February 2010 – Historic Buildings of Massachusetts

Old Longmeadow Congregational Church Parsonage (1857)

by Dan/February 27, 2010/Houses, Italianate, Longmeadow

The Italianate-style former parsonage of Longmeadow’s Congregational Church was built in 1857 on the site where the home of the town’s first minister, Rev. Stephen Williams, once stood. Ministers resided in the house until 1917 and it was then used for church school classes and as housing for church caretakers. The building was moved to its current site on Longmeadow Street in 1921 to make way for the construction of Longmeadow’s Community House.

Ebeneezer Bliss House (1720)

by Dan/February 26, 2010September 17, 2016/Colonial, Houses, Longmeadow

Ebenezer Bliss built his house in Longmeadow in 1720, the year after his marriage to Sarah Colton. It was next owned by his son, Ebeneezer, and then by his grandson, Gad Bliss. The house was much expanded in the mid-nineteenth century, with the newer rooms being in the front, facing Longmeadow Green.

Jacob Colton House (1765)

by Dan/February 25, 2010September 17, 2016/Colonial, Houses, Longmeadow

Elihu Colton was a Yale educated lawyer who had served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War. He was a delegate to the Massachusetts Convention of 1788, which ratified the U.S. Constitution. His house in Longmeadow was built in 1765, possibly for Henry or Jacob Colton. It is known as the Jacob Colton House. Two gravestones were discovered along the south property line in the 1960s, one marked “N. C.” and the other “Ebeneezer Colton.”

White-Lincoln House (1792)

by Dan/February 12, 2010September 17, 2016/Federal, Houses, Longmeadow

The White-Lincoln House is a 1792 hipped-roof building at 812 Longmeadow Street in Longmeadow. In the 1950s, it was the residence of Foster Furcolo, who was governor of Massachusetts from 1957 to 1961.

Signet Society, Harvard (1820)

by Dan/February 2, 2010February 2, 2010/Cambridge, Federal, Organizations

Founded in 1870, the Signet Society is an artistic and literary club at Harvard University. After initially utilizing space on University property, the Society moved off campus to 46 Dunster Street in Cambridge. In 1902, the 1820 Federal-style house was remodeled by Cram, Goodhue and Ferguson, a firm more usually associated with the Gothic style. The centerpiece of the remodeling is a two story pavilion displaying a heraldic crest of the Signet arms by Pierre LaRose.