Houses – Page 11 – Historic Buildings of Massachusetts

Hired Men’s Shop, Hancock Shaker Village (1820)

by Dan/May 6, 2014/Hancock, Houses, Industrial, Outbuildings, Vernacular

As the numbers of Shakers at the Hancock Shaker Village began to decline in the second half of the nineteenth century, farm workers were hired. These men ate and received their daily work assignments at the Trustee’s Office and lodged in a separate building. After the original Hired Men’s building at Hancock burned down, the Shakers utilized another structure, built before 1820 and originally used as a seed shop, which they moved to its current location to become the new Hired Men’s Shop in 1907. Continue reading “Hired Men’s Shop, Hancock Shaker Village (1820)”

William Haven House (1860)

by Dan/May 4, 2014/Houses, Northampton, Queen Anne

The house at 13 Park Street in the village of Florence in Northampton was built around 1860 as a cape cod-style house. It was altered in the Queen Anne style around 1900, when the dormer windows and porch with gazebo were added. This remodeling was done by owner Henry Haven, who in 1870 had purchased the house from the heirs of William Haven, its original owner (William Haven had purchased the lot in 1858). Henry Haven was treasurer and general manager of Florence Furniture Company.

Simmons Block (1885)

by Dan/May 4, 2014May 4, 2014/Adams, Commercial, Houses, Queen Anne, Stick Style

The Simmons Block is a Queen Anne-style house at 86-90 Park Street in Adams. Built c. 1885 by businessman by A.H. Simmons, it originally had retail space for two stores on the first floor and the Simmons residence on the second floor. The building displays the exuberant variety of Victorian design.

Reuben Whitcomb House & Store (1825)

by Dan/April 1, 2014/Colonial Revival, Commercial, Federal, Harvard, Houses

The house at 11 Fairbank Street in Harvard was built between 1823 and 1831 by Reuben Whitcomb, who used it as both a residence (the south section) and a store (the north section). Whitcomb’s widow sold the building in 1865 to Alfred Farwell, who continued its use as a residence/store. For some years, the store section had been used by Gale and Dickson, owners of the town’s General Store, first for storing grain and then as a roller skating rink! In 1895, W.P. Farwell converted the former store area into a two-family residence. In 1946, Rachel and John McTigue bought the house from Gertrude Farwell Sawyer and restored the building to become the Harvard Inn, which had eight rooms for guests, three dining rooms and two sitting rooms. The Inn was converted to apartments in 1953 and from 1993 to 2012 served as affordable housing for the elderly.

Joseph G. Harwood House (1800)

by Dan/February 4, 2014/Federal, Harvard, Houses

In the late eighteenth-century, a farming community developed along Still River Road in Harvard. The house at 200 Still River Road was built around 1800 by Joseph G. Harwood, who had obtained a license to sell alcohol. Around 1850 the house was acquired by William F. Bateman, who was postmaster of Still River (also a librarian). His widow, Louisa H. Bateman, took over his postmaster duties after his death in 1877. In the 1890s, the house was acquired by Amos H. Keyes and in 1907 by Arthur Hunter, an engineer with the Boston & Albany railroad. It was then owned by F. S. Savage, Sr., author of Memoirs of Old Harvard Days (1924). Savage also sold real estate. For many years it was a double house with a long garage addition on the northeast side. It has since been converted to a single-family home, with a new front entry molding and the old addition shortened.

D. Burt House (1894)

by Dan/February 4, 2014/Adams, Houses, Queen Anne

The D. Burt House is a Queen Anne residence, built in 1894 at 6 East Street in a section of Adams where many homes were built in the nineteenth century for the middle class employees of the local mills. The house is now the Mount Greylock Inn.

Ross Farm (1800)

by Dan/February 2, 2014/Federal, Houses, Northampton

The farmhouse at 123 Meadow Street in the Florence section of Northampton was built c. 1830 by Theodore Burt, or perhaps c. 1800 by his father, Gaius Burt, who had purchased the farm in 1798. Samuel Whitmarsh, a pioneer of silk cultivation in Northampton, purchased the property in 1835. Whitmarsh’s Northampton Silk Company ceased operation in 1840 owing to a decline in the industry and heavy debt. The property was acquired abolitionist Samuel Hill in 1841 to become part of the utopian community called the Northampton Association of Education and Industry (founded in 1842). Hill, who was active in the Underground Railroad, lived in the house, which is the only surviving NAEI building left today. In 1849, Hill sold the farm to Abel Ross. He lived in the house with his nephew, Austin Ross, who eventually bought the property himself in 1857. Austin Ross also used the house as a station on the Underground Railroad. The property is now called Freedom Farm.