The Ferris House at 3915 Plainville Road is getting its last round of brick repairs, wrapping up a multi-year effort to stabilize the oldest surviving brick building in Hamilton County still standing at its original site.

The Mariemont Preservation Foundation announced Thursday, Aug. 6, that local contractor HICON, Inc. has begun tuckpointing the east elevation and chimney of the 1802-era structure. The work is the second and final phase of exterior masonry restoration. HICON completed the first phase, repairing the west elevation, in summer 2025.

Tuckpointing replaces deteriorated mortar between bricks to prevent water damage and keep aging walls structurally sound.

Grant funding from two sources

The chimney work is funded by the Mariemont DAR Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution and by a $3,500 grant from the Ohio History Fund, a program of the Ohio History Connection. Diana Welling, Ohio's State Historic Preservation Officer, formally presented the grant at a ceremony on April 10. State Sen. Catherine Ingram and state Rep. Ashley Bryant Bailey attended.

It marks the second consecutive year MPF has received Ohio History Fund support for the Ferris House. A $5,000 grant in 2025 helped fund the west-elevation work, which also received support from the H.G., H.F. & Louise Tuechter Dornette Foundation through Fifth Third Bank.

A building tied to Mariemont's founding

The Ferris House is a 2½-story Georgian Colonial farmhouse in the Federal style, built by Eliphalet Ferris, son of Revolutionary War veteran Jeduthan Ferris. The three Ferris brothers moved to the area from Greenwich, Connecticut, in 1799.

The building carries outsized significance for Mariemont's origin story. It was the first property philanthropist Mary Emery purchased for her planned community. In 1923, it became the construction headquarters for the Mariemont Company, and the village's groundbreaking ceremony was held on its front lawn that same year.

The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. MPF acquired it in June 2022 with the goal of converting it into the Mariemont Museum.