the Emergency Services Building.