Second Empire style

Toussaint House // 1879

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In 1879, furniture-maker and amateur architect, Winand Toussaint (1826-1904), built this unique mansard roofed house at 203 Aspinwall Avenue in Brookline Village. Toussaint was born in Belgium, and immigrated to the United States about 1841, where he originally settled in Roxbury and operated a cabinetmaking business. Toussaint moved from Roxbury to Brookline about 1873, but lost his fortune in the Panic of 1874. After a few years, he found work and eventually purchased a house lot here, and designed and built this home in 1879. Winand was born into a family of architects and engineers in Europe with his grandfather being Jean Lambert Toussaint of Liege, an architect who reportedly built the first railway introduced in Belgium. He is said to have studied in France and Italy before working in furniture-making in the United States. He maintained a professional office from his Brookline house until his death in 1904. After his death, the family home was inherited by daughter, Emma Toussaint, who was unmarried and worked as a linguist and writer under the name “Portia”. The charming Toussaint House blends Second Empire and Stick styles with unique beveled corners, one of which contains the main entrance, and a belvedere at the crest of the mansard roof. Due to its unique architecture, the Toussaint House was individually listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

Damon-Griffin House // 1869

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The Damon-Griffin House at 92 Commonwealth Road in Wayland, Massachusetts, is one of the exemplary buildings constructed in the Cochituate village in town, which prospered in the 19th century and centered around industry. This stately Second Empire style mansion is sited on a rise in the land overlooking Lake Cochituate and was completed in 1869 for George A. Damon (1826-1885), a wealthy businessman. George Damon died in 1885, and the house was sold to Wallace Griffin, one of the Griffin brothers who worked for the Bent Company, a prominent local shoe manufacturer. In 1890, Noble Griffin bought the house from his brother and, as his business prospered, proceeded to fix up the house as the showplace of a successful shoe manufacturer. In the mid-20th century, the Damon-Griffin House became a funeral home, and later was purchased by a developer who subdivided the land to build a suburban-style development of detached homes behind the house, and constructed an addition to the rear with more condominium units.

Ambrose Burnside House // 1866

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What do this unique Victorian house and sideburns have in common? Well, you are about to find out!

The Ambrose Burnside House is sited on an oddly shaped, and sloping corner lot on Benefit Street in Providence’s East Side neighborhood, and is one of the most unique Second Empire style residences in New England. The house was built in 1866 for General Ambrose Burnside (1824-1881), a Union general in the American Civil War, who returned to Providence and was about to begin a term as governor, followed by two terms in the United States Senate. Ambrose Burnside hired local architect, Alfred Stone, to design his new city mansion, which upon completion, was deemed one of the most “modern residences” in Providence. Built of brick with Nova Scotia stone with a concave slate mansard roof and one-of-a-kind rounded corner bay, the Ambrose Burnside House does not disappoint! Ambrose Burnside died in 1881 and the property was occupied by his sister-in-law until the property was sold in 1884 and housed the Providence Children’s Friend Society House for Aged Women and the Providence Association for the Benefit of Colored Children, providing shelter and food for elderly women and children of color without parents or guardians. After WWII, the Burnside House was converted to apartments.

Now, to the sideburns… Ambrose Burnside was noted for his unusual beard, joining strips of hair in front of his ears to his mustache but with the chin clean-shaven; the word burnsides was coined to describe this style. The syllables were later reversed to give sideburns.

Hope Block // 1869

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The Hope Block on North Main Street in Providence’s East Side neighborhood is an architecturally significant commercial block in the Second Empire style. The masonry building was constructed in 1869 and is probably designed by architect, Clifton A. Hall, who designed similar buildings in the city around that time. The block was developed by Edward M. Young and Ezra P. Lyon of the firm, Young & Lyon to house their fruit and grocery store, which they operated here from 1870 until 1889. By the latter half of the 20th century, the building was owned by the Rhode Island School of Design, and rehabilitated for classrooms in 1984, even retaining the cast iron storefronts, unique arched windows, and slate mansard roof. Today, the Hope Block houses the RISD Store.

