Historic Buildings of Massachusetts

Franklin Forbes House (1851)

by Dan/February 25, 2013/Clinton, Foursquare, Houses

The house pictured above (185 Chestnut Street in Clinton) has the look of an American Foursquare house (which were built in the 1890s-1910s), but it’s documented as having been built in 1851 for Franklin Forbes. He was the agent at Lancaster Mills, during which time it became the largest producer of gingham cloth in the world. He also served a term in the State Legislature in 1864 and was a member of the town’s school committee from 1852 to 1877, serving all that time, except for one year, as chairman.

Burnside Building (1880)

by Dan/February 12, 2013/Commercial, Renaissance Revival, Worcester

At 339 Main Street in downtown Worcester is the Burnside Building, built in 1880. The structure is a five-story brick commercial building designed by the architects Bradlee, Winslow and Wetherell of Boston and built by the Norcoss Brothers in an eclectic Romanesque style with sandstone trim. The building replaced an earlier commercial block on the site and was erected by the heirs of lawyer Samuel Burnside. His daughter Harriet Burnside also left money for the construction of Burnside Fountain in Worcester.

Holyoke Savings Bank (1928)

by Dan/February 4, 2013February 4, 2013/Banks, Colonial Revival, Holyoke

At 99 Suffolk Street (aka 143 Chestnut Street) in Holyoke is a former bank building constructed beginning in 1928 for the Holyoke Savings Bank, which had been founded in 1855. An article in the Springfield Sunday Union and Republican (April 1928) announced that the new building was to be designed by Hutchins & French of Boston and that the construction contract had been awarded to the John F. Griffin Company of Boston. At some point the bank became the Vanguard Savings Bank, which failed in 1992, (Fleet Bank assumed Vanguard’s deposits). Three years later, the Holyoke Gas & Electric Department acquired the building from the FDIC. Interior and exterior historic renovation work on the former bank building was completed in 1996. (I would like to thank Eileen Crosby of the Holyoke History Room for helping me find information about this building).

Holyoke Masonic Temple (1922)

by Dan/January 31, 2013/Holyoke, Neoclassical, Organizations

The cornerstone of the Masonic Temple (also called Masonic Hall) in Holyoke was laid on September 11, 1920. Located at 235 Chestnut Street, the building is home to Mount Tom Lodge, which began in 1850 and occupied Lodge rooms in three different downtown blocks before before its Masonic Temple was completed in 1922.

Clapp Tavern (1743)

by Dan/January 17, 2013/Colonial, Houses, Taverns, Westfield

The Clapp Tavern in Westfield has gone through many changes over the years. Ezra Clapp came to Westfield in 1743 and built his house in 1747. From 1766 to the 1790s, the house was used as a tavern and was a meeting place for Westfield patriots during the Revolutionary War. General Henry Knox is said to have stayed at the Clapp Tavern while on his epic journey hauling artillery from Fort Ticonderoga to Cambridge in 1775-1776. In 1800, the house was bought by Samuel Fowler. In 1838, his son, James Fowler, first President of the Hampden National Bank, moved the house west from the corner of Elm and Court Streets to its present site at 53 Court Street to make way for a new house. Judge Homer Stevens had his home and office in the Tavern from 1870 to 1902. He made a number of alterations, including replacing the original central chimney with two smaller ones. A later owner, Zebina Caldwell, a carpenter, added the pent roof in front and the side porches.

284 Maple Street, Holyoke (1880)

by Dan/December 22, 2012/Holyoke, Houses, Queen Anne

Now standing isolated on block that once contained a row of houses, 284 Maple Street is the sole survivor of an affluent neighborhood in Holyoke. Nothing is now known about who built the house (c. 1880) or who first lived in it. The concrete steps are not original. Today the building houses a law firm.

Watson-Steiger-Loomis House (1858)

by Dan/December 21, 2012/Houses, Octagon, Westfield

At 28 King Street in Westfield is an octagon house, built between 1858, when Joseph H. Watson purchased the land, and 1864, when he sold the property, which by then included the house. Octagon houses were popularized by Orson Squire Fowler in his book, The Octagon House, A Home for All. A two-story rear extension was added to the house in the early 1870s. The front porch was added around 1900. Albert Steiger, founder of Steiger’s Department Stores, owned the house in the 1880s. After 1908, it was owned by the Loomis family. I’ve featured many other octagon houses on my Connecticut website.