Allen-Osgood-Huntington Triple House (1828)

by Dan//Federal, Houses, Salem

Allen-Osgood-Huntington Triple House

For my 101st Salem post I present the Allen-Osgood-Huntington Triple House, located at 31-33-35 Chestnut Street in Salem. It was begun in 1828-1829 by Pickering Dodge and completed after 1833 by his son-in-law, John Fiske Allen, a horticulturalist who lived in No. 31. As described in Fisk Cousins and Phil M. Riley’s The Colonial Architecture of Salem (1919):

there, in 1853, for the first time in New England, [Allen] grew and brought to flower in his greenhouse the Victoria regia, the great water lily of the Amazon, from seed obtained of Caleb Cope, of Philadelphia. The following season Mr. Allen enlarged his greenhouse and tank and obtained more seed from England, including that of the Amaryllis, Nelumbium and other tropical species of lilies which thrived and formed a rare collection much admired by many visitors. Mr. Allen published the results of his observations on the Victoria regia in a beautiful folio volume, finely illustrated by W. Sharpe from specimens grown in Salem. . . . Previous to Mr. Allen’s occupancy the house was for a time the home of Nathaniel Silsbee, United States senator from 1826 to 1835.

The middle house (No. 33) had various owners, including Captain Charles M. Endicott of the ship Friendship. In a famous incident that occurred in 1831, the ship was captured by Malays off the coast of Sumatra and then retaken in a fierce battle. In 1864, the house was purchased by George P. Osgood, whose family remained there until the 1940s. The bay window on this middle house is a Victorian-era addition. The house at the western end (No. 35) was home to three mayors of Salem: Charles W. Upham (served 1852-1853), who wrote the classic work Salem Witchcraft (1867), Asahel Huntington (served 1853-1854) and his son, Arthur L. Huntington (served 1885).

Captain William Saunders House (1805)

by Dan//Colonial Revival, Federal, Houses, Salem

39 Chestnut Street, Salem

The house at 39 Chestnut Street in Salem was built in 1805 for Captain Thomas Saunders. It was the first of the great brick Federal-style houses to be constructed on a street famed for its architecture. In 1893 the house was remodeled in the Colonial Revival style by architect Arthur Little for owner William G. Barker. The central bay window on the second floor above the original entryway was added at that time.

Clark Block, Worcester (1854)

by Dan//Commercial, Italianate, Worcester

Clark Block

The Clark Block, located at 401-409 Main Street in Worcester (not to be confused with the Clark Building at 492 Main Street, which does not survive today), was built in 1854 for William Clark to plans by Elbridge Boyden. For many years it remained one of the grandest buildings in the city, housing many institutions and businesses. In the 1850s, the adjacent Richmond and Piper Blocks were constructed. J.H. Walker acquired the Clark Block in 1884 and built an addition on the Mechanics Street side of the building. The Clark Block originally had a facade of thirteen bays along Main Street, but six of these (as well as the adjoining Richmond and Piper Blocks) have been covered over. The first two floors of the remaining bays have also been covered, leaving only part of the original facade visible.

New England Telegraph and Telephone Company Building, Holyoke (1931)

by Dan//Art Deco, Commercial, Holyoke

322 Maple St., Holyoke

The New England Telephone and Telegraph Company, now Verizon New England, Inc., was founded in 1883. Am I right in assuming this is the same as the New England Telegraph and Telephone Company? Having just previously occupied (from 1902) a building at the corner of Maple and Suffolk Streets in Holyoke, that company moved into a new Art Deco structure, located two blocks south (at 322 Maple Street), in 1931. The building has lost much of its original ornament.