North Shore MA Real Estate

Captain John Stacey House // 1731

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In 1731, Captain John Stacey, a merchant and shipowner in Marblehead, had this gambrel-roofed house built on family land. Due to its orientation from the main street, a passageway allowed access to the rear of the property where other buildings were constructed by the family. By 1850, the house was jointly owned by Hawkes and Brown, with Mr. Hawkes operating a store in the first floor corner room. Eventually, by 1912, Brown had bought the whole building and moved his meat market into the store in this building. The property was later purchased and restored by Donald Mackenze Stacey (1916-1998), a contractor and descendant of the home’s original owner, John Stacey. Donald was a veteran of the U.S. Navy and served in World War II, before moving back to Marblehead and worked in the building trade. In town, he restored antique clocks, furniture, and buildings, including the Old Town House and Abbott Hall, the current town hall. 

Rev. Samuel Dana House // c.1809

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The Reverend Samuel Dana (1778-1864) was appointed the minister of the Old North Congregational Church in Marblehead in 1801, and remained in his position for 36 years. During his rectorship, he started a Sunday School, the congregation built chapel on Pearl Street in 1819 and the Old North Church stone church in 1825. Before all of these accomplishments, he had this stately Federal style mansion built on Washington Street, a short walk to his place of worship. The house appears to have been built shortly after his marriage to Henrietta Bridge in 1808. The house and its design rivals many of the Salem Federal period houses, and stands three stories with five bays and a center entry. A Doric portico shelters the door which is surmounted by a fanlight transom and sidelights. 

Pedrick Mansion // c.1756

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One of the great Colonial-era houses of Marblehead is this stately residence, the John Pedrick Mansion on Washington Street. The house dates to about 1756 and was built for John Pedrick (1733-1780), a wealthy shipping merchant. According to ‘The History and Traditions of Marblehead’, Pedrick’s “ships sailed to nearly every port in England, Spain, and the West Indies, and his transactions were with some of the largest mercantile houses of Europe. At one time, it is said, he owned twenty-five vessels engaged in the foreign trade.” The Revolutionary War, which proved so disastrous to the merchants of Marblehead, bore with especial severity upon Major Pedrick, as several of his vessels were destroyed by British cruisers in Massachusetts Bay, and many others rotted in port from blocades and engagements. The property was likely modernized after John Pedrick’s death in 1780 with a more Federal form, possibly adding the third floor and shallow hipped roof. The building’s facade is scored to resemble ashlar masonry, giving it a more stately appearance, but the bright blue really diminishes the feature, which should typically be colored a natural stone.

Thomas Gerry House – Hearth and Eagle House // 1717

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This house has a lot of history! Originally built around 1717 by Ephraim Sanders, this house on Franklin Street in Marblehead was later purchased by Thomas Gerry (1702-1774), a merchant who operated ships out of Marblehead, and father to Elbridge Gerry, the fifth Vice President of the United States. The home was likely a three-bay, side hall Georgian house and expanded to the current five-bay configuration by Thomas Gerry around 1750. Thomas Gerry was born in Derbyshire, England, but came to Marblehead by around 1730 and was active in local politics and had a leading role in the local militia, later speaking out against the Crown and sought independence. Thomas Gerry died in 1774, and did not get to see the Revolution nor his son become a Founding Father. The property was later the home of one of his granddaughters, Sarah Gerry Conklin, and her husband, Frederick Conklin, an infantry captain, who housed officers in command of nearby Fort Sewall during the War of 1812. In the 1940s, historical novelist Anya Seton after researching her genealogy, led her to base her 1948 novel, The Hearth and Eagle, on the history of the seaside town. She set the novel in the Hearth and Eagle Inn, based on the Gerry House here.

Joshua Orne House // c.1750

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Joshua Orne (1708-1772) was born in Marblehead and attended local schools there. He would marry Sarah Gale, and they had one son together, Azor Orne, who would become a merchant, politician and patriot, fighting in the American Revolution. Sarah Gale died in 1743 and Joshua would remarry to Annis Stacey, having one child together, Joshua Orne Jr., who was a Patriot and fought in the Revolution, fighting alongside his half-brother, Azor. Joshua Orne and Annis owned a c.1663 house on this site and appear to have completely rebuilt the house or greatly modernized it around 1750. Joshua was a cordwainer and shipowner and later got involved with discussions of revolution and liberation from England. He likely inspired his sons to follow-suit and shared the same beliefs and values, though Joshua Sr. would die in 1772, not seeing the beginning of the War, nor freedom from tyranny. The house would be inherited by Joshua Jr. and later deeded to his son-in-law, John Bubier Prentiss, a shipmaster, who likely added the Federal period doorway and pedimented dormers.

