Houses – Page 14 – Historic Buildings of Massachusetts

Harvard Shaker Square House (1769)

by Dan/September 3, 2013September 3, 2013/Churches, Colonial, Harvard, Houses, Organizations

The town of Harvard was once home to the second Shaker community in the United States and the first in Massachusetts. Religious dissenters in the town had built the structure known as the “Square House” in 1769. They were followers of Shadrach Ireland, a “New Light” Baptist preacher who died in 1778 (an event that astounded his followers, who believed him to be immortal!). Mother Ann Lee, founder of the Shakers, visited this dissenting community in 1781-1782 and brought them into the United Society of Believers (Shakers). The Square House then became her base for two years as she went on missionary trips to establish other Shaker communities in New England. The house was used for various purposes by the Shakers until the community closed in 1917. The building‘s original hipped roof was replaced by a gable roof in 1845, at which time the Shakers also added a porch, a third floor and an addition. The house (94 Shaker Road) is now a private residence. The picture above is not a good view, but I have used it due to the building’s great historical and religious importance.

159 First Street, Pittsfield (1876)

by Dan/August 20, 2013/Houses, Italianate, Pittsfield

The house at 159 First Street in Pittsfield is an example of houses were expanded in the nineteenth century as their owners became more affluent. The rear of the house dates to c. 1850, but the more substantial front section, along the street, was added in 1876.

Sedgwick Little House (1898)

by Dan/August 19, 2013/Colonial Revival, Houses, Stockbridge

At 18 Main Street in Stockbridge is a house known as the “Sedgwick Little House” or the Erik Erikson House. Its earliest section was originally a large cottage built c. 1855 (other dates claimed for the house are 1850 and the 1870s). In 1896, the property was acquired by Henry Dwight Sedgwick III, prominent Stockbridge resident and one of the well-known Sedgwick family. The Sedgwick Pie in Stockbridge Cemetery is the famous burial place of the Sedgwick family. In 1898, Henry D. Sedgwick built “the Sedgwick Little House” (the central section of the current Colonial Revival mansion) for his son Alexander (1867-1929). This seems to have replaced the original cottage (?). The house was later expanded through additions made between 1898 and 1908. The east and west wings were added by Edward L. Morse, who bought the house in 1908. Later, the house was purchased by the well-known writer and psychoanalyst Erik Erikson, who was working at the Austin Riggs Center at the time. The house is now a bed & breakfast called the Taggart House.

Daniel Dickinson House (1780)

by Dan/August 12, 2013/Federal, Hadley, Houses

The first occupant of the house at 25 West Street in Hadley was Daniel Dickinson. He had married in 1779 and the house was built soon after. He also started a tannery that was continued by his son and grandson. Eliakim Smith, a local builder, worked on a shop & addition. The house remained in the Dickinson family until 1905.

Elisha Hammond House (1845)

by Dan/August 8, 2013/Houses, Northampton, Vernacular

Elisha Hammond was an artist and craftsman in Northampton who joined the Northampton Association of Education and Industry, a utopian society, in 1844. The NAEI opposed slavery and supported fugitive slaves–Hammond’s obituary stated that “fugitives were never turned from his door.” In 1844 he painted a well-known portrait of Frederick Douglass. In 1845 Hammond built the house at 26 Maple Street in the Northampton village of Florence.

Dorsey-Jones House (1849)

by Dan/August 5, 2013/Houses, Northampton, Vernacular

The Dorsey-Jones House, located at 191 Nonotuck Street in the village of Florence in Northampton, was built in 1849 by Basil Dorsey. He was a fugitive slave who had escaped from Maryland in 1836 to New York with the help of Robert Purvis, a prominent black abolitionist. Florence was home at that time to a utopian community called the Northampton Association of Education and Industry. The NAEI opposed slavery and aided fugitive slaves. Selah B. Trask briefly lived in the house when Dorsey and his family moved to another home in Florence in 1852. Mary Jones, the wife of Thomas H. Jones, who was also a fugitive slave, purchased the house in 1854. Jones had escaped from slavery in Wilmington, North Carolina in 1849, having already arranged for the escape of his free wife and her enslaved children. Jones then published a narrative of his life entitled The Experience of Thomas H. Jones, Who Was a Slave for Forty-Three Years. Jones and his family lived in Florence until they moved to Worcester in 1859.

74 Fairfield Street, Springfield (1903)

by Dan/June 29, 2013/Colonial Revival, Foursquare, Houses, Springfield

The house at 74 Fairfield Street in Springfield was built in 1903 for Henry Russell, but it is most notable as the childhood home of Dr. Seuss. Theodore Geisel was born on March 2, 1904, in his family’s home on Howard Street. In 1906, when he was two, his family moved to 74 Fairfield Street, where they would live until 1943. The author’s father, Theodore Geisel, senior, ran the family brewery until it closed due to prohibition. He then became superintendent of city parks, which included the local zoo. Ted Geisel moved away after he graduated from Dartmouth in 1925, but images from his childhood in Springfield would later reappear in his illustrated children’s books.