North End / Waterfront preservation study online

was only seven years old; the other, Mary Ellen the last of his parents' twelve children,
lived only four days. When his mother died three months later the last vestige of
female influence had abruptly disappeared from his family life. Of all of his own childr
three sons and three daughters — none would ever matter more to Johnny Fitz than the tin
dark -haired infant girl who was born on that summer night. And whose eyes, even at birth
were as piercingly aquamarine blue as his own. And none would be more like him. She

Preservation Consideration (accessibility, re-use possibilities, capacity

for public use and enjoyment, protection, utilities, context)

National Register Nomination



Bibliography and/or references (such as local histories, deeds, assessor's
records, early maps, etc.)

1. Suffolk County Courthouse Registry of Deeds,

2. Bromley, G.W. Atlas of Boston, Volume I, 1888

3. Rose Cameron, Gail. Rose a Biography Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy .
New York: G.P. Putnam & Sons, 1971. p. 23-24.

4. Southworth, Michael and Susan. Boston 200 Discovery Network: The North End Surveyl 975,

5. Rose Cameron, Op. Cit. p. 27.



Description (cont'd)



Rose Kennedy BP



I'alvanized iron roof cornice is rusting and in need of repair. The cornice of egg and
-^art molding contains dentils and heavy brackets, at each end. A fire escape is evident on
the front facade and/the right entrance door to the upper floors of this building contain
pressed metal on the upper walls and ceilings with wooden paneling below.

Significance (cont'd)

caught his infectious enthusiasm and kept it all her life: She had, from earliest
childhood, his will for hard work, his ambition, self -discipline, and instinctive ability
to dazzle a crowd with consummate Irish charm. Rose, from the very beginning was her
father ' s daughter .

Rose's father, John F. Fitzgerald, was born on February 11, 1963, in a red brick tenement

at 30 Ferry Street — a four story, eight-family house near Old North Church.

Johnny Fitz married a distant cousin, Mary Josephine Hannon (called Josie) on September 18,

1889, and they took up residence at 4 Garden Court Street in an area that was solid with
Irish Catholics. Johnny Fitz entered into the real estate and insurance business, for
which he was well suited, with his large collection of friends and acquaintances. In

1890, when his daughter Rose was born, the Fitzgerald lace curtains were prim and proper
and hanging in starched rigidity. They were symbolic of the new formal social status,
which was foreordained to set its standards, side by side, with those of the proper
Bostonians.





Building Information Form Form No,



Area North End



ADDRESS 130 Prince Street

NAME



COR.



Major Pitcairn House



present
DATE C1700



original



SUB AREA N/w



Deed Search, Suffolk County Registry
of Deeds, Bostonian Society, Scrapbo ok





source Collectioi


ARCHITECT






source


BUILDER






soiirce


OWNER Thomas Stoddard


Antonetta Meminolo (2)


original


present


PHOTOGRAPHS





19/330150/4692120



Ward 3, Parcel 1405



TYPE Cresidential) single double row 2-fain. 3-deck ten apt.
Cnon-residential)



NO. OF STORIES Cist to cornice) four
flat cupola



rvfoF



plus



dormers



MATERIALS (Frame) clapbo ards shingles stucco asphalt asbestos alum/vinyl
(other) CSricjQ stone concrete iron/steel/alum,

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

Tour stories of creamed colored brick, built of a 45'3 angle. Entrance to upper stories
3n southwest corner. High basement with granite foundation. Two small basement windows
ind side door. Granite lintels with scroll motif. First floor contains one single bay
md a double bay of 2/2, with an entryway that has lights overhead, second floor contains
:wo sets of 2/2 double hung sash, with de corat ive granite lintels and similiar window
EXTERJOR ALTERATION minor moderate <4rastic*;;5



CONDITION good Cfaif> poor



LOT AREA



570



sq.ft.



