Category: Town

Sackett Tavern (1776)

by Dan//Colonial, Taverns, Westfield

At 1259 Western Avenue in Westfield is Sackett’s Tavern, a landmark of Connecticut River Valley Georgian architecture. It was built around 1776 for Stephen Sackett, who ran the tavern. In 1800 it was sold to Titus Atwater, who operated a posting house, and it remained in the Atwater family until 1900 until it was purchased at auction by Mathew Pitoniak. For a time it was known as the Washington Tavern because it was believed George Washington had slept there. Left vacant for a time, the tavern was purchased and restored by Mr. and Mrs. William A. Fuller in 1962.

Cobb-Norton House (1830)

by Dan//Greek Revival, Houses, Westfield

The Greater Westfield Chapter of the American Red Cross is headquartered in a Greek Revival house at 48 Broad Street in Westfield. Known as the Cobb-Norton House, it is believed to have been built by Cephas Cobb around 1830. Cobb‘s son, Gilbert, was a newspaper publisher and town clerk of Westfield. Gilbert Cobb‘s sister Clara married H.B. Smith, a boiler manufacturer. In 1855, the house was sold to Lewis K. Norton, a hardware merchant and bank president. The house was converted into a Red Cross headquarters in 1945 through the gift of Frederick L. Parker and his wife. Parker was president of the United States Whip Company.

Landlord Fowler Tavern (1761)

by Dan//Colonial, Taverns, Westfield

Built around 1761 (perhaps as early as 1755), the Landlord Fowler Tavern is located at 171 Main Street in Westfield. Daniel Fowler was granted a tavern license in 1761 and the building continued to function as an inn until the 1830s. At the start of the American Revolution, Daniel Fowler served on the Committee of Correspondence, which met at the tavern. As related in The Westfield Jubilee (1870):

It is said that General Burgoyne, when he passed through this town as a prisoner from the field of Saratoga, spent the night at this tavern, and with true military politeness, kissed the wife of the landlord, on the morning of his departure.

Another prisoner of war to stay in the house during the Revolutionary War was Hessian commander General Friedrich von Riesdesel. H. C. Schaeffer owned the property between 1885 and 1916, during which time he conducted a cigar-making business on the premises. More recently, the former tavern has been restored and converted into apartments. The Fowler Tavern‘s original Connecticut River Valley broken scroll pediment doorway was removed in 1920 by Wallace Nutting and placed in the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The current doorway on the building is a replica.

Ball Block (1898)

by Dan//Commercial, Holyoke, Neoclassical

The building pictured above is at 225 High Street in Holyoke, diagonally across the street from city hall. It was built in 1898 and known as the Ball Block (or Realty Building). It was later altered on its lower levels to become the Holyoke National Bank Building. Recently renovated (and winning a Preservation Award from the Massachusetts Historical Commission in 2005) the building is now known as the Latino Professional Building.

Hotel Hamilton (1850)

by Dan//Holyoke, Hotels, Italianate

This building in Holyoke, now vacant and condemned, was built around 1850 as a hotel called the Holyoke House. Located on Dwight Street, between Main and Race streets, it was later known as the Hotel Hamilton and was extensively remodeled and expanded around 1890. The building was purchased in 1911 by Joel Russell and then housed the J. Russell Hardware Company. The hotel closed in 1943 and the building was drastically renovated in 1947, when the top floor was removed (except from the wing on the left). Recently used by several social service agencies, the building is now unsafe and may not long survive. Continue reading “Hotel Hamilton (1850)”

Merwin House (1825)

by Dan//Federal, Houses, Stockbridge

The Merwin House in Stockbridge was constructed around 1825 by Francis and Clarissa Dresser. It remained in the Dresser family until 1875, when they sold it to William and Elizabeth Doane of New York City. The couple named the house “Tranquility” and used it as a summer home. They substantially renovated the house in 1900, remodeling the interior and doubling the home’s by adding a shingle-style ell. The house was later the year-round home of the Doanes’ daughter, Vipont Merwin (1878-1965), and her third husband Edward Merwin, who died in 1932. She wanted the house, which was acquired by Historic New England in 1966, to become a museum and it is now open to the public several times a year. Continue reading “Merwin House (1825)”