87 Alta Avenue

Overcliff; two-and-one half story, multiple bay, coursed stone, Shingle Style residence; square plan; high stone foundation; gable roofed porte-cochére with eyebrow dormer; wrap-around rear porch; linteled, round-arched, and pointed arch windows, some with leaded glass; shingled oriels, towers, and turrets; multiple porches; multiple roof line featuring tent, conical and cross-gabled roofs; multiple coursed stone chimneys.

Significance: Park Hill West (c. 2006), pp. 48-58, identifies this as one of the first residences built in Park Hill and as the area's most extraordinary Shingle Style building, constructed in 1892 for Edward K. Martin, attributed to G. Howard Chamberlin, and noted for its private chapel with Tiffany-designed glass altar and dramatic vertical massing on a cliff-like site.

"Overcliff." the Edward K. Martin House (Martin was president of the Real Estate Company that planned Park Hill); a spectacular 2 1/2-story, rubblestone and shingle house with complex, picturesque massing rising to a series of towers and gables; stone at first floor. extending into upper floors; shingled upper floors; peak. hip. and sloping roofs; projecting bays and oriels; entrance porte-cochére with peak roof; wrap-around porch capped by steeply sloping tower with shed dormer at southwest corner; rounded porch at northwest corner with stone wall and timber posts; windows (some casement) with 1x1. multi-paned. and Gothic upper sash; bracketed cornices; stone chimneys; entire house crowned by round tower with pointed roof and tall finial; towers retain wood shingle roofing.

Significance: Park Hill (2002), pp. 742-755, identifies "Overcliff" as the Edward K. Martin House (1892), a G. Howard Chamberlin design for an early president of the American Real Estate Company, and also names it as the home of Dr. Paluel Flagg, a specialist in anesthesia and authority on resuscitation.

This is a 2 1/2 story Shingle Style house with a shingled gable roof and multiple cross gables, towers, and turrets. Most towers employ a tent roof and are in extreme disrepair. There are numerous oriel windows and porches throughout structure. The front entry is through a porte cochére which contains an eyelid window. Random ashlar is the main material used in the first and second story.

Noteworthy: Towers and windows

Significance: Park Hill (1984), pp. 424-435, identifies "Overcliff" as one of Park Hill's first residences and its most extraordinary Shingle Style house; it was built in 1892 for Edward K. Martin, attributed to G. Howard Chamberlin, and noted for a private chapel with Tiffany windows, a cliff-like site, and pronounced vertical massing. The same section lists this address among the original fourteen as the Edwin K. Martin residence (1892).

The illustrated view shows a large, picturesque stone and shingle house named Overcliff, with multiple turrets, a round tower, porches, and a drive leading to a covered carriage entrance.