Federal – Page 22 – Historic Buildings of Massachusetts

Nathan Appleton House (1818)

by Dan/July 2, 2009January 19, 2020/Boston, Federal, Greek Revival, Houses

The Nathan Appleton House, at 39 Beacon Street, and its partner, the Daniel Parker House, at no. 40, were designed for the two former business partners by Alexander Parris, a noted Boston architect. Built in 1818, a fourth floor was added to both houses in 1888. These two bowfront row houses which are transitional between the Federal and Greek Revival styles, at one time mirrored each other more closely, but the Appleton house had an extra window added on each of its floors. Nathan Appleton was a pioneering textile manufacturer. The marriage of the poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, to Appleton‘s daughter, Fanny, took place in the house in 1843. From 1914 into the 1990s, the building housed the Women’s City Club of Boston. In more recent times, it has been subdivided into condominiums. There is a video of the house’s exterior on YouTube.

Salem Custom House (1819)

by Dan/June 30, 2009/Federal, Public Buildings, Salem

The last in a series of 13 custom houses built in Salem since 1649, the Salem Custom House of 1819 is famous for being featured in the introduction to Nathaniel Hawthorne‘s The Scarlet Letter (1850). Hawthorne worked in the Custom House for the U.S. Custom Service as Surveyor in 1846-1849. The building housed offices and an attached warehouse, the Public Stores, which contained bonded and impounded cargo. The structure was designed in the Federal style by Perley Putnam, a Weigher and Gauger for the U.S. Custom Service. A wooden eagle, carved by Salem craftsman Joseph True, was placed atop the Custom House in 1826. It was was replaced with a fiberglass replica in 2004. The Custom House is now a part of the Salem Maritime National Historic Site.

51 Chestnut Street, Boston (1830)

by Dan/June 29, 2009June 29, 2009/Boston, Federal, Houses

The house at 51 Chestnut Street, on Boston’s Beacon Hill, was built in 1830. It was the home of Rev. Charles Lowell, who was the pastor of West Church in Boston from 1806 to 1861. Rev. Lowell, who was the father of the poet, James Russell Lowell and grandfather of the Civil War General Charles Russell Lowell, later acquired and moved to Elmwood, a Georgian-style house in Cambridge.

Union Meeting House, Storrowton (1834)

by Dan/April 8, 2009/Churches, Federal, West Springfield

Now part of the collection of historic buildings that make up Storrowton Village at the Eastern States Exposition grounds in West Springfield, the Union Meetinghouse was originally built jointly by four religious denominations in Salisbury, New Hampshire, in 1834. The Meeting House was moved from the Smith’s Corner neighborhood of Salisbury to Storrowton in 1929. The pulpit came from another New Hampshire town and the 1851 bell is from a church in Neponset, Massachusetts.

Benjamin Hawkes House (1801)

by Dan/April 5, 2009September 17, 2016/Federal, Houses, Salem

The Benjamin Hawkes House is located off Derby Street in Salem, between the Custom House and the Richard Derby House. The house was originally planned by Samuel McIntire as a home for Elias Hasket Derby in 1780, but was then abandoned in 1782, when Derby moved to a house near the center of town. Left unfinished for almost twenty years, in 1801 it was acquired by the shipbuilder, Benjamin Hawkes, who reduced the building’s size and altered it to accommodate two families. Today the Federal-style building is used as administrative offices by the Park Service for the Salem Maritime National Historic Site.

87 Mount Vernon Street, Boston (1805)

by Dan/March 27, 2009/Boston, Federal, Houses

No.87 Mount Vernon St. (right); No. 89 (left)

In 1805, Charles Bulfinch began building twin houses on the adjoining lots at nos. 87-89 Mount Vernon Street in Boston, which he had purchased from Harrison Gray Otis. There is an unverified story that he had intended one to be his own home, but facing financial difficulties, he sold them: no. 87 to Stephen Higginson, Jr., the father of Thomas Wentworth Higginson, and no. 89 to David Humphreys. The two buildings were set back from the street in order to line up with the adjacent Second Harrison Gray Otis House, also designed by Bulfinch. No. 89 was later replaced by a new building, which was later remodeled in the Colonial Revival style. No. 87 was, for a time, the residence of Gen. Charles J. Paine, a Civil War general and yachtsman. Since 1955, it has been the home of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts.

86 Pinckney Street, Boston (1840)

by Dan/March 26, 2009March 26, 2009/Boston, Federal, Houses

John J. Smith was born a free black in Richmond, VA and later moved to Boston, where he became a barber. His shop, on the corner of Howard and Bulfinch Streets, was a center of abolitionist activity and abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner could frequently be found there. Smith’s wife, Georgiana, was active in the effort to integrate Boston’s public schools. During the Civil War, Smith recruited for the Fifth Cavalry, an all black unit. After the War, Smith served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Smith, who died in 1906, lived at 86 Pinckney Street in Boston (built in 1840) from 1878 to 1893. The house is a stop on the Black Heritage Trail.