Colonial – Page 24 – Historic Buildings of Massachusetts

Porter-Phelps-Huntington House (1752)

by Dan/November 20, 2008September 17, 2016/Colonial, Hadley, Houses

Built in 1752, the Porter-Phelps-Huntington House was the first to be constructed in Hadley outside the town’s fortified stockade, on land known as “Forty Acres and its Skirts,” which had earlier been farmed communally. The original owners were Moses Porter and his wife Elizabeth Pitkin Porter. Moses was killed in 1755 in the French and Indian War, at the “Bloody Morning Scout,” the first engagement of the Battle of Lake George. Elizabeth was left alone to raise their daughter, also named Elizabeth, who married Charles Phelps of Northampton in 1770. Phelps greatly expanded the family’s property and enlarged the house, although no significant structural changes have been made since 1799. Phelps was a lawyer as well as a farmer, supported the Revolutionary War and served as a representative to the General Court of Massachusetts. Charles and Elizabeth Phelps’ daughter, Elizabeth Phelps, married Dan Huntington in 1801. Huntington was a minister in Litchfield, CT and his growing family lived there for a time, before settling in the Hadley homestead in 1816. Their son, Frederic Dan Huntington, became a Unitarian minister, but later became an Episcopalian and the first Bishop of Central New York state. In 1855, Bishop Huntington inherited the house and used it as a summer home. The house continued to be owned by the family until a grandson of Bishop Huntington, Dr. James Huntington, who had studied the family’s history and first opened the house to the public in 1949, donated it the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Foundation in 1955. It has been open as a museum ever since.

Harvard Hall (1766)

by Dan/October 7, 2008/Cambridge, Collegiate, Colonial

The first building to be called Harvard Hall was completed in Cambridge in 1642 and is more commonly known as Harvard College or the Old College. This structure eventually collapsed in the 1670s. The next Harvard Hall was built in Harvard Yard between 1672 and 1682. This building was destroyed in a fire in 1764. A new Harvard Hall, often called the second Harvard Hall, designed by Sir Francis Bernard, was built in 1766 at the same location as its predecessor. This building first divided the Yard into two quadrangles. Substantial additions have been made over the years: the original building was augmented with a central pavilion in 1842 and two wings on either side of the pavilion in 1870.

Wells-Thorn House (1747)

by Dan/October 7, 2008September 17, 2016/Colonial, Deerfield, Houses

The Wells-Thorn House is one of the museum houses of Historic Deerfield. The oldest section of the house was built between 1717 and 1720 by Ebenezer Wells, a wealthy farmer. He lived in the house with his wife, Abigail Barnard wells, and two slaves, Lucy and Caesar. the building may have also have been used as a tavern from 1744-1749. This earlier section became an ell when a new section, now the main block of the house, was built in the Georgian style either between 1751 and 1757, or perhaps as early as 1747. Ebenezer Wells died in 1758 and the house passed through several different owners, eventually being purchased by Luanna Thorn in 1905. She and her husband, Dr. Edwin Thorn, were involved in the Deerfield Arts and Crafts Revival movement. Luanna ran her Deerfield Handicrafts Shop at the rear of the house. The home was acquired by Historic Deerfield in 1962. Inside, the house represents the decorative arts of different historical periods in each room. It also inspired the construction of a replica, the Benjamin Morrow House. Edit: Current research indicates that the entire house was built in 1755.

Sheldon-Hawks House (1754)

by Dan/October 7, 2008September 17, 2016/Colonial, Deerfield, Houses

The John Sheldon House, also known as the Sheldon-Hawks House, on the Street in Deerfield, was built perhaps as early as 1743, but more likely in the period from 1754-1757. Built by John Sheldon, the grandson of Ensign John Sheldon. it was occupied by three generations of the Sheldons, a farming family. In 1802, a single-story ell was added to the rear. The house was the birthplace of George Sheldon, an early preservationist, who wrote A History of Deerfield and founded the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Society. George Sheldon inherited the house in 1860 and in 1871, his daughter, Susan Arabella, moved in with her husband, Edward A. Hawks. After Edward’s death in 1925, it was inherited by their daughter, Susan Belle Hawks, who ran The Old Homestead Antiques Shop from her home. It was acquired in 1946 by Henry and Helen Flynt, the founders Historic Deerfield, and is open for self-guided tours.

