Houses – Page 67 – Historic Buildings of Massachusetts

Severance-Hawks House (1712)

by Dan/February 5, 2009September 17, 2016/Colonial, Deerfield, Federal, Houses

Built on Old Deerfield Lot 36, the Severance-Hawks House was probably built in 1712 by Joseph Severance, a tailor who fought in the Deerfield Raid of 1704. Severance was later seriously wounded by Indians in 1713. In 1762, the house was bought by Zadock Hawks, who died in 1821. In 1824, Zadock’s son, Zur Hawks, bought out his brothers’ shares in the property. As sole owner, he updated the house in the Federal style. Both father and son were tanners and shoemakers. In 1920, the house was purchased by Grace A. Bement, who founded the Bement School in 1925. Now called Bement House, it one of four buildings used as boarding houses by the school.

Stebbins-Wright House (1824)

by Dan/February 4, 2009September 17, 2016/Deerfield, Federal, Houses

The Stebbins-Wright House is a brick Federal-style house in Old Deerfield. It was built in 1824 by Asa Stebbins, for his son, Asa Stebbins, Jr.. Asa, Sr. had earlier built his own house of brick in 1799. The house was owned by Stebbins’ heirs until 1908, when it was acquired by George and Jane Wright. In 1948, it was acquired by Henry and Helen Flynt for Historic Deerfield. They continued to use the name “Wright House” and restored the house to display a collection of high-style furniture. The house is no longer open to the public.

Hinsdale and Anna Williams House (1730)

by Dan/February 3, 2009September 17, 2016/Colonial, Deerfield, Federal, Houses

The Hinsdale and Anna Williams House in Deerfield was originally built in 1730 by Ebenezer Hinsdale, who founded Hinsdale , New Hampshire. It later passed through other owners until it came into the possession of Hinsdale’s grandnephew, Ebenezer Hinsdale Williams, whose mother was from Deerfield. In 1816, Williams extensively altered the house in the Federal style, raising the structure in order to install a fanlight above the door, raising the roof and doubling the size of the house with the addition of a two-story ell. Hinsdale Williams lived in the home, with his wife Anna and two children, until his death in 1838. From 1866-1981, the Williams House was occupied by members of the Cowles family. Russell Cowles worked to preserve the house and when the original French scenic wallpaper depicting Venetian scenes, installed by Williams in 1816, was damaged in the Flood of 1936, Cowles went to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston to learn how to restore it. The building was restored in the 1980s as part of Historic Deerfield.

Asa Stebbins House (1799)

by Dan/February 2, 2009September 17, 2016/Deerfield, Federal, Houses

The Federal-style Asa Stebbins House, now one of the museum houses of Historic Deerfield, was built in 1799 and was the first brick house in Franklin county. Stebbins, a wealthy farmer and mill owner, was on the building committees for two other brick structures: the original building of Deerfield Academy (now the Memorial Hall Museum) and the town’s “brick church“. He was also a town selectman and state representative and built and decorated his house in the popular Federal style. Inside, the house has French scenic wallpaper by Joseph Dufour depicting the voyages of Captain Cook.

Haberstroh Building (1886)

by Dan/January 26, 2009June 12, 2011/Boston, Commercial, Houses, Renaissance Revival

The Haberstroh Building, at 647 Boylston Street in Boston, next to the New Old South Church, was originally a house, built in 1886. From 1888 to 1902, it was the home of Dr. Edward Newton Whittier, a Civil War recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor, who worked at Harvard Medical School. The house became a business and in 1905, Albert Haberstroh, of the Boston firm of L. Haberstoh & Son, added the four-story bay, which has elaborate copper ornamentation, designed by Haberstroh and done by the Van Noorden sheet metal company.

50-52 Mattoon Street, Springfield (1872)

by Dan/January 14, 2009/Houses, Second Empire, Springfield

Another example of the Second Empire-style row house, built during the initial 1870s development of Mattoon Street in Springfield, is the building at nos. 50-52. The section of the structure to the right is the Eldredge House.

Concord’s Colonial Inn (1716)

by Dan/January 12, 2009January 12, 2009/Colonial, Concord, Hotels, Houses

The Colonial Inn in Concord is on Monument Square. The Inn consists of three connected structures. The original East House (above), was built sometime before 1716 by Captain James Minot and deeded in that year to his son, James, Jr. The house passed to James Jr.’s son, Ephraim, and then to a cousin, Dr. Timothy Minot, Jr., a physician who tended to the wounded on April 19,1775. Some time in early 1770s, the Central Building (below) was constructed, which was used as a storehouse during the Revolution. This structure was purchased by Deacon John White in 1780 to use as a store (he added the second floor). In 1789, Dr. Minot sold the East House to Ammi White, his son-in-law and a cabinet-maker, who had killed a wounded British soldier with an axe on April 19, 1775. The very next year, White sold the house to John Thoreau, grandfather of Henry David Thoreau. John Thoreau’s wife, Rebecca Kettel, was the sister of the Deacon’s wife. Around 1820, Deacon White built the West House onto the end of his store and the eventually both the house and store was acquired by his partner, Daniel Shattuck. The young Henry David Thoreau lived in the East House with his family and his aunts from 1835 to 1837. Shattuck acquired the East House in 1839, which was leased to various tenants over the years. By the 1850s, the Central Building had become a boarding house and was then attached to the East House to become the Thoreau House hotel. Around 1900, the West House was attached to the Central Building and the entire structure became known as the Colonial Inn.
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