victorian house marblehead

Joseph Lindsey Cottage // 1886

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While Marblehead is best-known for its Georgian and Federal period houses, there are some great examples of later styles, sometimes tucked behind and in side yards of earlier residences. This is the Joseph Lindsey Cottage on Washington Street, a vernacular, Folk Victorian style residence built in 1886 by carpenter and housebuilder, Joseph W. Lindsey (1823-1902). Mr. Lindsey lived nearby on High Street, and purchased an earlier house at 45 Washington Street by 1881, building this cottage five years later and rented both out to boarders. Joseph Lindsey worked his entire life as a carpenter, except for a few years when he and his brother, Philip B. Lindsey, travelled west to seek gold and fortune during the California Gold Rush. The Lindsey Family Papers are part of the collections of the Marblehead Museum. 

Jacob Cropley House // 1884

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Marblehead is known for its Colonial-era architecture, so its always fun to find a stellar Queen Anne house in town! In 1884, Jacob M. Cropley, a shoe manufacturer, built one of Marblehead’s finest victorian residences on a hill overlooking the harbor. Cropley ran shoe and leather mills in Massachusetts and Wolfeboro, NH, making great money. The house was located on a prominent site on Pleasant Street, and was purchased by the U.S. Government in 1904 about the time that Cropley and his family moved to Boston. The house was purchased by David Lefevour, a grocer, who moved it back on the lot, saving the house from the wrecking ball. On the former house site, a post office was built by the U.S. Government.