Historic Buildings of Massachusetts

Nourse-Farwell House (1740)

by Dan/August 21, 2015/Colonial, Harvard, Houses

According to local tradition, the house at 5 Elm Street in Harvard was built c. 1740 by Benjamin Nourse at the time of his marriage to his second wife, the widow Hannah Atherton. It may also have been built c. 1755 or c. 1800 by John Nourse. In 1833 the house was bought by John Farwell, who owned a large meat and farm produce business and was also a teamster, a lumber dealer, and dealt in real estate. He served as town selectman in 1854 and as assessor from 1860 to 1863.

Holyoke War Memorial Building (1936)

by Dan/August 12, 2015/Art Deco, Holyoke, Public Buildings

Built in 1936-1937 during the Depression under the auspices of the city and the Public Works Administration, the War Memorial Building (also called the Soldiers Memorial Building) in Holyoke was constructed to honor veterans of the First World War and to serve the city as a community center. The building contains a large auditorium and three meeting rooms. It is located at 310 Appleton Street. Continue reading “Holyoke War Memorial Building (1936)”

Mt. Tom Engine House (1887)

by Dan/August 12, 2015August 12, 2015/Holyoke, Italianate, Organizations, Public Buildings

At 2 Canal Street in Holyoke is the fire station built in 1887 for the Mt. Tom Hose Company, No. 1, the city’s first volunteer fire-fighting force, which had been established in 1851. The building was later known as Fire Station No. 4.

Emery S. Johnson House (1853)

by Dan/August 2, 2015August 2, 2015/Houses, Italianate, Salem

Emery S. Johnson was a Salem merchant and shipmaster. An Italianate house was erected for him at 360 Essex Street in Salem in 1853. The house was deigned by Salem architects William H. Emmerton and Joseph C. Foster.

Dr. Samuel Young House (1825)

by Dan/July 4, 2015/Harvard, Houses, Vernacular

The Young House, at 1 Fairbank Street in Harvard, was built in the early nineteenth century, although the exact date is unknown. In 1825, the property was sold by John P. Whitcomb to cordwainer William Lewis, who sold it to James Young in 1836. Young then transferred it to Dr. Samuel Young , who was probably his uncle. As described in the History of the Town of Harvard (1894), Vol. 2, by Henry Stedman Nourse, Dr. Young was

born in Athol August 12, 1782, son of Lt. Samuel and Lois (Sanderson) Young. Dr. Young was a graduate of Williams College, 1804, and practiced in Athol and Lowell before coming to Harvard. He lived for about thirty years in a house yet standing upon the east side of the common, where he died March 30, 1845. One of his legs being much shorter than the other, he walked with a cane. He was the last of the old-style doctors, paying his visits on horseback, his stock of medicines borne in saddlebags before him.

In the mid-nineteenth century the house was owned by his daughter Seraphina and her husband Hiram Joy and was called Joy Cottage. The house passed among female descendents until 1985.

Naumkeag Trust Company (1900)

by Dan/July 4, 2015/Banks, Churches, Colonial Revival, Commercial, Salem

The building at 217 Essex Street in Salem was built in 1900 to house the retail store of W.E. Hoyt Company. A decade later, the Hoyt Block was acquired by the Naumkeag Trust Company, which hired Boston architects Franklin H. Hutchins and Arthur W. Rice to remodel the interior to become a bank building. The history of the Naumkeag Trust Company is related in Vol. II of the Municipal History of Essex County in Massachusetts (1922):

The Naumkeag Bank was incorporated March 17, 1831, with $200,000 capital, subsequently increased to $500,000. It commenced business in the Benjamin Dodge store building, on Essex street, opposite the Essex House, then was moved to the Manning building, and in 1872 to the second floor of the Asiatic building, Washington street. David Pingree was its first president. In 1864 this institution was changed to the Naumkeag National Bank.

It then became the Naumkeag Trust Company, which was established October 7, 1909. The building is now home to The Gathering at Salem, an interdenominational Christian church.

West Triple House (1834)

by Dan/July 4, 2015/Federal, Greek Revival, Houses, Salem

Erected circa 1833-1834 is a triple house at 5-9 Summer Street in Salem. It was built as an investment by Capt. Nathaniel West, who lived in one of the three units. The house is now part of The Salem Inn. Capt. West had been involved in an infamous scandal when he was divorced from his wife, Elizabeth Derby West, in 1806. In the trial he had lost to her his estate in Danvers, Oak Hill, but later reacquired part of it after her death. He moved it to Salem where it became the front section of the Philips House on Chestnut Street.