Month: November 2012

John R. Foster House (1882)

by Dan//Clinton, Houses, Stick Style

At 271 Church Street in Clinton is the elaborate Stick Style house, designed by Henry M. Francis and built for John R. Foster in 1882. Foster was a wealthy merchant who owned a chain of clothing stores throughout New England. As related by Andrew E. Ford in his History of the Origin of the Town of Clinton, Massachusetts, 1653-1865 (1896):

John R. Foster was born in Moretown, Vt., November 7, 1834. He began to work in a store at the age of twelve. He was for some time a clerk in Waterbury, Vt. In September, 1856, he went into partnership with W. H. Ashley, in the clothing business, in Clinton. Their store was in the A. H. Pierce Block on Church Street; thence they moved to the Clinton House Hall Block. Ashley remained in Clinton but a few months, then Mr. Foster took the business alone and carried it on until 1870, when he started the clothing stores in Danielsonville, Ct., Willimantic, Ct., and other places, which have proved so profitable to him, and have enabled him to add so much to the beauty of the town through his private residence and public benefactions.

Foster donated a fountain for Clinton’s Central Park in 1890 that was destroyed in the Hurricane of 1938 (a replica was rededicated in 2000). His second wife, Catherine Harlow, was a member of the corporation that formed the Clinton Home for Aged People. In 1900 (or 1909?), the house was purchased by Dr. Walter P. Bowers for the Clinton Home for the Aged, now called The Clinton Home Foundation, Inc.

Epworth United Methodist Church, Worcester (1927)

by Dan//Churches, Gothic, Worcester

The First Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church in Quinsigamond Village in Worcester was formally organized in 1880. As recorded in Vol. I of Charles Nutt’s History of Worcester and its People (1919):

A colony from the First Church organized the Second Swedish Methodist Church April 9, 1885, with a membership of 94, including 29 probationers. Rev. Mr. D. S. Sorlin came from the First Church and was the first pastor of the Second. The first place of worship was in the chapel on Thomas street, purchased of the First Church of Christ for $8,000. By two additions in 1887 and 1888 costing $13,400 the seating capacity was increased to more than 500. It was dedicated Sept. 27, 1885.

Having grown too large for its first church building, the congregation built the present structure in 1926-1927 at 64 Salisbury Street. At the time of the move to the new building, designed by Henry Eckland of Chicago, the name of the church was changed to Epworth Methodist Church, now Epworth United Methodist Church.

Stow Town Hall (1848)

by Dan//Greek Revival, Public Buildings, Stow

After the fourth Congregational meeting house, or church, in Stow burned down in 1847, a new one was constructed. The church had been used for town meetings, but now religious and government functions were separated, so that in addition to a new church, a town hall was also constructed. Both buildings were built with nearly identical Greek Revival facades. The Town Hall was built by Micah Smith, a carpenter and millwright. According to a plaque on the building, it cost $2,559.73. An addition was built on the south side of the Town Hall in 1895.

Dr. Royal S. Warren House (1851)

by Dan//Houses, Italianate, Waltham

The house at 519 Main Street in Waltham was built between 1851 and 1853 by Royal S. Warren.

According to Vol. III of the History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men (1890):

Royal S. Warren, M.D., was born in Alstead, N. H., in 1822, and received his degree from Harvard in 1846. He settled in Waltham in 1847, and commanded a large practice, till, in 1865, he met with a railroad accident from no fault of his. While crossing the Fitchburg Railroad at Moody Street he was run into and terribly injured. He was confined to his house for about a year, and barely escaped with his life. He was permanently disabled. In 1868 and 1869 he represented Waltham in the Legislature. He also served on the School Committee. He removed to Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 1880, where he has since resided.

After Dr. Warren moved in 1880, the house was owned by his in-laws, who rented it. By 1915, the house was acquired by St. Peter’s School and then served as St. Joseph’s Parish Rectory. The parish was closed in 2004.

Ransom F. Taylor House (1907)

by Dan//Colonial Revival, Houses, Worcester

The house at 6 Oak Street in Worcester was built in 1906-1907. It was the home of Ransom F. Taylor, son of Ransom C. Taylor (d.1910), a wealthy real estate developer who became Worcester’s largest property owner. According to Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Vol. II (1907), Ransom Frederick Taylor

was born in Worcester[.] He married Virginia Byrd Chapman, of York, Pennsylvania. He was educated at the Highland Military Academy, Worcester, and Phillips Andover Academy. He has for a number of years been associated with his father in business and has shared the management of his property largely. In recent years he himself has been a large investor in real estate and is accounted as one of the shrewdest and most accurate judges of the values of real estate in the city.

The house was purchased by Becker College in 1955 and is now a dormitory called Merrill Hall, named for civic leader and trustee of the college, Everett E. Merrill.

Worcester Memorial Auditorium (1932)

by Dan//Art Deco, Neoclassical, Public Buildings, Theaters, Worcester

Built to honor the 9,000 citizens of Worcester who served in the First World War, the Worcester Memorial Auditorium was constructed in 1931-1932 and is located in Lincoln Square. The Classical Revival building was designed by Lucius W. Briggs of Worcester and Frederick C. Hirons of New York. The exterior features Art Deco-inspired bas-relief ornament. Inside are murals by Leon Kroll, installed in 1941. The interior has a large auditorium and a “Little Theatre” which share a single stage that can be opened up to join the rooms together. Recently used as an auxiliary courthouse, the Auditorium has been the subject of many renovation and redevelopment discussions over the years (see pdf), the city eventually plans to sell the building. Continue reading “Worcester Memorial Auditorium (1932)”