Historic Preservation

Leavitt Peanut Butter Company Factory // 1958

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One of the most iconic buildings in Everett, Massachusetts is the “Teddie Peanut Butter” building, in the brewery/distillery district of the city (home to Night Shift Brewery, Bone Up Brewing Company, and Short Path Distillery). The building is best-defined for its massive Mid-Century rooftop sign with the cute teddy bear. The building was constructed by the Leavitt Peanut Butter Company in 1958, but the company had its beginnings nearly a half-century earlier. The Leavitt Corporation had its beginnings in 1897 when Sarkis Shaghalian, a European immigrant, started manufacturing candy and roasted nuts in Boston. In 1916, Michael Hintlian took over the company and in 1925, established a separate corporate entity specializing in peanut and nut products, the John W. Leavitt Company. The company did extremely well in its Boston location, eventually outgrowing their State Street buildings. In 1959, the company hired an industrial realtor, who found the Everett facility – a recently constructed building with Modern finishes and design. In 1959, Leavitt Corp. signed a lease and moved in by 1960, adding the rooftop sign at that time. The sign used to have neon strips, but was eventually removed.

St. Anthony’s Church Campus // 1951

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In the 1920s Italian-speaking residents in Everett, Massachusetts appealed to Archbishop of Boston, William O’Connell for an Italian parish. Everett had seen a large influx of Italian immigrants who settled in town and the surrounding communities for work. The Archdiocese saw the demand, and rented the former Broadway Theater to be used as a church for the short term. In 1951, land was acquired a few blocks away for a new church, school and rectory. The church was designed to resemble historic Romanesque-style churches seen in Italy, with the school and renovated rectory following the Modern tradition. The brick and limestone church appears to have been built more in the historical tradition, with hand-carved stone trim and a beautiful rose window. It’s amazing that this church was built in the 1950s!

Woodlawn Cemetery Lodge // 1897

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Woodlawn Cemetery in Everett, MA was established in 1850 as a rural, private cemetery in the tradition of Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge. The story of Woodlawn Cemetery began in 1850 when a group of ten prominent Bostonians petitioned the Massachusetts General Court to organize a corporation “for the purpose of procuring, establishing and preparing a cemetery or burial place for the dead in Malden” (present-day Everett was established in 1870 from Malden). Adjacent to the Cemetery Gate and Tower (last post), the Woodlawn Cemetery Lodge replaced an 1850s lodge and office constructed of wood, in the Gothic-style, that was deemed unsatisfactory for later boards managing the cemetery. The group hired Boston architect William Hart Taylor to design the gate and lodge, the latter in the Classical Revival style. The buff brick building features terra-cotta trim and a red tile roof with dentil cornices and copper cresting along the ridges and eaves. The square entry tower has a columned belfry and incorporates additional Classically-inspired features including Ionic columns, moldings, swags, and wreaths, which looks like a Greek Temple plopped onto the top. Gorgeous!

Woodlawn Cemetery – Entrance Gate // 1897

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Woodlawn Cemetery in Everett, MA was established in 1850 as a rural, private cemetery in the tradition of Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge. The story of Woodlawn Cemetery began in 1850 when a group of ten prominent Bostonians petitioned the Massachusetts General Court to organize a corporation “for the purpose of procuring, establishing and preparing a cemetery or burial place for the dead in Malden” (present-day Everett was established in 1870 from Malden). When you approach the main entrance of the cemetery, you are greeted by the entrance gate and tower. Completed in 1897 to replace an earlier wooden gate, the Entrance Gate consists of a central stone tower and two side entrances. The gate, tower, and adjacent lodge (next post) were designed by Boston architect William Hart Taylor, who was buried at the cemetery upon his death in 1928. The tower has decorative sculpted terra cotta which includes winged angels at the corners with outstretched arms that once hold trumpets. Below the medallion which is centered on each side, there is the bust of a winged child, supposedly a carved likeness of the architect’s young son who died at the age of six and is buried at Woodlawn.

Everett Savings Bank // 1930

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Located next door to the First Congregational Church of Everett, you can find one of the finest eclectic commercial buildings in the region, and it is one that is often overlooked. The Everett Savings Bank was built in 1930 from plans by architect Thomas Marriott James for the Everett Savings Bank, which was established in 1889. This building was constructed just at the beginning of the Great Depression, at a time when banks and American citizens were penny pinching. The budget was likely set before the Stock Market Crash of 1929 as the relatively high-style bank building would have been a big expense at the time. The bank blends Art Deco and Spanish Renaissance Revival styles elegantly. The structure is constructed with sandstone walls that are decorated with figured panels and semi-circular multi-pane windows are outlined by rope molding. Crowning the building is a bold arcaded frieze with Moorish inspired cornice. Swoon!

