February 2009 – Page 2 – Historic Buildings of Massachusetts

Narbonne House (1675)

by Dan/February 19, 2009September 17, 2016/Colonial, Houses, Salem

The Narbonne House, on Essex Street in Salem, is part of the Salem Maritime National Historic Site. It was built in 1675 by Thomas Ives, a butcher (or “slaughterer”). The oldest section of the house has a prominent peaked roof. Later owners added to the building, with part of the lean-to and the gambrel-roofed ell probably being constructed when Capt. John Hodges owned the house in the third quarter of the eighteenth century. In 1780, the house was purchased by Jonathan Andrew. His granddaughter, Sarah Narbonne, was born inside and lived there until her death, at age 101, in 1895. Her daughter Mary lived there until her death in 1905. The Park Service acquired the historic structure in 1963. Instead of being restored to a particular period, the Narbonne House is kept unfurnished as an architectural study house. There is a video of a talk outsidethe Narbonne House: Continue reading “Narbonne House (1675)”

Samuel Stedman House (1826)

by Dan/February 18, 2009September 17, 2016/Cambridge, Federal, Houses

According to the blue historic marker on the side of the Stedman House, on South Street in Cambridge, the home was erected in 1826 over the ice cellar of Samuel Stedman. The sign explains that the ice, collected from ponds, was then shipped via Manning‘s Wharf.

Norton-Johnson-Burleigh House (1847)

by Dan/February 17, 2009September 17, 2016/Cambridge, Gothic, Houses

The Norton-Johnson-Burleigh House at 85 Brattle Street in Cambridge, is a Gothic-Revival villa built in 1847. The house was influenced by the ideas on villa architecture of Andrew Jackson Downing, but was modeled on a specific pattern, attributed to Henry Austin of New Haven, as printed in The Builder’s Guide by Chester Hills of Hartford.

Misses Sarah and Emma Cary House (1881)

by Dan/February 16, 2009September 17, 2016/Cambridge, Houses, Stick Style

The home of Sarah and Emma Carey, the unmarried sisters of Elizabeth Cabot Cary Agassiz, a famous educator and the co-founder and first president of Radcliffe College, was built in 1881-1882 on Brattle Street in Cambridge. The house is an excellent example of the Stick style of architecture.

Edith Longfellow Dana House (1887)

by Dan/February 15, 2009September 17, 2016/Cambridge, Houses, Queen Anne

Next to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s home on Brattle Street in Cambridge is the house of one of his three daughters, Edith, who had married Richard Henry Dana III, son of the author, Richard Henry Dana, who was a friend of Longfellow. Built in 1887, it is a Queen Anne house with twin gables on the facade. The house is now home to the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.

Oliver Hastings House (1844)

by Dan/February 11, 2009September 17, 2016/Cambridge, Greek Revival, Houses

Oliver Hastings was a nineteenth century architect-builder, who designed his own home on Brattle Street in Cambridge. Built in 1844 in the Greek Revival style, the Hastings House was sold in 1888 to William Lawrence. Lawrence was a professor and dean of the nearby Episcopal Theological School and later became Bishop of Massachusetts. The house was acquired by the school (now the Episcopal Divinity School) in 1924.

Old Masonic Building, Springfield (1893)

by Dan/February 10, 2009January 21, 2020/Commercial, Organizations, Romanesque Revival, Springfield

The old Masonic Building, at the corner of Main and State Streets in Springfield was perhaps built around 1893, as a volume entitled, Masonic Building, Springfield, Mass, “Authority of Committee on Dedication,” was published that year. The building once had a brownstone facade in the Richardsonian Romanesque style which has since been completely removed. A new Masonic Temple building on State Street was built in the Classical Revival style in 1924.