Historic Buildings

Draper Corporation Company Offices // 1910

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After decades of growth of the Draper Corporation in Hopedale, Massachusetts, in the late 19th century, the company began a massive building campaign of larger, architecturally significant (and most importantly, fireproof) buildings for company use. The original company office building, constructed in 1880, was outgrown and it was decided a new, larger company office was needed. Designed by Milford-based architect, Robert Allen Cook in 1910, the former office building was located across Hopedale Street from the main plant. This massive two-story brick building on a raised basement is an example of the Renaissance Revival style built of brick and terra cotta. The building closed along with the company in the mid-20th century, but as opposed to the main complex, was adaptively reused through a renovation as a senior living facility.

Smith-Waterman House // c.1820

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One of the many great examples of Federal period houses being “Victorianized” later in the 19th century, the Smith-Waterman House on Broad Street in Warren, Rhode Island, stands out as one of the most elaborate. The residence was originally built by 1820 and possibly owned by Nathaniel P. Smith (1799-1872). After his death, the house was inherited by his son, N. P. Smith Jr., who would later sell the property to John Waterman, the Manager and Treasurer of the Warren Manufacturing Company. It was under Mr. Waterman’s ownership that the once standard Federal style house was enlarged and given Italianate features, including the wrap-around porch, overhanging eaves with brackets, addition and the three-story tower at the rear.

The Old Carriage Shop // c.1790

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The old Carriage Shop on Water Street in Warren, Rhode Island, is an early and surviving industrial building from the late 18th century that adds to the charm and history of the great waterfront town. The two-story building has a three-bay facade with a center entrance and 48-pane fixed sash windows on the first floor and 12-over-12 sash windows on the second floor. The stepped parapet masks the low gable roof of the building behind that extends far back in the lot. The building was a workshop and paint shop for Gardner & Hoar, builders and carpenters, in the mid-19th century, and later as a blacksmithing shop and carriage shop before the turn of the 20th century. Luckily for us, the building has been preserved and while not finding a place in architectural journals, the building is an important remaining building that strongly contributes to the character of the town.

Hall’s Block // 1883

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This diminutive commercial building on Water Street in Warren, Rhode Island stands out as one of the state’s best examples of a historic Victorian-era wooden commercial building, and its preservation is notable. The late-Italianate style wooden block dates to 1883, and exhibits its original wooden storefronts, second floor round arched windows with stained glass, and ornate detailing including the brackets, parapet and period-appropriate paint colors which allow those details to pop. The shop was owned in its early days by the John C. Hall, a carpenter who built the house next door. The building was used as an antique shop on the ground floor with a studio for author and illustrator, David Macaulay on the second floor. These types of smaller-scale commercial spaces are some last remaining (relatively) affordable spaces for small businesses to operate, and they add so much intrigue to the streetscape, especially compared to suburban cookie-cutter banks and stores.

Warren Masonic Temple-Washington Lodge No.3 // 1796

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Located next door to the Randall House (last post) on Baker Street in Warren, Rhode Island, this early building has some history! Constructed in 1796 by the Washington Association, Inc., this two-story Federal period building is an architectural and historic landmark in the immensely beautiful town of Warren. The elongated building is fairly plain in plan, but is adorned by corner quoins, elaborate pedimented entries, ornate cornice, and (now filled) ocular windows in the gable ends. It is believed that many of the timbers used in the building are oak beams that were formerly part of the British Frigate Juno and other ships which were sunk in Newport harbor during the American Revolution. Brother Sylvester Child, a member of the building committee purchased the old ships and floated the timbers up Narragansett Bay and into the Warren River and his shipyard at the base of Miller and Baker streets. The rib cuts in the oak plate beams can clearly be seen in the curvature of the ceiling in the lodge room.The Lodge was likely built by local carpenters using Asher Benjamin’s plan books for the detailing and was utilized as the Warren Town Hall and the Warren Academy, a private school, in the early 1800’s with meeting space for the local masonic lodge. The building has lost its original cupola at the roof, and its principal interior meeting room was redone in 1914 with elaborate murals by the Rhode Island artist Max Muller, some of which in Egyptian depictions.

