Babson-Alling House (1740)

by Dan//Colonial, Gloucester, Houses

The Cape Ann Museum in Gloucester purchased the Babson-Alling House in February 2019 and the historic home is currently undergoing restoration to become part of a new museum campus that will include a new storage and programming facility, slated to open in June 2020. Located at the modern address of 243/245 Washington Street, the house was built in 1740 by Joseph Allen (1681-1750) or his son, William Allen (1717-1815), at what was then the town center, called the Green, adjacent to the White-Ellery House, also owned by the museum. In 1765, William Allen sold the house to Isaac Smith (1719-1797), a wealthy Boston merchant and slave owner who was the uncle of Abigail Adams. Scipio Dalton was an enslaved person who is thought to have lived in the attic of the house. He eventually gained his freedom from Smith in 1783 after a period of indenture.

Smith sold the house in 1779 to John Low, Jr. (1754-1801), a merchant and lieutenant in the militia. The house passed to his daughter, Eliza Gorham Low (1786-1862), who married Nathaniel Babson (1784-1836), a merchant and ship captain, in 1809. The house was eventually inherited by their son Gustavus Babson (1820-1897). Most of his brothers became seafarers, but Gustavus was a successful farmer on the property. He married his first cousin, Susan Stanwood Low (1820-1880). Their daughter, Ann Prentiss Babson Alling, moved to the house after the death of her husband in 1894 and maintained the property with her brother Nathaniel. Her daughter, Elizabeth L. Alling, also lived in the house for many years. The house may have been a stop on the Underground Railroad before the Civil War.

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Thomas Saunders House (1764)

by Dan//Colonial Revival, Gloucester, Houses, Libraries

The house at the corner of Middle Street and Dale Avenue in Gloucester was built in 1764 by Thomas Saunders, a merchant, utilizing plans probably brought over from England. The house has been much altered over the years. A later owner, Capt. John Beach, an emigrant from England, added a third story and an octagonal cupola to the house after a neighbor across Middle Street blocked his view of the harbor. The cupola was removed in 1827 due to issues with leaking. Sadly, there are no images of what the cupola looked like. The house’s seventh owner, William A. Pew, moved the structure 13 feet to the west and added an Italianate tower to the front of the house, which he remodeled as a fine Victorian mansion. All but the base of the tower was lost in 1934 when it was altered to become the building’s entry porch. Samuel E. Sawyer bought the house in 1884 in order to donate it to become the home of the Gloucester Lyceum and Sawyer Free Public Library. The Lyceum had been established in 1830 and its library, with support from Sawyer, was first established by 1854 and became a free library by 1871. The library lacked a permanent home until Sawyer donated the Saunders House in 1884. The building would have a new wing added in 1913 and a modern library extension was added to the north of the house in 1975-1976. The Library is also home to a series of WPA murals painted in the 1930s by Frederick L. Stoddard. Continue reading “Thomas Saunders House (1764)”

Mark Dewey Hat Shop (1816)

by Dan//Commercial, Greek Revival, Houses, Sheffield, Vernacular

On the grounds of the Sheffield Historical Society is a building, constructed about 1816, that once served as a hat and cap manufactory for Mark Dewey and his three apprentices. While conducting his business in the building, Dewey lived next door, in the Dan Raymond House, which is also owned by the Historical Society. He sold his hatter’s shop in 1828. In the 1980s, the building was restored by the Society to house the Mark Dewey Research Center, a collection of historical materials relating to Sheffield and surrounding towns. Continue reading “Mark Dewey Hat Shop (1816)”

Capt. Samuel Somes House (1796)

by Dan//Federal, Gloucester, Houses

The house at 29-31 Pleasant Street in Gloucester was built in 1796 for Abigail, the widow of Capt. Samuel Somes. They had a son who was also Capt. Samuel Somes. There is some confusion between different sources about who built the house. It is associated in the Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System with local housewright Col. Jacob Smith, originally from Ipswich, who also designed the Capt. Elias Davis House, which is located just across Federal Street and is part of the Cape Ann Museum. The Museum’s website says that the Somes House was a copy of the Davis House and was designed by Jacob Smith’s younger brother. Both brothers, Jacob and John Smith, designed houses for Gloucester ship owners and merchants, as well as a number of churches in the area. The “Images of America” series book on Gloucester and Rockport says (on page 25) that John designed the Somes House and then Jacob added modified corner coins to the Davis House “in an act of one-upsmanship” that prompted dissension between them.

Union Block, Concord (1881)

by Dan//Commercial, Concord, Second Empire

The Union Block is a long commercial structure erected in 1881 at 18-16 Main Street in Concord. It was built in a section of the street known as the Milldam, where a dam and mill pond had existed in colonial times. The Milldam Company, incorporated in 1828, had drained the pond and replaced the dam with a gravel road, beginning the process of erecting new buildings in the town’s commercial center. The Union Block replaced three former stores that had stood on the site, including that of George Hunt, which had just burned down. Hunt moved into the west section of the new building, eventually selling his store to Albert Vanderhoof in 1904. Vanderhoof’s Hardware Store, now run by the fourth generation of the family, continues to occupy the space to this day. Numerous other stores have occupied the middle and east sections over the years.