NOTEWORTHY SITE CHARACTERISTICS



I



(Itop)



SIGNIFICANCE (con't on reverse)
The position of this house on Prince Street just where
it makes a sharp angle seems to indicate that this struc-
ture contains the core of the Pitcairn House, that is
the house in which Major John Pitcairn, a British Officer,
died. Pitcairn is credited with giving the order to
fire on the provincials at the Battle of Bunker Hill.
Pitcairn was taken to Boston from the battlefield via
a ferry and carried to this house = Dr. Thomas Kast
was sent to Pitcairn by General Gage, but he was unable
to save the soldier's life. Major Pitcairn 's remains
were buried in the vault of Christ Church (1).



Moved; date if known



Themes (check as many as applicable ) rf']j

Aboriginal Conservation Recreation

Agricultural Education Religion

Architectural Exploration/ Science/

The Arts settlement â– ;>; invention

Commerce Industry Social/

Communication Military â–  â–  humanitarian

Community/ Political Transporation

Development

Significance (include expanation of themes checked above )

Prince Street, famous for its connection with the early days of Boston has a relic of olden

times in a dwelling of which modestly tries to hide from observation between two high

tenement buildings of modern date. The effort is in vain, however, not withstanding that the

have been changes in the front of the structure, such as replacing the small-paned windows

of the Revolutionary Era with the larger glass of today, theis is an iinmistakable suggestion

of age in the low studded first floor of 130 Prince Street, the narrow entrance at the left

that leads to the upper floors, is sure evidence of a style of an earlier age. In the

1890's-1900' s. the first floor of this structure was converted from residential to a grocery

Store. Originally, the house was three stories and is located on Prince Street where the

street makes a rather sharp angle, the property was described in a deed of transfer early

in 1700, as a dwelling house with all the land where upon the same doth stand, and is

thereunto adjoining in the north end of Boston, on the northwest side of Widow Copp's housii

and land, near Charlestown Ferry place. The dwelling has been called the Stoddard House £

because it was supposed by some to have been the house of Thomas Stoddard, the boat buildl-

who assisted Pitcairn's son in carrying the Major to his own House on Prince Street.

Stoddard did not own this house, although he may have lived there at the time 1775-1776.(3)

A deed search indicates a dwelling existed at 130 Prince Street as far back as 1797.

At that time Samuel Treat sold his house to Thomas Hopkins. In 1826, the property was

transfer from William L. Leland to Thomas W. Baldwin, in 1866, Mr. Baldwin sold the

house for $4,000. Again in 1879, William A Prescott sells 130 Prince Street for $3000.

to Gilbert C. Brown, in 1880, it is transferred for one dollar to George F. Swain, in

1881, the house changes )iands again, a^d. is owned by Robert; ,G ,3.. Collamor.e. That same
Preservation Consideration (accessibility, re-use possibilities, capacity

for public use and enjoyment, protection, utilities, context)



Bibliography and/or references (such as local histories, deeds, assessor's

records, early maps, etc.)

(1) Bostonian Society Scrapbook Collection, N.34 (article on the Pitcairn House)

(2) City of Boston Assessor's Records

(3) Op'., Cit. Bostonian Society, Scrapbook collection, N.34

(4) Suffolk County Courthouse, Registry of Deeds.

(5) City of Boston building Department Documents

(6) Todisco, Paula J. Boston's First Neighborhood; The North End (Boston: Boston Public |
Library Publication, 1976) P. 19.

(7) G.W. Bromley Atlases for 1888 and 1908.



significance Ccon't) 130 Prince Street

fc, Robert G. S. Collamore sells the property to Constance Lissner. In 1888, Eprain
Lissner sells his home to Henry Kellogg for $11,000. This transaction includes four
parcels of land and buildings thereon. (4) Twenty years later the owner was M. and
3.L. Cadigan, in 1916, a rear wooden portion of the building was taken down. The building
\?as used as tenements for three families. It seemed that some rebuilding took place
Ln that year. The height changed from a tenement for three families to one for four
families. There was some dispute over the ownership of the land at the rear of the
oroperty at that time. The owner was Luigi Vardoro . In 1947, the building was owned
Dy Nicola Memello, work was done on the fire escape in that year. (5)

Description Ccon't)

irrangeraents with plainer granite sills and lintels, galvanized iron cornice at roof line
;ith brackets and egg and dart molding .



