The Fuller-Mezei apartment house is on the northeasterly corner of South Union Avenue and Girard Street and was constructed in the popular Queen Anne style of the late 1880s. Unlike similar houses in Havre de Grace, this house was shingled on all stories, not just on the attic level. A noticeable early change to this building has been the removal of the large porch that was there originally. This property used to include the land in the rear on which the building now at 437 Girard Street was constructed in 1968.

Having bought the lot from John H. Barnes (1830-1871) in 1868, Colonel J. Thompson Frieze (1826-1898) most likely built the house for his family around 1880. His wife was Elizabeth Green Frieze (1828-1894), daughter of Joshua Green, a local War of 1812 veteran who served several times as Town Commissioner. Colonel Frieze also served as a Town Commissioner during the mid-1800s and had served on the staff of Bel Air native Governor Augustus W. Bradford (1806-1881) during the Civil War. During the Colonel’s early ownership of this house, he also served as Mayor. After his death, his son, Willie S. Frieze, sold the property.

From 1903 to 1919, this was the residence of Irene and Edwin E. Pearson (1859-1932), who was a contractor and owned the Kramer Lumber Company at 210 North Adams Street (now the City Hall). He also was a “sneak boat” builder from a family of woodworkers but he was probably known better for carving canvasback decoys. From here the Pearsons moved to North Union Avenue.

From around 1924 through 1958 this single family home was owned by Dr. Charles J. Foley, Sr. (1895-1957). Having served in WWI, he became a prominent obstetrician in the area and served for a time as Chief of Staff of Harford Memorial Hospital; he also owned Foley’s Pharmacy on St. John Street. It is not known if Dr. Foley had his medical practice here or owned it as an investment. It was his son, Dr. Charles J. Foley, Jr. who built the large brick home at 400 South Union Avenue in 1949.

In 1973, the property was bought by Dr. Lajos I. Mezei and his wife, Yolanda, of Aberdeen, who converted it into doctors’ offices and apartments. Following the death of Lajos Mezei in 1983, the property was owned by Drs. Barry Fuller and Jeffrey Cohen for a short time. They also had offices at 323 North Union Avenue and later founded Havre de Grace’s Vision Associates on Revolution Street. On the side of the ground floor there was a separate unit that was rented around 2000 to Coupe St. Thomas, a hair stylist, but they moved a couple of years later.

Following ownership by Michael and Francine Malat for several years, the property was purchased by Duane J. Farley and Samuel Joyce Freeman (b. 1943), her husband, real estate brokers, in 2005. After renovating the building to their needs, with commercial offices on the ground floor and a two-bedroom apartment on the second, they operated Farley Property Management Services from the building.

The business closed in early 2018 after a closing sale on the contents was held. Duane Farley died shortly thereafter in the same year. For some time after that, this formerly beautiful building appeared to be unoccupied, was deteriorating and lacking in maintenance, and was still listed in Harford County records as owned by Duane J. Farley and Samuel J. Freeman.

In October 2020 the building was sold at auction to Harbor of Grace Enhanced Recovery Center, which owns the property north of it on Union Avenue and east of it on Girard Street. While major renovations are being made to this formerly picturesque historic home, it has lost much of its original beauty. The front door has been removed, boarded up, and sealed to access (as have other doors); gone is its individual beauty now surrounded by mismatched security fences; it is now enveloped in the large and heavily surveilled corner campus of its new owner with multiple security warnings shouting to the viewer. But, fortunately, the 1880 Queen Anne style building is still standing.

County Records
Built 1920. 2955 sq ft, 2.5 stories no basement, 2.5 bathrooms, 3600 sq ft lot.