Frederick E. Parlin Memorial Library // 1894

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The Frederick E. Parlin Memorial Library is arguably the most architecturally significant building in the City of Everett, Massachusetts. Constructed of buff brick, sandstone and terracotta, it displays characteristics of the Richardsonian Romanesque style including the main entrance set within a recessed arch at the base of a square tower with arched openings. In 1892, Albert Norton Parlin, a local businessman, donated to the City of Everett the Pickering Estate, his birthplace and familial home, to be torn down and a library erected on the parcel in memory of his son, Frederick E. Parlin, who died in 1890 at the age of eighteen. Albert Parlin gave to the City an additional $5,000 to aid in the building of the Frederick E. Parlin Memorial Library. The original 1894 library as well as a 1911-1912 addition were designed by local architect John Calvin Spofford who positioned the building to face a small triangular park. By the 1940’s, the building was outgrown, but it wasn’t until 1982 that a plan was set in motion to renovate the original building and to construct an addition. Childs, Bertman, Tseckares was chosen to draw up the architectural plans, and ground was finally broken in the spring of 1990. With construction of the new addition, the building is almost three times its original size and handicapped accessible, all with an appropriate, Post-Modern design.

Everett Central Fire Station // 1908

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There is something so enchanting about historic fire stations! The Central Fire Station in Everett, Massachusetts was built in 1908 from designs by the Boston architectural firm of Loring and Phipps (who also designed the first Everett High School and the Masonic Hall in town). The flat-roofed red brick structure displays Georgian Revival detailing including concrete quoins and oval windows. Originally there were four engine bays, but the station was converted to two large bays around 1980 as fire trucks got larger and larger. The building replaced an earlier, wood-frame fire station which was deemed unsatisfactory as horse-drawn apparatus made way for vehicular fire trucks.

Immaculate Conception Rectory // 1904

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Next door to the Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church (last post) in Everett, you will find the church rectory, which completes the city block. Though very different in architectural style, the building is compatible with its more grand neighbor with the use of materials and setbacks. The rectory was built in 1904 in the Colonial Revival style, which was very popular at the time in New England. The three-story, hip-roofed building has bowed bays that flank a single-story porch with Doric columns that shelters a central entrance with fanlight and sidelights. Other Colonial-inspired details include the tripartite window set into the recessed arch above the porch, modillion cornices and splayed brick lintels with keystones. It is not clear who designed the rectory, but they did a great job at it! Rectories served as the residence of the priest of the church. Not bad digs if you ask me!

First Congregational Church, Everett // 1852

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The oldest surviving church in Everett, Massachusetts is this one, the First Congregational Church, built in 1852 when the city was still a part of Malden. As in many other communities, this church was formed when the surrounding area of South Malden had grown and had the means to support its own religious society. Before this, residents had to travel to Malden Center for services. In 1848, it was voted to establish the church calling it the Winthrop Congregational Church, as at the time, it was thought that when South Malden would split away, the new town would be named “Winthrop”. When the town finally split in 1870, another town had already taken that name. Originally, the Italianate-style building was sheathed in wood clapboards and outlined by pilasters, both of which were covered or removed for the installation of aluminum siding, very common in the city after WWII. Remaining hallmarks of the Italianate style include the paired cornice brackets and the round-headed windows. The tower was originally capped by a taller steeple above an open octagonal arcaded belfry, but was replaced by the present spire in 1911. The church was possibly an early design by architect Thomas Silloway. Today, the church is occupied by Universal Church USA, a congregation that originated in Brazil, showing how the local community and demographics have shifted in Everett from 150 years ago.

Second Everett High School // 1922

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In 1892, the growing municipality of Everett, Massachusetts incorporated as a city. While Everett’s population had remained small compared to nearby towns throughout much of the nineteenth century, its close proximity to Boston resulted in dramatic population growth between 1885 and 1915. During this late industrial period Everett’s population was one of the fastest growing in the state, doubling between 1870 and 1880, nearly tripling from 1880 to 1890 and doubling again between 1890-1900. This massive population growth put a strain on public facilities, necessitating new housing construction, new public utilities, and schools. By 1889, planning for the first purpose-built high school had begun. The resulting first Everett High School, first known as the Home School, in 1893, the year after Everett’s incorporation as a city. That building was almost immediately outgrown and the city acquired a new site for a school that was large enough to educate the ever-growing town’s students. The City of Everett selected the architectural firm of Ritchie, Parsons, and Taylor for the construction of the new high school. The firm was led by Scottish-born James H. Ritchie, who designed the Classical Revival building. In the early 2000s, the building was again deemed inadequate and a third high school was built about a mile away. The building is now occupied by the Everett Community Health and Wellness Center and the Webster School Extension.