William Fraser House // c.1873

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In a town full of clapboards and shingles, brick houses really do stand out! This is the William Fraser House, located at 303 Pleasant Street in the ever-charming town of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, a stately example of the Second Empire style as a single-family residence. The house was built by 1873 for William James Fraser (1836-1930), a Canadian-born mason who immigrated to Portsmouth in 1850 and began a successful career as a mason, building many of the town’s great masonry buildings. The Fraser House has a slate mansard roof with overhanging eaves, bracketed cornice, and paired gable dormers and a double wood-paneled entrance door with transom under a flat roof portico.

Fay House // c.1840

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One of the most spectacular residences in Westborough, Massachusetts, can be found on Church Street, which is a unique blending of two distinct architectural styles. The house here was originally built around 1840 as a Greek Revival style residence, which would have had a gabled roof, and it retains the original corner pilasters and Ionic columned porch. Records state the the house was built for Cyrus Fay (1812-1884), possibly around the time of his marriage in 1837 to Caroline Pope. Caroline passed away in 1852 at the age of 36, and Cyrus remarried in 1855 to Nancy Avery White. It was likely after his second marriage, and after he became the first president of the Westborough Savings Bank in 1869, that the house was modernized with a Mansard roof with belvedere.

John A. Turner Cottage // c.1875 

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One of the most charming houses in Westborough, Massachusetts, can be found on Central Street, in the commercial village of town. The house was built around 1875 as a Mansard cottage, a style that was beginning to wane out of style by this point. The cottage was built for John Addison Turner (1833-1900) and his wife, Mary Ann Fiske. John worked as a superintendent at the National Straw Works factory, a local manufacturer of straw hats and other goods. The Turner House remains one of the best-preserved Victorian-era homes in Westborough and is even painted to highlight the many intricate details. 

Stonington Town Hall // 1885

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Overlooking an archipelago of over sixty islands, the working port town of Stonington, Maine, is one of the more vibrant and active ports in the Pine Tree State. With a population of just over 1,000 residents, the town is consistently ranked among the top lobster ports in the country and is the largest lobster port in Maine. In 2011, 14,854,989 pounds of lobster were landed by Stonington fishermen! The town was originally a part of Deer Isle, with the main village known as Green’s Landing, until 1897 when it incorporated as its own municipality in 1897, choosing the name Stonington after the area’s granite quarries. This handsome mansard building was constructed in 1885 as the village’s school. Named Rockbound School, the building features an intact belltower at the rear. The school would eventually close in the second half of the 20th century, and became the Town Hall of Stonington after a fire destroyed the previous building in the 1970s.

Richmond J. Lane House // c.1860

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Located next door to his brother’s house on Union Street in Rockland, Massachusetts, Richmond J. Lane, a shoe manufacturer, built this charming cottage for his family. Built around 1860 in the Second Empire style, this residence includes a concave mansard roof, dentilled cornice with brackets, and arched windows and dormers, and a stable at the rear. Richmond J. Lane (1826-1905) worked in shoe manufacturing and was said to have been instrumental in establishing the Hanover Branch Railroad, and served as president of local banks. The Richmond J. Lane house is an important, and well-preserved example of the Second Empire style in Rockland.

Joseph and Fanny Turner House & Stable // 1872

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Joseph Stanley Turner (1841-1893) married Fannie Pratt (1849-1930) in 1871 and within a year, had this large, Second Empire style house built on Webster Street in Rockland, Massachusetts, for his family. Joseph Turner was a Civil War veteran and owned a shoe factory in town, making his fortune manufacturing shoes and boots which were sold all over the country. The main house is two-stories with a symmetrical plan with central entrance and projecting portico. An equally significant mansard-roofed stable sits behind and to the side of the main house, and can be classified as an example in the Stick style with applied stickwork at the siding and in the hay door, as well as the pedimented dormer with decorative truss.

David G. Fales House // c.1858

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The David G. Fales House of Central Falls, Rhode Island, is an excellent example of the Second Empire architecture style in a high-end residence. The home was built around 1858 and belonged to David Gilmore Fales (1806-1875), one of the partners of the nearby Fales and Jenks machine works. Mr. Fales either built or purchased the home which was then a flat-roofed Italianate style home, and hired architect Clifton A. Hall, to modernize the residence, adding trim and the mansard roof. Its broad eaves are supported by brackets with pendants; segmental-head dormers are set in the mansard and a square belvedere with round-head windows tops the roof. A major fire gutted much of the house in the 1960s, and its future was uncertain. It was preserved and is now a multi-family apartment building.

