This altered, yet significant building on Bow Street in Somerville’s Union Square commercial district, was built in 1908 as the Somerville National Bank. The Somerville National Bank was chartered in 1892 and was the city’s first and only local bank until the 1930s. After nearly two decades of renting space in another building, the bank hired the architectural firm of Gay & Proctor, to furnish plans for this handsome suburban bank building. Constructed of brick with stone trim, the building originally featured a large, arched window at the facade, which was replaced by a more contemporary opening. Classical Revival details remain, from the monumental gable pediment with dentils, to the parapet with classical moldings. The bank has been repurposed into mixed use space, with a cafe on the ground floor and yoga and wellness studio above.
Union Square is the oldest and largest commercial district in Somerville, and its growth is tied to the residential and commercial growth of the City. The three main streets that form Union Square—Somerville Avenue, Bow Street, and Washington Street—were originally 17th- and 18th-century trade routes used by farmers in Somerville to transport products, mostly dairy and produce, to larger markets in Charlestown and Boston. As the region grew, so did Union Square, with later hotels, civic buildings, churches and later, more car-centric uses like automobile garages and gas stations. By the 1920s, prosperity stagnated and one-story commercial blocks replaced larger, more ornate structures. This small building, the Cities Service Refining Co. Fuel Station at 69-71 Bow Street, was built in the mid-1920s and is an example of the wave of automobile-oriented development that occured here at the time. Before WWII, many service station companies created brand-identities by designing the appearance of their service stations like the Cities Service Stations and Beacon Oil Company, who regionally, developed distinctive Colonial Revival cottage prototypes for their chains to fit better within local context. This small service station, now 100 years old, is Colonial Revival in style with a hipped roof with cupola, symmetrical facade, and fanlight transom over the center entrance. When a developer proposed to demolish the station, the local preservation commission found the building preferrably preserved, initiating a delay on the demolition, forcing the developer to either wait out the delay or incorporate the structure into the new building. They chose the latter, and now we can visually see the layering of history on this site in Union Square, incorporating preservation with a 24-unit passive house development with the old station used as a mailroom. What do you think of this story?
The First Universalist Church of Somerville is located on the north side of Highland Avenue across from the First Unitarian Church of Somerville, in a completely different design. The congregation acquired this site in 1915, and the church was built from 1916 to 1923 to a design by the noted ecclesiastical architect Ralph Adams Cram, who produced a somewhat more Romanesque plan than the typical Gothical Revival work he is best known for. One of the key members of the building committee was Gilbert Henry Hood of the Hood Milk Company family. The new church was planned to house an “assembly room,” Sunday school classes, and a parish house. The church operated here for decades, but most recently was home to the Highland Masonic Building Association as the King Solomon’s Lodge. The lodge moved from the building and the property was purchased by a developer who hoped to demolish the building and erect a housing development. The building was deemed significant and “preferably preserved” by the Somerville Historical Commission, and landmark designation was initiated. The building was recently re-listed for sale, and would make a great adaptive reuse or even partial demolition for housing incorporated into the old church. Kudos to the Somerville Historical Commission for standing firm on this significant church by a nationally recognized architect.
Prior to its establishment as an independent town in 1874, Rockland, Massachusetts, was part of “Old” Abington. The town became best-known for its number of shoe manufacturing companies, even more significant as the town is said to have provided nearly half of the Union Army’s footwear during the Civil War. In the late 19th century, due to increased connectivity of Rockland to regional markets, business boomed, and this site on Maple Street, adjacent to the railroad, was purchased for a new factory. The first factory here was constructed in 1894 for the local Hall, Gallagher & Foulke Shoe Company, who would dissolve after just two years, selling the site to George W. Hall, one of the original trustees. In 1906, the Emerson Shoe Company, burned out of its Brockton factory caused by a disastrous fire, began operations as a tenant in the former George W. Hall factory in Rockland. With continued expansion, the Emerson Shoe Company soon became one of the largest employers in Rockland. The factory was enlarged numerous times through the 1920s. The company would eventually close, even though, by the late 1920s, Rockland and six neighboring communities were manufacturing 27% of all shoes worn in the United States. However, most likely due to the aging of the original founders and labor issues, Emerson Shoe was sold. After various other uses, including as an artist’s colony of studios, the building was restored and converted into residential loft-style housing.
Built in 1904 as one of the finest Tudor Revival style residences in the Boston area, this residence in the Cottage Farm neighborhood of Brookline showcases all of the important elements of the iconic architectural style. The residence was built for Harry and Carrie Curtis, with Mr. Curtis being a partner with Curtis & Sederquist, bankers and brokers, with offices on Congress Street in Boston and in New York City. The couple hired architects Howard B. Prescott and William Sidebottom of the firm, Prescott & Sidebottom, to design the house. Rectangular in plan with massing enlivened by numerous cross gables and dormers, the house is decorated with exterior walls covered with wood shiplap at first story and half-timbered stucco at second story. The property was sold to Helen and Edward Mills by 1913. Mr. Mills was president and treasurer of the Edward C. Mills Leather Company. By 1931, the residence was owned by Erland F. Fish (1883-1942), a prominent lawyer and politician as well as the son of Frederick Fish, who owned the house across the street. Boston University purchased the property in 1964 as part of their institutional expansion into this neighborhood. Originally used as an alumni house, it later became the location for the Department of African American Studies. After an extensive expansion and restoration by Studio MLA (now Ashley McGraw Architects) and Kaplan Construction, the Tudor mansion is now a children’s daycare for Boston University faculty, staff, and graduate students.