Glover Broughton House // 1721

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This Georgian-era house sits on Franklin Street in the charming coastal town of Marblehead, Massachusetts. The residence was built in 1721 for Benjamin Gale, who worked as a shoreman at the nearby harbor. The original structure (likely the left half) was likely just three bays wide with a side hall entrance that was later expanded by a later owner in the Federal style with a fanlight transom over the new main entrance. In the 19th century, this residence was the home of Glover Broughton (1797-1869), the grandson of Nicholson Broughton, the first commodore of the American Navy and, as part of the Marblehead Regiment, commanded George Washington’s first naval vessel USS Hannah. Nicholson’s grandson, Glover Broughton, was also an ardent Patriot and at just 15 years old, joined the crew of the privateer America, and was serving on the ship when it was captured and its crew imprisoned at the infamous Dartmoor Prison in Britain, the principal location for American prisoners during the War of 1812. Broughton drew the world’s attention to the inhuman treatment prisoners were subjected to in a rhyming long form poem that detailed the April 6, 1815, massacre that took place at Dartmoor. He also drew a map of the prison from memory to accompany the poem. Once Glover Broughton returned to Marblehead, he became a successful merchant and also served the town of Marblehead in a variety of offices including town clerk and postmaster. In later years, Glover also used his time to help fellow veterans of the War of 1812 by writing letters for them to help them get benefits for their time in service to the United States, as many men at the time could not read or write. It is possible that Broughton had his house “modernized” with the Federal period doorway and gambrel roof addition.

M. A. Pickett Building // 1902

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The M. A. Pickett Building on Washington Street in Marblehead is a spectacular example of a commercial building of the early 20th century designed in the Colonial Revival style. The building was designed in 1902 by the firm of Peare & Quiner, who worked mostly in the North Shore of Massachusetts and funded by members of the M.A. Pickett Association, a fraternal organization founded in the late 19th century and named after Moses A. Pickett (1780-1853), who left his entire will to: “comfort the widow and the fatherless, the aged, the sick, and the unhappy”, also donating his home to the use and funding for its preservation. In 1866, a hand-drawn fire engine named after M. A. Pickett, was used by a group of volunteer firefighters, who later would create the club named after Mr. Pickett. The building originally held a barber shop and a creamery on the ground floor with a meeting hall and billiards room above for members of the Pickett Association. Today, the building is lovingly maintained, including the three stunning Palladian windows at the third floor.

Cloon Stores // c.1880

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Washington Street in Marblehead is lined with dozens of amazing old homes, civic, and commercial buildings, that serves as the “downtown” spine of the old village. Located at the corner of Washington and State streets, this handsome late-Victorian commercial block serves as an important contributing building to the character of Marblehead. The structure was built around 1880 for a member of the Sparhawk Family, who operated the building as a factory or store for their shoe manufacturing. By the 1890s, the building was owned by Horace Cloon and Samuel G. Cloon, who operated a hardware store from the ground floor and leased the upper floor as apartments. The block retains its original bracketed cornice over the storefronts, but the brackets at the upper cornice are no longer extant. 

Knight-Tutt House // c.1750

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The Knight-Tutt House on Franklin Street in downtown Marblehead, Massachusetts, is a great example of a pre-Revolutionary Georgian home built for the working class. The house, like its neighbor, has a three-bay, side-hall facade with a large, central chimney. The residence was built around 1750 for William Knight (1722-1799), who worked as a shoreman, loading and unloading the many ships that docked in Marblehead harbor. By 1850, the house was jointly owned by an F. Bateman and William Russell Tutt, a shoemaker. The residence remains one of a large number of well-preserved Colonial homes in the town of Marblehead, a testament to preservation planning and its effect on streetscapes and vibrant communities.

Former Essex County Jail // 1811

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The former Essex County Jail is a large and significant building in Salem, Massachusetts, that has seen a recent rebirth thanks to the intersection of historic preservation and the demand for new housing in many New England communities. Constructed of large, Rockport granite blocks, the building was constructed in two phases—the section to the east was constructed in 1811-13 while the parallel west wing dates to 1884, with each of the construction dates inscribed at the top of the pediments on the south elevation. Completing the complex is the 1813 Jailer’s Residence which sits at the edge of the now enclosed courtyard. Those who were committed here were largely sentenced to short terms, many for the offense of drunkenness or petty theft. Inside, prisoners did all the labor, such as cooking, baking, firing the boilers, etc., with the female inmates making clothing for all inmates. The jail was in operation until 1991, and at that time was considered the oldest active penitentiary in the United States. Years prior, in 1984, several detainees had successfully sued the county for inadequate living conditions, leading to the closure of the building. A preservation restriction was established for the building and in 2009, the property was conveyed to a developer who converted the complex into 23 apartments, with 19 in the old jail, three in the old jail keeper’s residence, and one in a converted carriage house. The great preservation/adaptive reuse firm of Finegold Alexander Architects furnished the plans for the successful renovation that provided a new life for a once crumbling eyesore.

