In the 1840s in New England, one architectural style commanded a large majority of all new house styles, Greek Revival. A divergence from the Classical designs of the Georgian, Federal and Greek Revival styles which dominated at the time, the Romantic movement began its first true breaths across New England. The Gothic Revival and Italianate styles are often thought to be the first couple styles which brought the frills and detailing personified by Victorian-era architecture.
This home in Fairfield, Connecticut was built in 1840 to a design by Joseph Collins Wells, it is one of the oldest-known and best-documented examples of architect-designed Gothic Revival architecture. The home was built for for Jonathan Sturges (1802–1874), a businessman and patron of the arts. It is one of the earliest known examples of architect-designed Gothic Revival architecture, a style more often taken by local builders from pattern books published by the style’s proponents. The home was likely a pre-cursor to architect Joseph Wells later commission, the famous Roseland Cottage.
Originally built in 1775, the first iteration of the Burr Homestead, home of Thaddeus and Eunice Burr, which actually saw the marriage of John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, to Dorothy Quincy. Thaddeus was the cousin of the famous Aaron Burr, Jr., who was the 3rd vice-president of the United States alongside Thomas Jefferson as President. Aaron Burr Jr. is best-known today through his portrayal in the popular play “Hamilton,” where he shoots Alexander Hamilton in a duel. The house was rebuilt in 1794 in its former location in Fairfield, Connecticut after a fire by the British in Fairfield destroyed the first. The home was willed to Thaddeus’ son General Gershom Burr, who eventually sold the mansion to Obadiah Jones. Mr. Jones updated the home by, ““taking out the dormer windows and lifting the roof, taking away the porch and building the broad veranda with its lofty massive fluted columns”. The home was eventually gifted to the Town of Fairfield and is presently maintained by the Fairfield Museum and History Center.
The Ames Free Libraryfirst opened its doors in 1883. Under the terms of the will of Oliver Ames II, $50,000, in trust, was left for the construction and support of a library for the benefit of the inhabitants Easton. The library was designed by Henry Hobson Richardson in 1877 and opened in 1883, becoming one of the finest public libraries in the region. The library is built of Milford granite with the same Longmeadow trim used on his famous Trinity Church in Boston. The very low cavernous arch over the doorway was used here by Richardson for the first time and became one of the most prominent and widely imitated characteristics of his style.
There are few buildings that make you stop and stare in marvel at their perfect architectural proportions, detailing and design, the Ames Memorial Hall in Easton, Massachusetts is one of them for me! In the late 1870s, the children of Oakes Ames commissioned the great American architect Henry Hobson Richardson to design the Memorial Hall as a tribute to their father. Richardson, the architect of Boston’s beloved Trinity Church in Copley Square, responded with a picturesque masterpiece using his signature architectural elements of rounded arches, dramatic roof lines, and heavy masonry adorned with carvings. The building was provided to the inhabitants of Easton “for all the ordinary purposes of a town hall”. Oakes Ames (1804-1873) was partner in the family business, O. Ames & Sons, a U. S. congressman, an early investor in the Central Pacific Railroad, and, at the urging of President Abraham Lincoln, a prominent force in the building of the first transcontinental railroad. The Richardsonian Romanesque building stands on the solid foundation of a natural ledge, from the northeast corner of which rises the beautiful octagonal tower, on whose frieze are carved the twelve signs of the zodiac.
Located adjacent to the Entrance Gate at Forest Hills Cemetery in Boston, the Administration Building and Chapel perfectly compliments the Gothic Revival collection of structures welcoming all visitors to the cemetery. Designed by the firm of Van Brunt & Howe, the building was completed in 1884, when the cemetery’s popularity with visitors (alive and deceased) was at a high. The building is in the Gothic Revival style and is constructed of Roxbury puddingstone, with sandstone trim on the original parts of the building and yellow freestone trim on the 1921 addition. The building remains as a perfect partner to the entrance gate, serving as a physical portal between metaphorical life and death.