John Hicks House (1762)

by Dan/July 25, 2008January 20, 2020/Cambridge, Colonial, Houses

Originally located on Dunster and Winthrop in Cambridge, the 1762 John Hicks House was later moved to its current address on John F. Kennedy Street to become the library of Harvard University‘s Kirkland House. A historic marker in front of the house explains that it was the home of John Hicks, who was killed by British soldiers in 1775. He was killed near the junction of North avenue and Spruce Street by the retreating British on April 19, 1775. The marker also indicates that the house was used by General Putnam as his office during the Revolutionary War. In 1773, the house was purchased by John Foxcroft. A car crashed into the house in 2006.

Faneuil Hall (1742)

by Dan/July 4, 2008/Boston, Colonial, Public Buildings

Peter Faneuil was a Boston merchant whose parents were Huguenots. In 1740, he proposed donating a market building to the town, with a marketplace below and a public meeting hall above. The original Faneuil Hall, completed in 1742, was designed by the Scottish artist John Smibert. After the building suffered in a fire in 1761, it was rebuilt the following year. The building now entered the period when it would become known as “The Cradle of Liberty.” James Otis dedicated the meeting room to the “Cause of Liberty” and it was here that the many important gatherings protesting British taxes on the colonies were held, under the leadership of such patriots as Samuel Adams and John Hancock. After the Boston Tea Party, the British closed the building to public meetings and it was used to garrison soldiers.

After the Revolutionary War, Faneuil Hall was rebuilt and enlarged in 1806 by Charles Bulfinch, who retained its colonial style, but increased its width, added a third floor and enclosed the ground floor’s open market arcades. He also added galleries to the meeting hall, which, as Peter Faneuil had requested, has continued to be used for public forums. Over the years it has heard abolitionists, suffragists and political candidates. The third floor, now a museum, is the armory of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts, the oldest military organization in the United States which has had its headquarters in Faneuil Hall since 1746. Faneuil Hall also has a distinctive copper gilt Grasshopper weather vane, made by the artisan Shem Drowne. It was stolen, but found a few days later in 1974. In 1898-1899, the building was rebuilt using noncombustible materials. Faneuil Hall, together with the neighboring Quincy Market, is now part of the Faneuil Hall Marketplace. It is also on Boston’s Freedom Trail.

Old State House (1713)

by Dan/June 23, 2008January 19, 2020/Boston, Colonial, Public Buildings

Since the 1630s, what would become the site of the Old State House in Boston was where the Puritans’ stocks and whipping posts were located and where the town’s earliest market was held. A wood Town House was built there in 1657, which had an open air market on the ground floor and a meeting place above. After this structure burned down in 1711, a new brick one was built in 1713, although the interior was gutted by fire in 1747 and had to be restored afterwards. This historic structure at the head of State Street, which became the seat of British Royal government in Massachusetts, was the site of many significant events: James Otis‘ speech against the writs of assistance in 1761; the March 5, 1770 Boston Massacre, which occurred just in front of the building; the first reading for Bostonians of the Declaration of Independence by Col. Thomas Crafts from the east balcony on July 18, 1776 (at which time the people torn down from the building the original royal lion and unicorn to be consigned to a bonfire); and the 1789 visit of President George Washington. After the Revolutionary War, it continued to serve as the State House until 1798, when it was given to the town in exchange for a new State House site on Beacon Hill. In 1830, it was altered by architect Isaiah Rogers in the Classical Revival style to serve as a City Hall until 1841. After that, it began a long decline. Housing offices and shops, the exterior was covered with advertisements. There were thoughts of demolishing it to widen the street and Chicagoans even offered to move it to Illinois! In 1882, it was eventually restored (with replicas of the old lion and unicorn) and rededicated as a museum, run by the Bostonian Society. A more recent restoration was completed by Goody, Clancy & Associates in 1991. The building is part of the Boston Freedom Trail. See below for more pictures of the Old State House:

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