This is your sign to take a different route! When exploring a new town or neighborhood, I love to explore the obscure streets just as much as the iconic Main Streets as hidden treasures can always be found! This building in Dorchester’s Port Norfolk neighborhood was constructed in 1860 as the new home of the Dorchester Mutual Fire Insurance Company, which was incorporated in 1855. The company seemingly hired Dorchester-based architect Luther Briggs, who also laid out the streets for Port Norfolk and the Clam Point neighborhoods and designed many buildings in the area at the time. The high-style Italianate building features bold proportions, quoins, and cornice. While the former round-arched windows have since been enclosed and are traditional double-hung windows, they building still stands out! At the rear, Second Empire style rowhouses were built for private ownership. The building is now all condominiums following a renovation.
Buildings of New England 
Your series is wonderful. It is a course in historic architecture and a study of important buildings that are too often overlooked in mainstream publications. Your recent series on Grindstone Neck was a classic and probably the best visual survey ever done on that neighborhood. Many, many thanks!
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Wow, thank you so much for the kind words. I realized there was a good survey of New England buildings (beyond the ones in the text books) that tell a more holistic story of New England architecture. Thank you for following along on this journey!
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I agree with Lee!
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Thank you!! More to come 🙂
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