€



C



BOSTON LANDMJ\RKS COMMISSION



Building Information Form Form No.



Area Nnrt.h Knd




ADDRESS ^q-:^ Rfilpm sfrppt



COR.



NAME



Ssyt.nn'?^ Hoi]?;p — Old North Church



present
MAP NO. 26N-13E



original



DATE 1849-1850



_SUB ARE A NAT
C3)







source




ARCHITECT












source




BUILDER George W.


Pope


(3)








source




OWNER same




Old North


Church


original






present


PHOTOGRAPHS









19330155/4692135 Ward 3, Parcel 2116



TYPE Cresidential) ( jingle
Cnon-residential)



double row 2-fam.



3-deck



ten



apt.



HO. OF STORIES Cist to cornice) three and one half p lus



rOOF pitched



cupola



dormers



MATERIALS (Frame) clapb oards shingles stucco asphalt asbestos alum/vinyl
(other) ( brick ) stone granite ^concrete iron/steel/alum.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

Phis federal style brick structure of three and a half.storiesihas-sijnple granite lintels
and sills with a recessed doorway that is reach by three stone steps, A paneled wooded
ioor with side and top lights provides the main entryway. Three bays on the second and
third levels of three over three double hung sash are evident in the front facade. The
i^indows on the third fl oor are smaller in size giving an increased feeling of height
EXTEREOR ALTERATION (minor^ moderate drastic



CONDITION



fair Door



LOT AREA 1068



sq.ft.



NOTEIVORTHY SITE CHARACTERISTICS



Q'lap)



SIGNIFICAl^CE Ccon't on reverse)

#193 Salem Street has served as the Sexton's house of
Old North Church for a number of years and is an integral
part of the Church properties. In 1802 and 1803,
James and Charlotte Harrison sold the land on which
this buidling stands to Christ Church for $1000. On
May 3, 1849, the vesting and wardens of Christ Church
entered into a lease with George W. Pope, a mason.
The terms of the lease called for Pope to : 1) pay all
taxes and assessments, 2) build, construct and completely
finish upon said parcel of land, a brick building



Moved; date if known



Themes Ccheck as many as applicable)



Aboriginal
Agricultural
Architectural
The Arts
Commerce
Communication
Community/
Development



Conservation
Education
Exploration/
settlement
Industry
Military
Political



Recreation

Religion

Science/

invention
Social/

human i t ar ian
Transporation



Significance (include expanation of themes checked above )

according to the specifications hereto annexed..." within one year, 3) build another
brick building within nine years, 4) keep the buildings insured the first for $1800 and
the second for $700. Pope was to have use of the property for 12 years.

Alterations and modifications on this building have been moderate. Building Department
records show that gutter stripping and a slate roof were repaired in 1923 and a portion
of a rear ell was taken down in 1945 to expand the open space areas that surround Old
North Church. CD

Description (con't)

to the structure. Simple brick corbelling at the roof line with an end chimney and
tie bars lending support to the brick walls are also evident.



Preservation Consideration (accessibility , re-use possibilities, capacity
for public use and enjoyment, protection, utilities, context)



Bibliography and/or references (such as local histories, deeds, assessor's
records, early maps, etc.)
CD City of Boston, Building Department Records

(2) City of Boston, Assessor's Office

(3) Suffolk County Courthouse Registry of Deeds.



BOSTON LANDMARKS COMMISSION




Building Information Form Form No.

ADDRESS 10 Garden Court Str. C OR.