The bell tower at Forest Hills Cemetery is an octagonal Gothic revival structure located on Snowflake Hill just past the entrance gate and administration building and was completed in 1876. The 100-foot tower is constructed of Roxbury puddingstone and trimmed with granite. The roof is clad with granite tiles and topped with an ornate copper weathervane. Originally its swinging bell tolled, but it has since been replaced with an electronic carillon. The bell tower rises dramatically from massive outcrop of Roxbury puddingstone known as Snowflake Hill which is offset by smooth lawns and Victorian planting beds. While the large trees surrounding partly obscure the tower, it truly is a stunning building.
Forest Hills Cemetery was founded in 1848 by Henry A. S. Dearborn, then mayor of Roxbury. He designed this magnificent cemetery to offer the citizens of his community a place to bury and remember friends and family in a tranquil and lovely setting. Forest Hills embodies the ideals of the rural cemetery movement, which begun at nearby Mount Auburn Cemetery, in Cambridge in 1831, which was co-founded by Dearborn. Many rural cemeteries have elaborate entrance gates, possibly serving as a dramatic transition from the secular world to the spiritual realm of the cemetery, and perhaps as a metaphor for the journey from life to death. This entrance gate was built in 1865, replacing an earlier Egyptian Revival gate constructed in 1848. Designed by Charles Panter, the gate is constructed of local Roxbury puddingstone, with three arched openings with ornate iron gates surmounted by decorative scrolled ironwork. The central gateway is framed by two conical spires and a central stone pediment, all topped with stone crosses.
Josiah Hosford of Thetford, Vermont built this stone house for his family in about 1835. Hosford was a stone mason who built a series of stone houses in town, using stone quarried in nearby Lyme, New Hampshire. Josiah Hosford (1802-1883), was the grandson of Aaron Hosford, one of the earliest settlers in the North Thetford area. The distinguished family contributed resided and contributed to the town’s vibrant history, as ministers, teachers, artists, farmers, and tradespeople. A fire at the home in the early 1900s gutted the interior, and the owner at the time, a carpenter, reconstructed the interiors, shingled the side gables, and added on the porches.
When an architect designs their own home, they typically focus on the minute details which can make such a difference, often because they know what works and what doesn’t! This home was designed and built for William F. Goodwin, an architect with an office in Downtown Boston. After the Waban Station was built in 1886, he sought open space and a large home in suburban Boston, to get away from the hustle-and-bustle of daily life. Years after he moved into his home, he gifted his services to design the neighborhood’s first church, the Church of the Good Shepherd.
Constructed for the Woman’s Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Church of New England, this building was associated with the Hull Street Medical Mission from the time of its construction, in 1901, to about 1950. The mission was one of a number of church-related social service programs established in the North End in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to address the needs of recent immigrants, namely the Russian Jews, Italians, and Portuguese residing in this area of the neighborhood. In 1909-1910 alone, 14,574 treatments were given in the clinic, providing a huge medical service to the widely low-income immigrant community of the North End [29th Annual Report, 154]. The Medical Mission closed in the early 1950s and the property was later sold and converted to apartments. It was designed by architect Walter Forbush, who utilized ogee arches and leaded glass windows, adding much flair to the building’s design.
One of the most visited buildings in New England is the stunning Old North Church in the North End of Boston. Old North Church (originally Christ Church in the City of Boston) was established when the cramped original King’s Chapel, then a small wooden structure near Boston Common, proved inadequate for the growing number of Anglicans in the former Puritan stronghold. Subscriptions for a new church were invited in 1722. The sea captains, merchants, and artisans who had settled in Boston’s North End contributed generously to the building fund, and construction began in April, 1723. The church was designed by William Price, though heavily influenced by Christopher Wren’s English churches.
Before the American Revolution, both Patriots and Tories were members of the church, and often sat near each-other in pews, clearly adding to bubbling tensions. The enduring fame of the Old North began on the evening of April 18, 1775, when the church sexton, Robert Newman, and Vestryman Capt. John Pulling, Jr. climbed the steeple and held high two lanterns as a signal from Paul Revere that the British were marching to Lexington and Concord by sea across the Charles River and not by land. This fateful event ignited the American Revolution.
