Victorian House

Elijah Shaw House // 1889

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This Queen Anne Victorian residence sits at 85 Concord Street in Nashua, New Hampshire. Built in 1889-90 for Elijah Shaw, the house is one of a dozen or so well-preserved Victorian-era mansions along the prominent street. Elijah Morrill Shaw (1826-1903) was born in Kensington, NH and spent many of his early years working at woolen mills all over the Northeast until the outbreak of the American Civil War. Obeying his country’s call to arms, at the time of the Rebellion, he entered the army in 1861 and was later promoted to Captain in 1863. After the war, he continued working at mills all over the region until 1888 when he was hired by the Nashua Manufacturing Company. He built this house soon after his arrival and remained there until his death in 1903. The dwelling and rear carriage house are clad in shingles with the house built with a brick first floor.

Charles Hoitt House // 1895

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Charles William Hoitt (1847-1925) was born in Newmarket, New Hampshire, the son of William K. A. and Sarah C. (Swain) Hoitt. His father was a descendant of John Hoyt, one of the original settlers of Salisbury, Massachusetts. On the maternal side he is a descendant of Phineas Swain who served at Bunker Hill on the American side. Charles enrolled at Dartmouth College in 1867, and was graduated in the class of 1871. He moved to Nashua to work as Master of the Mt. Pleasant School and later worked as an usher at the Lincoln Grammar School in Boston. He eventually gave up teaching as a profession and returned to Nashua and worked at a local law office. He was admitted to the Hillsboro bar in 1877, and worked as a City Solicitor and later as Justice to the Nashua Police Court. With his standing, he erected this fine house on Concord Avenue, with a deep lot where he raised rare exotic birds. Judge Hoitt served in the New Hampshire House of Representatives in 1901 and in 1907, was appointed by Theodore Roosevelt to be the United States Attorney for the District of New Hampshire. His residence in Nashua blends Queen Anne, Shingle, and Colonial Revival styles elegantly. The property was purchased in the 1920s by the Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashua as a parsonage, a use it held until it was sold in 1977 to a private homeowner. The shingled porch was removed during the time it was a parsonage, but the house remains in excellent condition today!

Stephen & Maria Mansfield House // 1888

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The Stephen and Maria Mansfield House is located at 70 Concord Street in Nashua, New Hampshire, and is one of many stunning old houses along the largely residential street. The dwelling was built in 1888 for Stephen Willard Mansfield, a shoe dealer in Nashua, and his wife, Maria. The Mansfield House is a great example of a more modestly sized Queen Anne style house, which is typified by the asymmetrical plan, varied siding types, and intricate carvings and turned posts. This house is dominated by a two-story rounded bay which is capped by a conical roof. She could definitely use a good paint job but it’s a really sturdy old home built from old-growth lumber. She’s here to stay!

Elijah Emerson Double House // 1884

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Brookline Village is full of amazing double houses (or duplexes) built in the late 19th century. Many feature Queen Anne detailing and are architecturally striking with porches, complex rooflines, and trim details. This example was built in 1884 by Elijah Emerson, who had an estate nearby. His house was originally located where the park, Emerson Garden is located, but it was moved across the street. He had this double house built and rented it out to middle-class families who flocked to the neighborhood for the ease of access to Downtown Boston, while maintaining a bucolic feel (why many still today move to Brookline). Even though it is covered in aluminum siding today, the original wood clapboards and trim likely are waiting underneath to be revealed someday. But for today, we can gawk at the original details that are visible, including the semi-circular window, recessed porch with decorative balustrade, and porch with original entry doors.

George Carpenter House // 1885

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While many lots in Brookline village in the final decades of the 19th century were being redeveloped as duplexes, three-deckers, and apartment houses, some property owners still wanted single-family living. In 1885, George Carpenter had this home in the village built from plans by well-known architect Obed F. Smith, who designed many Victorian-era homes in Boston’s Back Bay and around the region. George Carpenter worked in Downtown Boston as an agent for the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company. The house features some Stick style elements seen in the porch spindles and carved brackets.