NAME



Area North End



F.W. Smith Residence (1834-1849)



present
i-n* MAP NO. 26N-13E



original



SUB AREA N/W



DATE 1834




4






source


ARCHITECT










source


BUILDER










source


OWNER


r.


Reppnorri R SonSr Inc.


original




present


PHOTOGRAPHS







TQ/^^mt^ '^/afiq?! fig



Wrird 3, Parrel 3:^07



TYPE Cresidential) single
Cnon-residential)



double row 2-fam, 3-deck



ten



apt,



NO. OF STORIES CI St to cornice)



_plus_



ROOF



MATERIALS (Frame) clap boards
(other) /ErTcK â– 



cupola



dormers



shingles stucco asphalt asbestos alum/vinyl
stone ^concrete iron/steel/alum.



BRIEF DESCRIPTION

This is a five-story brick apartment building measuring 40 X 40 X 60. The first floor
contains a storefront which appears to be unaltered. Large display windows; recessed
panelled wooden doorway with one stone step are evident. The interior on the first floor
contain pressed metal walls and wooden paneling. The door to the upper floors is on the
north side of the store front. This doorway is also wooden paneled with a window above and
EXTERIOR ALTERATION minor tmoderat^ drastic



CONDITION



good ^aif) poor



LOT AREA



sq.ft.



NOTEWORTHY SITE CHARACTERISTICS



CMap)



SIGNIFICANCE (con't on reverse)

Half crackpot, half hero, irrepressible dreamer yet able
businessman, Franklin Webster Smith was a fascinating
and variegated figure. An exemplary Sunday School
superintendent, he was a founder of the Y.M.C.A. in
America and long a trustee of the Boston Y. (A bust of
him used to stand in its lobby) . He was a charter mfeinber "
of the Republican party. When a successful young merchant
supplying marine hardware to the Boston Navy Yard during the
Civil War, he quixotically attacked the corrupt practises of
the supply officers and in retaliation was tried, though a



Moved; date if known



Themes Ccheck as many as applicable )

Aboriginal Conservation Recreation

Agricultural Education Religion

Architectural Exploration/ Science/

The Arts settlement invention

Commerce Industry Social/

Communication Military humanitarian

Community/ Political Transporation

Development



Significance (include expanation of themes checked above )
civilian, on trumped-up charges in a spectacular naval court martial. It took the inters
vention of Senator Sumner and the entire Massachusetts Congre-sional delegation to get h:
released from a dungeon on George's Island in Boston harbor and later the personal actit
of President Abraham Lincoln to clear him of the charges. During the depression of 1877
he organized a Board of Land Ownership to take un employed Boston laborers and settle thd
on farms on the Cumberland plateau of East Tennessee. The land was bought and the commuii
was started, but by that time the depression was over, and the vast tract was sold to
Thomas Hughes, author of Tom Brown's School Days , who established there a Utopia (named,
of course, Rugby) for the indigent younger sons of British gentlemen.

But throughout his later life Smith's great hobby and real interest was the reproduction!
of old buildings. After graduating from miniatures, he first experimented by constructi]
"booths of the nations" for a Y.M.C.A. fundraising fair in the '70s. In 1882 he retura
from a winter in Spain to build as his winter home in St. Augustine, Florida, the cone*,-
Villa Zorayda, a replica of an ancient Moorish house. A few years later in the same cit^
he designed and supervised the building of the extravagantly "Moorish" Hotel Casa-Monica .
for the Flagler interests. He claimed that his was the first large American building evi
to have been built of concrete. Then at great cost he constructed the Pompeian House of
Pansa in Saratoga Springs, NY. Filled with reproductions of Pompeian art and furnishings
it was highly successful children's museum but a financial flop. 2 He was also, he said,;
responsible for the building of the copy of the Spanish monastery La Rabida at the Chicaci
Preservation Consideration Caccessibility , re-use possibilities, capacity
for public use and enjoyment, protection, utilities, context)

World's Fair of 1893.

