Category: Colonial Revival

Nathan P. Gifford House (1893)

by Dan//Colonial Revival, Houses, Salem

In 1892-1893, when lumber dealer Nathan P. Gifford constructed his Colonial Revival home at 377 Essex Street in Salem, he incorporated an earlier house on the site, which had been built by James Ford in 1764. The house is also referred to as the Ford-Emerson-Ives-Gifford House, because it had been occupied, earlier in the nineteenth century, by Rev. Brown Emerson, pastor of South Church, and David P. Ives. The Ford-Emerson-Ives-Gifford House served as the residence and office for a succession of doctors in the twentieth century and was recently converted into three large apartments.

J.M. Gibbons Store (1934)

by Dan//Colonial Revival, Commercial, Granville

This week we’ll be looking at buildings in Granville, which is in Hampton County on the border with Connecticut. A local landmark is the Granville Country Store, famous for its cheese. John Murray Gibbons developed the recipe and aging process for what is known as Granville Cellar Aged Cheddar. At sixteen he had begun working in the Granville village store and a year later he owned the business. In 1851, he opened a new building for his store in Granville Center, which was also a post office (he served as postmaster) and had a school on the second floor. The store burned down in 1884 and was replaced by a new building. When that structure burned in 1934, it was replaced by the current Colonial Revival-style building, which has a pedimented gable and semicircular window. J.M. Gibbons Sons has had many owners over the years, but is seen by the people of Granville as “their” store.

Fay House, Radcliffe (1806)

by Dan//Cambridge, Collegiate, Colonial Revival, Federal, Houses

Radcliffe College in Cambridge was founded in 1879 to educate women, who were then not yet allowed at Harvard. The college bought its first building in 1885: Fay House, an 1806 Federal-style mansion. Built by Nathaniel Ireland, who made iron work for ships, the house was later owned by Joseph McKean, professor of rhetoric and oratory at Harvard. After McKean’s death in 1818, the house had several tenants, including Edward Everett in 1820-1821. The house was also home for a time to Francis Dana, Jr. His daughter, Sophia Willard Dana Ripley, kept a girls’ boarding school in the house and among her students was the first wife of Thomas Wentworth Higginson. For fifty years after 1835, the house was occupied by the family of Judge Samuel Phillips Prescott Fay.

After its acquisition by Radcliffe, Alice Longfellow, one of the College’s founders, donated funds for the remodeling of Fay House in the Colonial Revival mode, work completed in 1890 under the direction of her cousin, the architect Alexander W. Longfellow, Jr. He also oversaw the further expansion of the structure in 1892, with the addition of a third story, skylit library, porches, and more classroom and laboratory space. As additional buildings were constructed in the development of Radcliffe Yard, Fay House continued as an administration building for the College and now for its successor, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. The building has recently been renovated (pdf).

Richard Salter Storrs Library (1932)

by Dan//Colonial Revival, Libraries, Longmeadow

In 1907, Sarah Williams Storrs, who lived in the former home of her grandfather, Rev. Richard Salter Storrs in Longmeadow, left the house and $5000 to the town to establish a library in memory of her grandfather. The house contained the library into the 1930s, expanding to a second building to the rear in 1916. In 1932, through the efforts of the private nonprofit library corporation and the Town of Longmeadow, a new Richard Salter Storrs Library building was opened. The house, which had previously occupied the site of the new Library, was moved to a new location, just to the south. The Georgian Revival-style Library was restored and expanded in 1989.

Emerson Hall, Harvard (1905)

by Dan//Cambridge, Collegiate, Colonial Revival, Neoclassical

Emerson Hall, located in Harvard Yard in Cambridge, is the home of the University’s Philosophy Department. Named for Ralph Waldo Emerson, the building was designed by Guy Lowell and was completed in 1905. The noted psychologist and philosopher, William James, taught in Emerson Hall when he was at Harvard. Over the entrance of the building is the Biblical inscription: “What is man that thou art mindful of him?” (Psalm 8:4).

Grays Hall, Harvard (1863)

by Dan//Cambridge, Collegiate, Colonial Revival

Grays Hall is a Harvard dormitory, built on the spot where Harvard’s earliest building, Old College, once stood. According to the Official guide to Harvard University of 1907:

Grays Hall, built in 1863 by the College, at a cost of nearly $40,000, is named for Francis Calley Gray, of the Class of 1809, a Fellow of the College from 1826 until 1836, John Chipman Gray, of the Class of 1811, a member of the Board of Overseers from 1847 until 1854, and William Gray, of the Class of 1829, a member of the Board of Overseers from 1866 until 1872, all three benefactors of the University.

This dorm was Harvard’s first building with water taps in the basement, freeing the residents from having to haul water in from pumps in Harvard Yard. Notable residents of Grays Hall have included: Norman Mailer, Frank Rich, Mo Rocca and Natalie Portman.

First Baptist Church of Weston (1924)

by Dan//Churches, Colonial Revival, Weston

The Baptist Society in Weston was formed in 1784 and the first church building constructed on the north side of South Avenue in 1788. Until 1825, the Baptists were required to pay taxes to support the First Parish Church, although they frequently protested this at town meetings. The original church was replaced by a larger church on Boston Post Road in 1828. This wooden building remained in use until it was replaced by the current First Baptist Church of Weston, constructed on the same site and completed in 1924.