Hoar House // 1891

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This house in West Acton is the last in this batch of Queen Anne style Victorian houses I’ll feature in the village. The dwelling was built in 1891 for a 31-year-old John Sherman Hoar, Jr. (1860-1954) and his new wife Minnie R. Hart. John was a master carpenter and built many of the Queen Anne style homes on Windsor Street and later Colonial Revival and Craftsman homes in the 1890s and 1900s himself. This was his own property which once included a workshop where he cut and manufactured many homes on the street. Today, the Hoar House has a cheery pink color scheme (which while not historically appropriate) brought a smile to my face when strolling by!

Arthur Blanchard House // 1892

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I do not feature enough Queen Anne style buildings on my account, as penance, I present this beautiful example of the style with a painted lady color scheme! Located on Windsor Avenue in West Acton, Massachusetts, this house was built in 1892 and has all the hallmarks of the Queen Anne style. The use of varied siding materials and forms, asymmetrical form, applied ornament, and large five-sided tower capped by a conical slate roof with weathervane. The home was built for Arthur F. Blanchard, a local businessman who operated an apple farm and marketing business opened by his father. Mr. Blanchard was a philanthropist in town and used his wealth to enhance his hometown by funding the Blanchard Auditorium at the Acton High School (1925) and was a benefactor of the West Acton Women’s Club in 1925. He and his son, Webster, also founded the Blanchard Foundation in town in 1946, an organization which funded and sponsored educational projects for the community.

Oliver Mead Mansion // c.1870

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Acton, Massachusetts is one of the more underrated Massachusetts towns for great old buildings, many of which are well-preserved and taken care of by their owners. The Oliver Mead Mansion in West Acton Village is among the largest in this part of town and is a stellar example of the Second Empire style. The house and adjacent carriage house was built around 1870 for Oliver Mead (1823-1912), who co-owned the A. O. W. Mead Company with his two brothers, a successful produce marketing company where they sold poultry, eggs, cheese, fruit, and other goods from farms in Acton and Boxborough to their shop on Market Street in Downtown Boston. The company did well, and Oliver and his brother Adelbert built matching mansions in West Acton after the Civil War and business picked up. The house exhibits a central projecting tower bordered by quoins and topped by a mansard roof with iron cresting on top. The original carriage house remains in a great state of preservation as well. The Adelbert House and Carriage house nextdoor were demolished in the 1950s for the fire station on the site.

Sawyer Mansion // 1863 & 1914

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Originally built in the Carpenter Gothic style in 1863, the Sawyer-Gillett Mansion in Whitingham, Vermont, is the highest-style house in town today. Indistinguishable from its Civil War-era original construction, the house was greatly expanded and altered into an elaborate take on Queen Anne / Shingle styles in 1914. The house was originally constructed by John W. Sawyer, but it was his son, Lincoln H. Sawyer who renovated the house and etched his name “L.H. Sawyer” on the glass of the new front door. The updated house style reflects a nostalgic Victorian preference by the owner, who sawed all the trim and materials on site at the family sawmill. It was recently sold and is now a B&B!

Enoch Fuller Octagon // c.1850

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Oh the Octagon! The very rare Octagon house was a unique house style briefly popular in the 1850s in the United States and Canada. The style can generally be traced to the influence of one man, amateur architect and phrenologist Orson Squire Fowler. In his book, The Octagon House: A Home for All of 1848 (and reprinted with more photos in 1853), Fowler advocated for the shape’s benefits for buildings in that the octagon allowed for additional living space, received more natural light, was easier to heat, and remained cooler in the summer. These benefits all derive from the geometry of an octagon: the shape encloses space efficiently, minimizing external surface area and consequently heat loss and gain, building costs etc. Some were convinced and built Octagon houses, but the style and its brief period of popularity, died by the 1860s. This example in Stoneham, Massachusetts was built around 1850 for and by Enoch Fuller, a close personal friend of P. T. Barnum, founder of the Barnum & Bailey Circus. Fuller visited Barnum’s octagonal home in Bridgeport, Connecticut and he decided to construct an octagon house in Stoneham. The home was owned by Col. Gerrry Trowbridge not long after completion. The home was built with a fireplace in every room, a spiral, “flying” staircase, and a sweeping veranda.