His most colossal scheme was for a rebuilding of all central Washington, D.C. , as an Ameij
Acropolis. Gigantic buildings were to be erected in Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek, Roman, ar^i
every European style. Tourists would be drawn through them in little cable cars to view
plaster casts of the world's best statues and copies of the world's best paintings.
Bibliography and/or references (such as local histories, deeds, assessor's
records, early maps, etc.)

1. City of Boston, Building Department.

2. City of Boston, Assessor's Office.

3. Dahl, Curtis, "From Old North End to Water side of Beacon: Four Boston Houses of
Franklin Webster Smith." In Drumlin Newsletter , (City Conservation League, Jan. — Marc
1977, Vol. 2, No. 1 & 2) . p. 4 & 5.

4. Stark, James H. Stark's Antique Views of Ye Towne of Boston , (Boston, 1901)pp. 53 arf
63. '



I



„-■•'■ I- ,j.\ F,W. Smith Residence
Description Icon t.)

^contains one stone step, two over two double hung sash with stone sills and lintels exist.
The lintels become less elaborate as you proceed upward. The second floor lintels are
flared with five pieces of stone and the third floor are flared with three pieces of stone.
The fourth and fifth floors are simple in design. An ornate metal cornice with modillions,
and heavy brackets of egg and dart molding and leafy motifs are also evident on each side
of the cornice.

Building Department records indicate that in 1911, this structure was originally three and
one half stories. Its owner, Jacob Heller, petitioned the city to alter the premises
at 10 Garden Court Street. At that time the appelant wished to increase the height of the
main building and the ell to five stories. But it was denied as the design did not
provide adequate window openings as required by law. In 1916, two additional stories
were added to the main building and the ell, with window openings on the fourth and fifth
floors. A fire escape was erected by the McLauthlin Elevator Company. In 1932, a wooden
building was erected on the roof without a permit and in 19 38, the wooden structure was
removed by owner Carmine Reppucci.

Significance (cont'd)

This scheme actually got so far as to be printed up in an official 345-page United States
Senate document, " and as prelude to it Smith built his Egyptian-Assyrian-Roman Halls
of the Ancient on New York Avenue. A look at Washington today reveals — fortunately or
unfortunately — that the plan failed and that Smith had spent ten years of his life and
most of his own and his wife's money on a foolish and impossible dream.



\



ut this crackpot side of Franklin Webster Smith is only one side. To Bostonians today
the other side — which not only involves buildings but Boston buildings — is perhaps even
more interesting. Unlike Howells' fictional Silas Lapham, Smith did not himself come from
the country, though his father was born in Rowley and his mother in Provincetown.5
Smith himself was born in Boston in 1825 or 1826, probably in rented quarters at 25 Prince
Street in the North End. Then for several years his parents boarded — in the Howells
novel Lapham commisterates with Bartley Hubbard, who is boarding until he can afford to
rent or buy a house — at the Franklin Hotel on Merchant's Row. From 1830 to 1834 they lived
at 5 Sheaf e Street. But the house in which Franklin Smith grew to manhood — his first
real house — was the modest but substantial house built in 1834 at 10 (then 8)
Garden Court Street, only a few blocks from Prince and Sheaf e Streets.

Though just down the street from North Square and the Paul Revere house, the
neighborhood in 1834 was in one sense "new" and developing. The old detached houses
were fast disappearing into built-up streets. The old Hutchinson mansion directly
across Garden Court Street and the magnificent Clark-Frankland house on the corner
had recently been demolished to permit Bell Alley to be widened into a continuation
of Prince Street, and a new building-line had been established on Garden Court Street.
Hence it was not surprising that Franklin's father, Benjamin, a rising wharfinger and
coal and wood dealer, with his partner James Dexter bought a forty-foot lot from the
large Greenwood holding (which itself had been in 1794 divided from the even larger
Bronsdon lot) and built two houses separated by an arched passageway leading to a
common well and cistern. One, evidently built for speculation, was immediately
sold; the other became the Smiths' home.

