Houses – Page 15 – Historic Buildings of Massachusetts

Calvin Coolidge House (1901)

by Dan/June 19, 2013/Colonial Revival, Foursquare, Houses, Northampton

Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States (1923-1929), was born in 1872 in Vermont and spent much of his adult life as a lawyer and politician in Massachusetts. From 1906, a year after he married, until he retired from the presidency, Coolidge and his wife, Grace Anna Goodhue Coolidge, rented the left side of a two-family house at 19-21 Massasoit Street in Northampton. The house was built in 1901 by builder J.W. O’Brien. While he lived there, Coolidge served as City Councilor and Mayor in Northampton, state senator and Governor of Massachusetts, and then vice-president and president of the United States. In 1930, the Coolidges moved to another house in Northampton. He died in 1933. The Forbes Library in Northampton is home to the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library and Museum. It is the only only public library in the United States to hold a presidential collection.

Oren Smith – Mary Daniels House (1891)

by Dan/June 18, 2013/Houses, Northampton, Queen Anne

The house at 23 Massasoit Street in Northampton was built as one of three originally identical houses and is the best preserved of the group. It was constructed in 1891 by Oren Smith, who had purchased the rear section of the Wood Homnestead on Elm Street in 1888. Smith owned the house until 1901, when he sold it to Mary Daniels, the wife of Joseph Daniels, an insurance agent.

Edwin L. Sanford House (1870)

by Dan/June 17, 2013/Houses, Second Empire, Westfield

The most impressive Second Empire-style house in Westfield is the Edwin L. Sanford House, at 33 West Silver Street. According to earlier research, an earlier house, built by A. J. Bradley circa 1857-1870, was moved when Edwin L. Sanford, president of the Sanford Whip Company, bought the property in 1869. A more recent date given for the Sanford House is circa 1865-1870.

F. L. Brigham House (1902)

by Dan/June 6, 2013/Colonial Revival, Houses, Springfield, Tudor Revival

The F. L. Brigham House is located at 73 Washington Road in the Springfield neighborhood of Forest Park Heights. It is a Colonial and English Revival house built in 1902. F. L. Brigham M.D. was associated with the Worcester Sanitarium in 1905.

E. N. Childs House (1868)

by Dan/June 4, 2013/Houses, Second Empire, Worcester

The E. N. Childs House is a French Second Empire-style house at 54 West Street in Worcester. It was constructed circa 1868. Childs was a boot manufacturer. As related in Charles G. Washburn’s Industrial Worcester (1917):

In 1853 E. N. Childs came to Worcester from Millbury, and engaged in business with Albert Gould for one year. In 1854 Albert S. Brown became a partner. They did business as Childs & Brown until 1857, when Mr. Brown retired, and A. G. Walker was admitted under the firm of E. N. Childs & Co. In 1862 Mr. Walker retired and Mr. Childs continued under the same firm name until 1881. During the preceding few years his sons were interested with him in the business.

The house is now owned by Becker College. In the past it was a dormitory, but now it houses the Maintenance offices.

Isaac S. Parsons House (1860)

by Dan/June 3, 2013/Houses, Italianate, Northampton

The Isaac S. Parsons House is an Italianate residence, built in 1860 at 4 Park Street in the village of Florence in Northampton. The house was designed by E.C. Gardner, who was an architect and author. Originally from Florence, he later settled in Springfield. Isaac S. Parsons ran a store, I. S. Parsons & Co., on Nonotuck Street and became Florence’s first postmaster in 1852, a position he held for 16 years. He was an organizer of the Florence Manufacturing Company. The house was sold in 1889 to Henry F. Cutler, one of the owners of Cutler, Plympton and Co., a grocery and dry goods business. Cutler was also post master. The house has lost its original Italianate cupola.

Saunders-Saltonstall-Tuckerman Double House (1810)

by Dan/May 24, 2013/Federal, Houses, Salem

Thomas Saunders, who lived at 39 Chestnut Street in Salem, built a double house next door, at 41-43 Chestnut Street, in 1810-1811. It was a gift to his two daughters, Caroline (1793-1882) and Mary Elizabeth (1788-1858), who married two Saltonstall brothers. The western half was the home of Nathaniel (1784-1838) and Caroline’s family until 1880, after which it was owned by Charles Saunders into the twentieth century. Until 1851, the eastern half was home to Mary Elizabeth and her husband, Leverett Saltonstall (1783-1845), who was Salem’s first mayor, serving from 1836 to 1838. It was then home to the Tuckerman family until the end of the century. The porch on the western side is believed to be original, while the two-story wing and the porch on the eastern side date from 1838.