A full scale restoration of Old North was carried out in 1912-14 under the direction of architect R. Clipson Sturgis and a number of 19th century alterations were then eliminated. In this work, floor timbers and gallery stairs were replaced, the original arched window in the apse at the east end was replaced, and the old square box pews and raised pulpit were reconstructed. Additionally, the interior woodwork was incorrectly repainted white rather than the rich variety of original colors described in the early documents of the church, clearly submitting to Colonial Revival sensibilities. The iconic white steeple is also not original. The original steeple of the Old North Church was destroyed by the 1804 Snow hurricane. A replacement steeple, designed by Charles Bulfinch, was toppled by a hurricane in 1954. The current steeple uses design elements from the original and the Bulfinch version. Even with all these differences, Old North lives up to her name and stands proudly as a symbol of freedom and revolution.
One of the most photographed buildings in North End is arguably this tenement block, built in 1895 at the corner of Prince and Salem Streets. As the North End continued to redevelop into a diverse immigrant community, tenement houses were constructed by those with the means, providing housing at low cost to those who arrived to Boston in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Max and Etta “Ethel” Lebowich, Russian Jews, immigrated to Boston, settling in the Jewish quarter of the North End and opened up a dry goods store at the corner. The business did well, and the couple redeveloped their land and hired Swedish-born architect Charles A. Halstrom, to design the prominent apartment house. The Renaissance Revival building features massive pressed metal oriels and brick and stone construction. I am unsure if the oriels are truly copper, which would have been fairly expensive for a tenement building, or if they are pressed tin. Any insight would be much appreciated.
Back in the day, even power stations were gorgeous!
The Boston Elevated Railway Company, and its successor, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), operated Lincoln Wharf Power Station from 1901 to 1972. The Boston-based engineering firm of Sheaff & Jaastad, specialists in electric power and lighting plants, designed this 1901 power station to serve the Atlantic Avenue Line and provide supplementary power for the Downtown Boston elevated and surface lines. Due to increased demand in 1907, a massive addition was constructed at the rear, facing Commercial Street, which now is the main orientation of the large structure. By 1971, all elevated tracks powered by this station were removed and the power station was sold by the MBTA to a private developer for housing. Eventually, San Marco Housing Corporation, hired the Boston Architectural Team, Inc., to renovate the power station in 1987 for low- to moderate-income housing. The result is an innovative and stunning example of adaptive reuse providing much-needed housing, while retaining historic fabric of old Boston.
After the American Civil War, the North End of Boston saw a massive phase of redevelopment, replacing the dilapidated wooden dwellings with larger brick tenements to house the neighborhood’s growing immigrant population. Nearly all of the North End was replaced with these dwellings, which has now added so much to the appeal of the neighborhood. One of the earliest and notable examples is this building on Endicott Street. Built around 1875, the tenements were owned by George T. McLauthlin (also spelled McLaughlin), who owned the engineering and machinery company on Fulton Street, housed in one of the last remaining cast-iron facades in Boston. The tenement house was later owned by George’s son Daniel, likely providing housing for the company’s employees and/or providing additional income for the family. The building also appears to have always had commercial use on the ground floor, allowing merchants to also rent the space. The late-Italianate panel brick block is modest in design, but contributes to the diverse population and worker’s housing in the North End.
Located at the heart of Oak Bluffs, this modest, wood-frame building has held some of the most important civic and cultural uses on the island. Built in 1882, the growing town of Cottage City (later renamed Oak Bluffs), which separated from Edgartown, needed a new town hall and fire station with the rapid development caused by summer visitors and increased year-round residents. After WWII, the property was renovated and expanded to allow space for a small police department in the building as well. In 1966, a new town hall was built across from the ferry pier at the waterfront, and the town soon after sold the former, outdated building, and two years later, it was purchased by The Cottagers, Inc. The Cottagers, Inc., is a philanthropic organization founded in 1955 by a group of African-American women who owned cottages or homes on Martha’s Vineyard. The social group provided a safe space for the growing Black community who lived on and visited Martha’s Vineyard. The building remains as an iconic landmark not only for its historical use and architecture, but as a symbol of the diversity and the black community in the small island town.
Buildings of New England 