Everett Masonic Hall // 1910

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Further up Broadway from Everett City Hall, you’ll find the town’s Masonic Hall, a now-vacant institutional building which contributes to the diverse streetscape and character of Everett’s built environment. The local Palestine Lodge of the Masons in Everett originally met in its original lodge, built in 1870. A corporation known as the Everett Associates, which included only Masons, subsequently constructed the original Masonic Building. The property burned in a fire in 1908, leading to a new building campaign by members. A site was acquired further up Broadway, and the groundbreaking was held on June 11, 1910, led by Everett Mayor Charles Bruce, a past master of the Palestine Lodge. Mayor Bruce also served as the chair of the Building Committee. In his remarks at the groundbreaking, Bruce noted the membership of the lodge as over 500 men! Inside the cornerstone, members placed: original papers from the former Masonic Building, a history of the Palestine Lodge, a list of lodge members, photographs, news articles, and other ephemera. The Boston architectural firm Loring and Phipps was responsible for the design of the building, which is constructed of water-struck brick and is of the Classical Revival style. After WWII, membership declined sharply, and the organization sold the building in the 1980s. From the mid-1990s to 2019 the building was owned by the Islamic Association of Massachusetts, and suffered from deferred maintenance. The red “X” on the building is for firefighters not to enter the building in case of fire or emergency. Luckily, the building was purchased and the new owner hopes to convert the building into housing, preserving the structure and using Historic Preservation Tax Credits. Fingers crossed!!

Everett City Hall // 1960

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Welcome to Everett, Massachusetts, a diverse, vibrant community of roughly 50,000 residents just north of Boston. Present-day Everett was originally part of Charlestown, which separated and became Malden. In 1870, the Town of Everett separated from Malden and was so-named after former Charlestown resident Edward Everett (1794-1865) who served as U.S. Representative, Senator, the 15th Governor of Massachusetts, U.S. Secretary of State and as President of Harvard University. From 1894, the Town (later City) Hall was located in the Hapgood Building, but was outgrown after WWII. In 1960, ground was broken for a new, Modern City Hall for Everett, with Harold Michael Turiello (1910-2001) of Revere, as architect. Everett City Hall (love it or hate it) is a testament to Mid-Century Modern/International style design with curtain wall construction originally included bright blue panels which were recently replaced with a bland white panel color.

Aaron and Susan Parker Farmhouse // 1796

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The oldest portion of this beautiful brick farmhouse in Cavendish, Vermont, its rear ell which was built about 1796 by Aaron Parker Jr., the son of one of Cavendish’s early settlers. Aaron married Susan Sherman in 1796 and likely had a home built here where they could start their family. Sometime in the 1810s, Aaron built the brick main block to which it is now attached. The blind arches and simple transom window above the door were common in brick Federal homes in this region at the time. The Federal style really took off in popularity in New England after the 1797 architectural pattern book, “Country Builder’s Assistant” by Asher Benjamin, who was a resident of nearby Windsor, VT. This home remained in the Parker family until the Great Depression, when it was sold off. The home remains extremely well preserved and is a great example of a rural Federal-period farmhouse in Central Vermont.

Oliver Tarbell House // c.1830

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Oliver Tarbell and his wife Sandy erected this stunning brick Federal farmhouse in Cavendish around 1830 for their ever-growing family. The couple had thirteen children who survived infancy, so even this large home was likely stuffed to the gills and hectic! Oliver appears to have built the home, incorporating his ancestral home onto the rear of this brick house, as a rear ell. The house recently sold in 2022, so of course I had to gawk at the amazing interior photos…

Allen Fletcher Mansion // 1906

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As Cavendish and other rural towns of Vermont became summer destinations for the rich of the urban centers of the northeast, large estates began to sprout up, replacing old family homesteads. Allen Miller Fletcher was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, the grandnephew of Josiah Fletcher, one of the original settlers of Cavendish in September 1853. He was the son of a successful banker and became a banker himself, building homes in Indianapolis and New York City. In 1881, he built a summer home in his ancestral home of Cavendish, taking the train up to relax and breathe in the clean air. While living most of the year in New York, Fletcher became involved in Vermont politics, winning the Republican nomination to serve in both the Vermont House of Representatives and the Vermont Senate in the early 1900s. During his time as a Vermont state senator, Fletcher commissioned architect Samuel Francis Page of the Boston-based firm, Fehmer and Page, to bring his vision to life. Page used English Cotswold-style architecture for his inspiration, and when completed in 1906, the home was the first in Vermont to be fully wired for electricity and equipped with an elevator! Fletcher also hired Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. to design the landscaping on the property. Fletcher would spend the rest of his life at his country mansion, going on to work as the Governor of Vermont from 1912 to 1915. Today, Fletcher’s beautiful mansion now lives as a magnificent holiday retreat known as the Castle Hill Resort & Spa.