Hotel Pelham // 1857-1916

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Built in 1857 at the prominent intersection of Boylston and Tremont streets in Boston, the Hotel Pelham is said to have been the first apartment building of its type in America. Seen as a high-end apartment building, not like the slum-like tenements in New York and elsewhere in Boston, the units were like French-flats for medium-term renters, rather than short-term stays. The Hotel Pelham was developed by Dr. John Homer Dix, a doctor who took a keen interest in providing healthy accomodations for city-folk. The Hotel Pelham was designed by architect Alfred Stone, as an early example of the Second Empire style, with a French Mansard roof and stone facades. Just about a decade after the building was completed, Tremont Street (which runs along the side of the building) was set to be widened. This work would require the partial (and likely full) demolition of the Pelham Hotel. Rather than see his building face the wrecking ball, Dr. Dix, in 1869, had the Hotel Pelham slid off its foundation, and moved westward thirty feet to accommodate the expanded Tremont Street. This incredible feat of engineering was undertaken by John S. Blair, with architect Nathaniel Bradlee overseeing updates to the facades and interiors. The building would survive a gas main explosion in 1897, but succumbed to redevelopment during WWI, when the building was demolished for the present building on the site, the Little Building.

Governor Robinson House – Assumption Church Rectory // c.1870

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Located next to the Assumption Roman Catholic Church of Chicopee, this handsome Second Empire style residence is significant not only architecturally, but as the residence of a Massachusetts Governor. This house was built around 1870 for a Frank D. Hale, who resided here until 1878, when the property was purchased by George Dexter Robinson (1834-1896), who moved to Chicopee and eventually got engaged in politics, in 1873 winning election to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, and was elected to the Massachusetts Senate in 1875. In 1876, Robinson was elected to the United States House of Representatives, where he served most of four terms, buying this home about half-way through his time as a Representative in Washington. While serving in Congress, Robinson was nominated to run for Governor of Massachusetts in 1883, he won and served three, one-year terms. After his time as Governor, he went back to his law practice, and in 1892, Robinson took on his most famous client, Lizzie Borden. During the infamous trial, Robinson was also able to cast significant doubt on the reliability of several witnesses to the events surrounding the murders. Lizzie Borden was ultimately acquitted of the criminal charges, and Robinson was a highly visible presence in the media circus that attended the trial. In the 20th century, this handsome property was acquired by the Assumption R.C. Church of Chicopee, who used the house as a rectory for its new church next door. It remains a well-preserved example of the Second Empire architectural style with slate mansard roof crowned by iron cresting.

Langley-Dudley Cottage // c.1870

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This charming mansard-roofed cottage can be found at 54 Prospect Hill Street in Newport, Rhode Island. While presently a residence, the cottage was originally built around 1870 as a stable or carriage house for the former Bowen-Newton-Tobin House at 204 Spring Street. After the Bowen heirs sold the property, this structure was owned by Mr. John S. Langley, an furniture dealer (who also made coffins and caskets) with the firm Langley & Bennett. The building may have been used for the storage of horses or as a workshop until it was purchased by Mary B. and Dudley Newton, a prominent local architect. They appear to have converted the former stable into a cottage, and rented the property out for additional income. In the renovation, Dudley Newton preserved much of the original detailing above the cornice, and altered openings to provide windows and doors convert the formerly utilitarian structure into a cottage.

Captain Albert F. Ames Mansion // 1874

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Located next door to the William H. Glover House on Talbot Avenue in Rockland, Maine, this equally impressive Second Empire style Victorian residence stands as one of the finest in town. The abode was built in 1874 for Captain Albert Franklin Ames (1831-1887) by the architectural firm of Kimball & Coombs of Maine. Albert F. Ames was a sea captain and merchant who would later own many ships to distribute his manufacturing of lime casks which were sold and transported all down the east coast to build American cities. The stately home would later be the subject of one of artist Edward Hopper‘s paintings in Rockland, titled, “Talbot House” after a later owner.