Category: Federal

Salem Towne House (1796)

by Dan//Federal, Houses, Sturbridge

In the early nineteenth century, Salem Towne, Jr. was a businessman and a leader in public affairs in Charlton. In 1825, Towne inherited an impressive hipped-roof house, built for his father, Salem Towne, Sr., in 1796. The house had a ballroom on the second floor, later divided into bedchambers, that was used for Masonic meetings until 1806. The house’s builder was influenced by the illustrations in the 1792 American edition of William Pain’s Practical Builder, a guidebook of designs for English carpenters. The Salem Towne House was moved to Old Sturbridge Village in 1952 and the interior has recently been restored, with original colors and reproductions of period wallpapers.

John Coburn House (1844)

by Dan//Boston, Federal, Houses

John P. Coburn (1811-1873), a free black resident of Beacon Hill in Boston, ran a clothing business and was a community activist. He was treasurer of the New England Freedom Association, which assisted fugitive slaves and, in 1852, he was a founder and captain of the Massasoit Guards, a black militia unit. In 1851, Coburn was arrested for his role in aiding Shadrach Minkins, a fugitive slave, in his escape from federal custody (he was later acquitted). John Coburn’s first house on Beacon Hill was located in a cul-de-sac off of Phillips Street at 3 Coburn Court. Dating to the 1830s, the house, now lost, was recognized in 2005 as one of Massachusetts’ most endangered historic resources. From 1844 until his death in 1873, Coburn lived in the house at 2 Phillips Street, which was designed for him by Asher Benjamin. The house is a site on the Black Heritage Trail.

Ireland-Emery House (1797)

by Dan//Federal, Houses, Salem

The facade of the Ireland-Emery House, at 131 Federal Street in Salem, does not face the street but instead fronts a yard on the west side. The house, which was built around 1797, is named for Jonathan Ireland, a blacksmith for whom it was erected, and Samuel Emery, a nautical instrument dealer and compass maker, active in Salem between 1809 and 1868, who acquired the house in 1828. The bay window above the front door is a later addition.

Snell House (1820)

by Dan//Amherst, Federal, Houses

The Federal-style house at 317 South Pleasant Street in Amherst was built in 1820. On December 7, 1827, when the house was owned by Rev. Stephen S. Nelson, it was here that the first meeting of the Amherst branch of the First Baptist Church in New Salem was held (Rev. Nelson served as moderator of the meeting). After later becoming a branch of the Baptist Church in Northampton, it became the First Baptist Church in Amherst in 1832. From 1831-1931 the house was owned by the Snell family. Ebeneezer Snell was a mathematics professor at Amherst College who kept the earliest continuous weather records in the world. This was continued by his daughter and by the College today. The widow’s walk on the roof of the house was added in 1854.

Israel Parsons House (1800)

by Dan//Federal, Granville, Houses

Built in 1800 (or perhaps 1816), the Israel Parsons House is an end chimney Federal-style residence on Main Road in Granville. Israel Parsons was born in Springfield in 1762 and his family came to Granville in 1766. He served during the Revolutionary War and, according to a compilation of Chapter Sketches, published by the Connecticut Daughters of the American Revolution in 1904,

In 1783 he acted as Commissary at New Windsor, near West Point, in room of Commissary Post, who was taken sick and finally retired from the station. Israel Parsons was personally known to General Washington, and was ordered to his headquarters and directed to furnish the necessary provisions to the troops. By great personal and fatiguing exertions he succeeded in complying with the objects and desire of the Commander-in-Chief, in such a manner as to elicit from him testimonials of his satisfaction, with the highest commendation of his conduct.

Parsons married Mary Marvin in 1787, served several terms as a Representative in the Massachusetts General Court and died in 1846.

Southwick Congregational Church (1824)

by Dan//Churches, Federal, Greek Revival, Southwick

The original meeting house in Southwick of 1773, located in Southwick‘s central village, burned in August 1823 and was replaced with the current meeting house, built in 1824-1825. A Federal/Greek Revival structure, the Southwick Congregational Church is considered to be one of the finest works of its architect, Isaac Damon of Northampton. According to George C. Gardener, writing in The American Architect and Building News (Vol. XLVII, No. 996, Jan. 26, 1895):

Capt. Isaac Damon appears to have been the leading architect of Western Massachusetts from 1812 to 1840, his influence on public and ecclesiastical work being even greater than [Asher] Benjamin’s on domestic. He designed and built at least thirteen churches in this region and nearly all the town-halls and court-houses; his specialty, however, was bridges, and there are several of his drawings still preserved

As the church neared completion, on November 6, 1824, two letters signed by the men working on the church were placed in a box inside one of the columns. These were rediscovered during a restoration in 1950 (see pdf article) and reveal that the workers came, not from Southwick, but from many other towns in the region.