Maxwell House // c.1755

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The Maxwell House in Warren, Rhode Island, is a striking example of mid-18th-century colonial architecture and one of the oldest brick dwellings in the waterfront town. Built before 1755, the house is one of the finest brick Georgian-era residences in New England with its characteristic Flemish bond brickwork, fieldstone foundation, wood-frame gable ends, and massive central chimney that anchors its historic pre-Revolutionary form. Originally constructed for the Reverend Samuel Maxwell (1688-1778) and later home to members of the Maxwell family, prominent shipowners, merchants, and slave-owners in town. The Maxwell family’s wealth was tied to the maritime economy of the era, which tells the story of many Rhode Island merchants of the time, who participated in the trans-Atlantic slave trade that enriched local elites and shaped the region’s economic growth, a history that communities are increasingly confronting alongside preservation efforts to this day. Today, the Maxwell House serves as a house museum preserved by the Massasoit Historical Association, who (hopefully) share the full story of the house, from its architecture to funding to construct it.

Tudor Apartments // 1887

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Frederic Tudor (1783-1864) was a businessman and merchant known as Boston’s “Ice King” having founded the Tudor Ice Company and becoming a pioneer of the international ice trade in the early 19th century. Frederic Tudor lived in a house at the corner of Beacon and Joy streets in Beacon Hill, Boston, and after his death, the property was inherited by his widow, Euphemia Fenno and their children. By 1885, the old Tudor House was demolished and replaced by The Tudor Apartments, which was built between 1885 and 1887 to house twelve upper-class families who sought smaller living space as opposed to the typical townhouses in Beacon Hill. Designed by architect, Samuel J. F. Thayer, the nine-story Queen Anne/Romanesque Revival building features a brownstone base with brick walls above, combining the traditional Boston bowfront with late 19th century flair at the upper floors with the partial mansard roof punctuated with dormers and oriel windows. Thayer designed the Joy Street elevation with cascading bays to provide interiors with views of the Boston Common and ample natural light.


Chester Meetinghouse // 1793

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The Saybrook Colony was established in 1635 and covered a large geographic area near the mouth of the Connecticut River in Connecticut.  This area was later subdivided into different towns after colonial era villages were established, each with their own church congregations. As was common in the colonial era, these divisions were centered on the establishment of separate church congregations. The Fourth Ecclesiastical Society of Saybrook in what is now the town of Chester, Connecticut, was established in 1742. As the town grew, this building was constructed in 1793 as Chester’s second meeting house and served as a church until 1846, when the third Meeting House was built. In 1847, the Town of Chester acquired this old meetinghouse and from that date until 1960, it was used as the Town Hall. In 1876, the old meetinghouse was renovated with a new, projecting main entrance added to the south side of the building when the Old Town Hall enjoyed its heyday as a theater and concert hall. The Old Town Hall witnessed many events under its roof, including hosting P.T. Barnum’s Tom Thumb, who performed here, as did musical events, high school proms, and school graduations. The building had become threatened following the construction of the new Chester Elementary School, which better-hosted events, in the 1960s. Luckily, in 1970, the newly formed Chester Historical Society acquired the building and restored it as a significant piece of the town’s rich history.

Deep River Town Hall // 1893

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The town of Deep River, in Middlesex County, is located in the lower Connecticut River Valley and was originally colonized as part of the Saybrook Colony. The community was incorporated in 1859 as Saybrook and renamed Deep River in 1947. An early shipbuilding and quarrying town, it later manufactured wire goods, lace, glass, ivory combs, and piano keys and is today a small community of just over 4,500 residents. The original town hall for Saybrook (Deep River) was used until it was destroyed by fire in 1891. The community, which was bolstered by a vibrant industrial community, began planning for a new, stately town hall at a triangular lot at the corner of Elm and Main streets. Plans were completed by Springfield architect, Francis R. Richmond, who laid out the flatiron building with town offices on the ground floor with an auditorium/opera house space on the upper floors. The Romanesque Revival style building features prominent rounded corners with arched openings, a granite string course, and overhanging bracketed eaves.

Graham Apartments // 1904

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This handsome, and unique example of a three-decker in the English Revival style is located on a corner lot at 128 Davis Avenue in the Emerson/Brookline Village neighborhood of Brookline, Massachusetts. Built in 1904 from plans by architect and genealogist, J. Gardner Bartlett, whose work focused on colonial New England and the English origins of colonial families. Trained as an architect at MIT, he gave up architecture for genealogy, but still occasionally designed buildings in the Boston area. The building here was developed for Richard Graham, an Irish immigrant, who along with his wife, operated a laundry business in the village. The use of a shingle and stone entrance porch and entrance bay with stucco half-timbering and diamond-pane casement windows stand out architecturally as one of the few examples of a three-decker built in this style in New England.