Parsons-Zielinski House // 1897

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Bounded by three streets and overlooking the town Common, this stately house in Salem, Massachusetts, showcases a blending of Queen Anne and Colonial revival styles. Built in 1897 from plans by Boston architect, Alfred Fernald, the house was constructed by and for its first owner, Joseph Parsons, a Civil War veteran and house builder. The Parsons family continued to live in the house until Joseph’s death in 1915, after which his widow, Minnie, sold the property and moved to Florida. Dr. Ignatius Zielinski purchased the property in the 1920s and divided the house into a physician’s office and several residential units. Tragically, Dr. Zielinski died while serving his country during WWII, and the family would retain the property until 1987. The house is unique for its materiality with the first floor consisting of ashlar, rough-faced stonework with a wood-shingled second story, stained glass windows and a wrap-around porch.

Thomas Hovey House // c.1785

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This lovely three-story frame house on Winter Street in Salem was built in the 1780s for mason, Thomas Hovey. The structure’s front-end, five-by-one-bay portion with stone foundation was built first, in the Federal style, likely with traditional finishes seen in the early Federal period. The building’s rectangular shape, hipped roof, molded corner boards, and foreshortened third-story windows are indicative of its Federal-era origins. By around 1870, the Italianate decorative features, including a hooded double-door entrance, two-over-two windows, a second-story bay window, a bracketed cornice, and bracketed window lintels, were added to the exterior in an effort to modernize the home by later owners. Like many other houses in Salem, this building was extensively documented by Historic Salem Inc. who compiled a detailed history of this and hundreds of other homes nearby.

Temple Court Apartments // 1912

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Constructed in 1912, Temple Court at 15 Lynde Street was erected on the site of two earlier buildings during a period of great population growth in Salem. The parcels here were acquired by Aroline C. Gove (1857-1939), a prominent local property-owner and developer between 1908 and 1911. Ms. Gove was a prominent Salem citizen and daughter of notable inventor and businesswoman Lydia Pinkham. With a business-oriented mindset like her mother, Aroline hired architect Harry Prescott Graves of Lowell to furnish plans for an apartment building on this site. Completed in 1912, the apartment building, known as Temple Court, included 36 units with two-, three-, and four-room suites with a live-in janitor. The building is unique for Salem as a courtyard style building, more common in Boston and Brookline. The building’s large mass is broken up by its setback with the U-shaped form and central landscaped courtyard, series of projecting octagonal bays, and multiple entrances. Temple Court was converted to condominiums in the 1980s.

Salem Water Company Offices // 1879

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Salem, Massachusetts, was first settled by Europeans in 1626, and it would take 170 years until in 1796, an organization of citizens was established for the purpose of supplying the inhabitants generally of Salem and Danvers with pure spring water. The Salem and Danvers Aqueduct Company was incorporated in 1797  “for the purpose of conveying fresh water by subterraneous pipes into the towns of Salem & Danvers.” As Salem grew, the need for a more central water district and distribution network became a necessity for the health and prosperity of the city. A 1864 law allowed Salem to construct its own water works, and it formed a Board of Water Commissioners who designed and constructed the system. From this, funding was acquired and paid for the laying of tens of thousands of feet of subterranean water distribution pipes connecting the reservoir to buildings and hydrants in Salem. Offices of the Waterworks were scattered and obsolete until 1877, when funds for the construction of this structure at 32-34 Church Street were set aside as the new Water Department Offices. Completed by 1879, the building is a great example of a Romanesque/Italianate style masonry structure with corbelled cornice and arched openings. According to the city directories, this building continued to operate as the Salem Water Works into the late 1930s. By 1945, it was the headquarters of the United States War Price & Rationing Board. In 1964, it held a number of city offices including: Civil Defense headquarters, Fire Department headquarters, Licensing Board, Planning Board, and the City Veterans Service, before being sold by the City of Salem to private ownership in 1976.

Fowler House // 1809

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Photo courtesy of Wikimedia commons.

The Fowler House is located in the Danversport section of Danvers, Massachusetts, and is one of the town’s few brick Federal period homes. The residence was built in 1809 by builders Levi Preston and Stephen Whipple for Samuel Fowler Jr., an early Danvers industrialist and landowner in this part of town. The property was passed down through generations of the Fowler family and ultimately acquired by the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (SPNEA, now known as Historic New England) as their second property acquisition in 1912. Uniquely, Historic New England granted life occupancy of the house to the two unwed Fowler sisters, who had resided here, even as it was converted into a museum. When bought by SPNEA, some members were concerned that the Fowler house was not grand or architecturally interesting enough to warrant its acquisition, Samuel Appleton, the founder, stated, “As might be expected, the Fowler home reflects the simple tastes of its owner. As seen from the square the house is as severely simple as it could be. It depends for its effect on its very simplicity and admirable proportions. The principal features of the house may be said to be simplicity, good taste, solid construction, splendid preservation, and homogeneity.” The property was eventually sold by Historic New England to a private owner, but a preservation easement by the Society ensures its preservation for the future. The Fowler House was recently listed for sale, and the property retains many historical features, including original ca. 1810 wallpaper in the main two-story entry hall and a large hearth in the main kitchen, its original floors, plaster, woodwork and other features.