Greek Revival – Page 10 – Historic Buildings of Massachusetts

Williston Hall (1858)

by Dan/July 25, 2011July 26, 2011/Amherst, Collegiate, Greek Revival

Williston Hall was built in 1858 on the campus of Amherst College, where it stands at the north end of College Row. Named for philanthropist Samuel Williston, it was designed by George P. Shoals of Easthampton. The building once had a prominent tower, which was later removed. Williston Hall was initially an academic building and contained the College’s art collection. Remodeled with a Greek Revival roof, it held various academic departments over the years, but was later in danger of demolition. In 2003, an adaptive reuse project was completed, which transformed the restored building into a student residence.

Union Club, Boston (1809)

by Dan/May 22, 2011/Boston, Greek Revival, Organizations

In 1863, some former members of the Somerset Club in Boston who were strong supporters of the Union formed the Union Club. They acquired a house at 8 Park Street in Boston to be their clubhouse. It had been built in 1809 for John Gore and been completely remodeled in Greek Revival style (but with interesting cast iron balconies as well) in 1838 for Abbott Lawrence. The Union Club hired Gridley J. F. Bryant, who had overseen the earlier remodeling, and John Hubbard Sturgis to remodel the interior. Peabody and Stearns were hired in the 1880s to add a fifth floor and the Club was expanded into the adjoining house, at 7 Park Street, in 1896. That house (1809) had been the home, from 1854 to 1856, of Governor Henry Gardener of the “Know Nothing” party. In 1869 the house was sold to John Amory Lowell and the Club acquired the house from his estate.

William Stevens House (1836)

by Dan/May 21, 2011July 2, 2011/Greek Revival, Houses, Salem

Located at 14 Broad Street in Salem, next to the Jonathan Neal House, is a house built in 1836 for grocer William Stevens. It may have been built by William’s brother, James Stevens, a carpenter, who had acquired the land from the Pickering family. Augustus Blake owned the house from 1864 to 1908, when he sold the property back to a member of the Pickering family, Anna D. Pickering.

Wheeler House, South Natick (1831)

by Dan/May 18, 2011/Greek Revival, Houses, Natick

Moses Eames built the Greek Revival house at 4 Pleasant Street in South Natick in the 1830s, on land he had acquired in 1831. Eames later built a larger home next door on Pleasant Street in 1839. In 1845, he sold the earlier house to Lucy Morse and ten years later it was purchased by Aaron Wheeler. It remained in the Wheeler family until about 1918 and has since had other owners. The house briefly served as a restaurant in the late-1950s.

53 Dunster Street, Cambridge (1841)

by Dan/March 30, 2011March 30, 2011/Cambridge, Greek Revival, Houses

At 53 Dunster Street in Cambridge is a former house, built in 1841 and now owned by Harvard University. The builders, William Saunders and Stephen S. Bunker, interestingly made the house three stories, unusual for Greek Revival-style houses of the period.

Rev. James Conway House (1848)

by Dan/March 15, 2011January 24, 2020/Greek Revival, Houses, Salem

At 18 Winter Street in Salem is a house built in 1848 for Rev. James Conway, who was pastor of St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church from 1846 until his death in 1857. As described in the Municipal History of Essex County in Massachusetts, Vol. I (1922):

Father Conway was ordained in Boston, July 31, 1831. The early years of his priesthood were spent among the Pennobscot Indians, and as assistant to Father McDermott at St. Patrick’s, Lowell. In 1841 he was appointed to the new parish of St. Peter’s in that town, where he remained until his assignment to Salem.

Once settled in Salem (quoting further from the same book),

His first care was to enlarge and beautify the church, increasing its seating capacity by six hundred. The Sunday school and choir were reorganized in 1846; a parochial residence on Winter street (1848) and later (1852) a much larger one on Mall street were his work; he purchased and opened the Catholic Cemetery in 1849. […] In 1855 “the Hodges estate,” on Walnut street, now Hawthorne Boulevard, was secured as the site of the first distinctively Catholic school in Salem. The Sisters of Notre Dame were introduced to Salem in the fall of 1855 and installed in a schoolhouse and convent set up on the site of the present school. They were insulted and almost attacked by the hostile natives, but persevered in their labors with almost immediate, success. Early in the spring of 1857 ground was broken, and the foundation of the present Church of the Immaculate Conception laid. Its walls were just beginning to rise under his supervision when sudden death called him to his eternal reward, May 24, 1857.

The completed Church of the Immaculate Conception, dedicated on January 10, 1858, continues today as the oldest Catholic church building in the Archdiocese of Boston.

Lee-Benson House (1834)

by Dan/January 11, 2011January 24, 2020/Greek Revival, Houses, Salem

The Lee-Benson House, on Chestnut Street in Salem, was built in 1834-1835 for John C. Lee, a banker who, with George Higginson, founded Lee, Higginson & Co., a prominent Boston-based investment bank. In 1924, Lee’s heirs sold the house to the artist Frank Weston Benson. After his death in 1951, Benson‘s heirs continued to owned the house until 1957. Benson is known for his impressionist portraits and his etchings which conveyed his love of the sportsman’s life.