The Fry House is a one-story hipped-roofed residence distinguished by carefully scaled Ionic porch columns and dormers with Mission parapets. It was built for Whitford T. Fry c. 1907. Fry had a new house built on Elizabeth Boulevard in 1911, the first in Ryan Place (see 1112 Elizabeth Boulevard). This house is located in an area undergoing rapid change as nearby Harris Hospital expands. A mechanics lien indicates that local contractor A. C. Barber made substantial improvements to the house in 1924 for John L. and Lela Rogers who owned the property at that time. Lela’s daughter from her first marriage, Ginger Rogers, gained fame on Broadway and Hollywood and is probably best known as Fred Astaire’s dancing partner. Lela became her daughter’s manager and followed her to Hollywood where the elder Rogers became head of new talent at RKO Studios. The Fry House now serves as a medical facility. The exterior walls and the columns have been encased with synthetic stucco and the porch railings removed (see lower photograph, taken in 2006). It is the only residential structure left on this block. This House was demolished in early 2009.