Since no early photographs of Garden Court Street have been discovered and since
both houses have been drastically altered by the addition of storefronts, extra
stories, and new (probably late nineteenth-century or early twentieth-century)
facades, it is impossible to know exactly how 10 Garden Court Street looked in the
years (1834-1849) that the Smiths occupied it. If it had a handsome bow front
like that still on No. 6 two doors away, it may have had considerable grace. It



Municipal Buildings/Non-Profit Institutions

Ausonia Knights of Columbus #1513
39-41 North Margin Street

Boston Edison Sub-Station
73-77 Prince Street

Boston Police Academy
128 North Street

Children's Haven, Inc.
9 Salutation Street

City of Boston

Engine #8, Ladder #1 Fire Station

133 Salem Street

City of Boston

Ladder #1, Engine #8 Fire Station

392 Hanover Street

City of Boston

Printing Department Plant

174 North Street

Hull Street Medical Mission
36 Hull Street

Catherine Moore House
11 Tileston Street

North Bennet Street Industrial School
39 North Bennet Street

North End Bath House
30-32 North Bennet Street

North End Branch Library
25 Parmenter Street

North End Community Health Center
332 Hanover Street

North End Union, Inc.
20 Parmenter Street



BOSTON LANDMARKS COMMISSION




Building Information Form Form No.



Area North End



ADDRESS 39-41N Margin Street cOR. BTWN Cooper s Thacher

Ausonia Knights of
NAME ColnTTihn^. #1 SI ^



present

26N-13E
MAP NO. 27N-13E



George Robert White
Hp^lfh nnHi- ft?



original



SUB AREA N/W



DATE 1923









source






ARCHITECT


Coolidge,


Shepley


Bui finch


s Abbott (1)








source






BUILDER J.


Slotnik


S Company, Chelsea,


MA










source






OWNER City


of Boston




Knights


of


Columbus


original








present


PHOTOGRAPHS













19/330155/4692125



Ward 3 , Parcel 1304



Cnon-residentiai.'



gle double row 2-fam. 3-deck ten apt,



NO. OF STORIES Ust to cornice)



plus



ROOF



flat



MATERIALS



(Frame)
(other)



cupola



dormers



clapboards
brick



shingles



stucco asphalt asbestos alum/vinyl
^concrete iron/steel/alum.



BRIEF DESCRIPTION

This is a Georgian Revival structure of red flemish bond and sandstone trim and quoins.
A central portal of two stories includes a palladio window arch which spands the second
and third stories. A flat roof with balustrade of limestone on upper slope is evident.
All windows are 6/6 double hung sashes with flush stone sills, height of windows
decreases in each asce^^^nq story, the entrance has a round headed arched wooden
EXTERIOR ALTERATION <^inor) moderate drastic



CONDITION



fair poor



LOT AREA



14,868



sq.ft.



NOTEWORTHY SITE CHARACTERISTICS The building of 4341 sg. ft. is centered on and fronts
North Margin Street. It is sited on land totalling 14,868 sq. ft. A rear egress
leads onto Baldwin Place.



(Map)



SIGNIFICANCE (con't on reverse)

The George R. White Health Unit No. 2 was bilt by the City
of Boston as Trustees (2) of the George R. White Fund, a
request to be used expressly for purposes of community
improvement in Boston, the date of transfer to present
private owners, the Ausonia Council of Knights of
Columbus undetermined habit forming clinics, eye
clinics, periodic health examinations for adults,
vaccinations, schick work, toxin-antitoxin, and anti-



Moved; date if known



Themes Ccheck as many as applicable )



f



Aboriginal
Agricultural
Architect\iral
The Arts
Commerce
Communication
Community/
Development



Conservation
Education
Exploration/
settlement