Greek Revival – Page 4 – Historic Buildings of Massachusetts

First Congregational Church of Boylston (1927)

by Dan/September 15, 2013September 15, 2013/Boylston, Churches, Greek Revival

The origins of the First Congregational Church of Boylston go back to 1742, when the North Precinct in Shrewsbury (now Boylston) was incorporated. The congregation’s first meeting house was built near the site of the present Old Cemetery. When the time came to build a new meeting house (constructed in 1793), there was a protracted controversy over where in town it should be located. After the decision was finally made to build the Church on the site of the present Sawyer Memorial Library, residents in the western side of town, who had wanted the church built closer to their homes, began the process which eventually led to the incorporation of West Boylston as a separate town. The third meeting house was built in the Greek Revival style in 1835. After it burned in 1924 it was replaced, on the same site, by the current church, completed in a similar style in 1927. The original bell of the third meeting house is used in the present building.

Salisbury House (1837)

by Dan/September 13, 2013/Greek Revival, Houses, Neoclassical, Worcester

At 61 Harvard Street in Worcester is the impressive Salisbury House, an unusual example of the Greek Revival style, built in 1835-1838 for Stephen Salisbury II by master builder Elias Carter. Stephen Salisbury II was a wealthy financier, civic leader and philanthropist. His son, Stephen Salisbury III, continued to live in the house after his father’s death in 1884. He was also a philanthropist and a founder of the Worcester Art Museum in 1896. When Stephen Salisbury III died in 1905, he left the house to the Museum, which used it for the Art Museum School until 1939. Two years later it was sold to the Worcester American Red Cross which uses the building as its headquarters. When Harvard Street was widened in 1931, the house was moved a few feet northwest of its original site.

Harvard Shaker Ministry Shop (1847)

by Dan/September 3, 2013/Greek Revival, Harvard, Houses, Industrial, Organizations

The Ministry’s Shop at Harvard Shaker Village was built in 1847-1848. For half of each month, it was the residence and workplace of the Ministry–the Elders who governed a bishopric that included both the Harvard and Shirley Shaker villages. The building, at 84 Shaker Road in Harvard, is now a private residence. It has a wing and ell that were added in the 1930s by architect Stanley Bruce Elwell.

Harvard Shaker New Office Building (1841)

by Dan/September 3, 2013/Commercial, Greek Revival, Harvard, Houses, Organizations

Replacing an earlier office next door (now at the Fruitlands Museum), the Harvard Shakers built the structure known as the New Office Building (or Second Trustees’ Office) the at 78 Shaker Road in 1840-1841. Here the Harvard Shakers had their dealings with the outside world. The large building housed the community’s Trustees, hired help and visitors (among whom were Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne). A shop on the first floor sold the Shaker Sisters’ fancy work. In 1935/1936, architect Stanley Bruce Elwell remodeled the interior of the building as a summer residence for Robert Treat Paine. The novelist Thomas Wolfe was once interested in buying the house which, like the other buildings of the Harvard Shaker Village, remains a private residence.

John S. Bell House (1830)

by Dan/March 24, 2013/Federal, Greek Revival, Hadley, Houses

In 1830, Dr. Reuben Bell purchased a lot in Hadley that was occupied by the blacksmith shop of Horace Seymour (d. 1829). Bell then moved the blacksmith shop and built a house (29 West Street) for his son, John Smith Bell, who received title in 1839.

Stow Town Hall (1848)

by Dan/November 10, 2012/Greek Revival, Public Buildings, Stow

After the fourth Congregational meeting house, or church, in Stow burned down in 1847, a new one was constructed. The church had been used for town meetings, but now religious and government functions were separated, so that in addition to a new church, a town hall was also constructed. Both buildings were built with nearly identical Greek Revival facades. The Town Hall was built by Micah Smith, a carpenter and millwright. According to a plaque on the building, it cost $2,559.73. An addition was built on the south side of the Town Hall in 1895.

Capt. Edward Pousland House (1866)

by Dan/October 3, 2012/Greek Revival, Houses, Wayland

The house at 43 Cochituate Road in Wayland was built in 1866 by Edward Pousland, a retired sea captain. It was acquired in 1907 by Jonathan Maynard Parmenter, a wealthy farmer, cattle dealer and generous local philanthropist, who donated it to the the First Parish in Wayland as a parsonage in memory of his brother and business partner, Henry Dana Parmenter. In 1955, the house was converted to become a parish house.