Moses Noyes Arnold (1844-1919) was born in Abington, Massachusetts and began making shoes in his free time, a task that would make him his fortune later as an adult. After serving in the Civil War and mustering out in 1863, he began a shoe-making business from his father’s property before renting a small factory space in town to increase operations. His company continued to grow and it was decided that Arnold would build his own factory in town. In 1875, Moses N. Arnold began the building of the main wing of the present brick shoe factory near the railroad station in North Abington. As the M. N. Arnold Shoe Company grew, five additions were made until it attained its present capacity of 3,000 pairs of shoes daily. The company weathered the collapse of the stock market in 1929 but the economic instability took its toll on the company, leading the company to sell in 1931 to the Stetson Shoe Company of South Weymouth. This factory was sold at auction and later in 1943, was purchased by The Abington Company which manufactured, installed, and serviced vacuum cleaning systems for textile factories. The handsome brick, Italianate style factory remains in a great state of preservation, and showcases the type of factories built all over New England following the Civil War.
Located across from the North Abington Depot, this structure was constructed in 1894 as a leather harness and saddle shop by local businessman, Henry Crossley. The expensive building of cut granite and brick seemed to have overextended Mr. Crossley’s means, as he would soon-after file for bankruptcy. The building would remain as commercial use until 1915, when the property was purchased by the Peerless Amusement Company for use as a 300-seat theater. By the 1930s, the building became known as the Capitol Theater, and was listed to seat 230 customers on the main floor and 70 in the balcony. Due to the more rural nature of the cinema, it closed in the mid-20th century, and suffered from neglect for decades until it was restored and is currently housing apartments.
One of the oldest mills in Central Falls, Rhode Island, is this four-story brick building constructed in 1825 is important as one of the earliest extant brick mills in Rhode Island, at a time when such buildings were shifting from wood construction to fire-proof brick or stone construction. Built on one of the first industrial sites in the city, along the Blackstone River, the mill was originally constructed for a John Kennedy as a cotton manufactory. The complex was purchased and expanded in the 1860s by the Stafford Manufacturing Company, who built a new dam on the river and extension to the 1825 building. The structure features a five-story square end tower with freight doors, and a monitor roof which runs the span of the original 1825 building, terminating where the Stafford Company addition begins. Originally, canals flowed directly under the building, powering the building and three mills downstream, but they were filled in by 1965. Elizabeth Webbing started in the Kennedy/Stafford mill buildings in 1933. After over 70 years of making cloth straps used for seat belts, dog collars, luggage straps and more, it ceased operations in March of 2001. The complex, which included 19 nearby mill buildings, was split up and sold off. In 2007 work began on converting the former mill to residential use with the first phase of the project opening to tenants in 2009. It’s another great example of adaptive reuse into housing, the best type of project!
Built in 1895 for Samuel Conant, president of a Pawtucket printing firm, this stately residence is one of the finest Colonial Revival houses in Central Falls, Rhode Island. Designed by the Providence architectural firm of Stone, Carpenter & Willson, the house is brick on the first floor with clapboard siding above. The Contant house has a gambrel roof punctuated by several gable dormers. The main facade has two symmetrical round bays, which rise to the roof and are topped by low balustrades. A single-story porch extends between the center points of these bays, and is also topped by a low balustrade. Recognized for its architectural grandeur (inside and out), the house was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Conant House is now used as a nursing home and while the transition to this new use has required a number of interior alterations, these changes have been made with sympathy for the character of the house and many of them are reversible.
The Valley Falls Mill sits along the Blackstone River in Central Falls, Rhode Island, and is one of the many significant industrial complexes which facilitated the development and growth of the city. The main building in the complex is the four-story rectangular building, constructed in 1849. To meet the requirements of fire resistance, the mill was constructed with load-bearing brick walls and heavy timber columns. Samuel B. and Harvey Chace, sons of Fall River mill owner Oliver Chace, built the mill on this site, influenced not only by the availability of water power, but also by the completion the same year of the Providence & Worcester Railroad, which passes by the mill on its east side. The mill was designed for the manufacture of a variety of cotton products. The Valley Falls Company merged with another industrial concern in 1929, and this mill was subsequently closed the following year. After decades of little-to-no use, the significant Valley Falls Mill was converted into senior housing in 1979 following its listing on the National Register of Historic Places. It ranks as one of the earliest mill conversion projects in New England and while some details were lost, it preserves a significant piece of local history and meets a much-needed demand of housing.
Buildings of New England 