Stearns Tavern, Worcester

In June, the owner of one of the oldest buildings in the city of Worcester went before the Worcester Historical Commission, seeking to waive the city's one-year demolition delay ordinance. While he did not have any immediate plans for the building, he knew the Historical Commission would not waive the demolition delay for such an old building, and he wanted to get the clock running on the one-year limit (see below for more information on demolition delay bylaws). The building he was looking to demolish was the former Stearns Tavern at 651 Park Avenue. The large 1812 tavern was moved from its original location on Main Street in 1974, and has served as a bank ever since. Bank of America, the last tenant, vacated the building in 2013, and since that time the owner has struggled to find a new tenant and to pay for the upkeep of the building. At the Historical Commission meeting, he expressed his willingness to work with the Historical Commission, the city, and Preservation Worcester to find a tenant or a new owner for the building. Most importantly, he is willing to let the building go for $1 and attorney's fees if someone is interested in moving it to a new site.

Several sources describe the early history of the Stearns Tavern, originally located at 1030 Main Street in what was historically known as New Worcester. The tavern first opened on May 12, 1812 with Charles Stearns (1747 – 1828) as the tavernkeeper. On that day, “a liberty pole was raised on the spot where Loring Coes’ house now stands, a barrel of punch was served up to the crowd outside, and the day was devoted to quoit pitching, ball playing, and other amusements. This was the first inauguration of New Worcester.” Caleb A. Wall’s Reminiscences of Worcester… notes that Stearns built the tavern shortly before he opened it. Stearns’ great-granddaughter, Margaret Harlowe, heard from her mother that Stearns had built the tavern, and lived there with his second wife. Stearns’ deed of purchase for the property has not been located, which would clarify when Stearns acquired the property and if there were any buildings standing on the property when he purchased it.

Stearns only operated the tavern for a few years before selling it to Daniel Phelps Haynes and Uriah Stone (1794/5 – 1880) in 1821. Like Stearns, Haynes and Stone only held the tavern for a few years. They sold the property to brothers Edward and Joseph Curtis in 1826. Less than ten years later the Curtis brothers sold the property to Charles M. DeLand (d. 1851) in 1835. DeLand appears to have operated the tavern up until his death in 1851, from heart disease. That same year, he is listed in a city directory as having a “house of entertainment” in New Worcester. DeLand had several heirs and owned a large amount of property in the area, including a large parcel to the south of the tavern lot.

The rear of the Stearns Tavern, behind the main body of the house.

After he sold the tavern, Uriah Stone chose to stay in the area. He purchased two lots from the widow of Charles Stearns, Elizabeth, in the 1830s. The first was a four-acre lot with a house on the north side of the street, and the second was a much larger 35-acre lot of farmland on the south side of the street. The deed for the smaller lot mentions the Curtis tavern in its boundaries, indicating that the tavern lot was not part of the land he purchased from Elizabeth Stearns. However at some point before 1857, the tavern and its lot were transferred back to Uriah Stone. The deed of this transfer has not been found, but Stone is marked on maps at the location beginning in 1857, and is referenced in deeds for nearby parcels. No evidence has been found that shows Stone operating the tavern during his second round of ownership. There is conflicting information about whether Stone even lived in the building during the second half of the 19th century. An 1886 essay makes note of the “tavern standing some rods south of [Stone’s] farm house,” however numerous directories and census records list Stone as living at 1030 Main Street, the address of the tavern.

Stone “was a farmer, and early acquired considerable land in Worcester which eventually greatly increased in value with the rapid growth of the town into an important city.” On the larger parcel of land he owned south of Main Street, Stone’s sons Lucian B. and William U. Stone operated a stage company and later an omnibus company. The Stone stages and omnibuses traveled between Worcester and Leicester, where the family had several connections. After his father’s death, Lucian Burnap Stone (1829 – 1910) took charge of the family estate, managing it for 30 years before his own death. Lucian B. Stone “was a capable man of business and efficient in public affairs,” continuing to live on the family lands after his father passed. The younger Stone was also heavily involved in local government. “For 15 years he was highway commissioner of Worcester, served as alderman of the city, and was representative to the Massachusetts Legislature in 1907 and 1908.” After the turn of the century, Lucian B. Stone began subdividing his father Uriah’s land, filing numerous plans with the Worcester County Registry of Deeds for what would become the neighborhoods in the area.

Because Lucian B. Stone did not have any children, he passed the Stone family real estate to Georgiana Luvanne Stone (b. 1869), his brother George Edward Stone’s daughter. Georgiana L. Stone married James Edward Ives, an English scientist, in 1903. Ives received his Ph.D. from Clark University in 1901, and after 1912 was an honorary fellow in physics there. The couple resided on the family estate in Worcester, and after Lucian B. Stone’s death, began to subdivide even more of the property.

The rear of the Stearns Tavern, behind the two-story ell on the side of the house. An ell was removed when the building was moved, and replaced with the bank's drive-through.

It was during this wave of development, in 1927, when the tavern was sold out of the Stone family, to Arthur E. Anderson and Edith I. Hendrick. Anderson and Hendrick had an antique shop in a barn behind the Hendrick family house at 772 Pleasant Street. They purchased the tavern with the intent to restore it and use it as a setting for their wares. According to a newspaper article of the time,

The house is to be entirely done over inside, with the reproductions of old-fashioned wall-papers. Some of the rooms are to be painted, as was often done at that time. The floors will be painted, and will have hooked rugs and other floor covering in vogue when the house was new. Every room will be furnished in furniture of the period and pictures, ornaments, dishes, copper, few, candle-sticks—every thing will be in keeping [sic].

It is likely that at this time a mural found in one of the rooms was painted; it depicts scenes from the Revolutionary War, particularly the battle of the Lexington and Concord. The Old Furniture Shop operated out of the house until the end of the 1950s.

In 1960, Robert F. and Mary B. Harrington purchased the property and converted it to a carpet store, Harrington House of Carpets. The carpet store operated until Robert’s death, after which Mary B. Harrington sold the property to Shirley A. Olson in 1973. A few months later, Homcorp, Inc. purchased the property. Newspaper articles from the time indicate that Worcester’s Home Federal Savings & Loan planned to use the parcel of land as an investment, as they also purchased the house next door at 1036 Main Street a week after they purchased the tavern property. The bank planned to move the tavern a half-mile to its new location at 651 Park Avenue to serve as a branch location. In early July of 1974, Merry Contracting Service of Duxbury moved the tavern to its new location, but the process proved to be more difficult than expected. While the side ell was easy to lift and move, the house proved harder to jack up, and even snapped the axle of one of the trucks being used to tow it.

When the house was finally settled on its new site, the bank set about restoring most of the main house, opening the space for tours. A single-story addition was added to the front of the ell, to create modern space for the bank’s tellers. Some space in the main house was also taken for bank offices. While various banks owned the building, Salloom Realty Trust, the current owner, owned the land, leasing the rights to the land back to the banks. Several bank branches were housed in the building, the most recent being Bank of America, which vacated the premises in May of 2013 leaving the building empty. The owner now has to pay to take care of the building, in addition to paying the property taxes, greatly increasing his costs. He is hoping to find a new tenant for the building, but is also willing to let someone move the building to a new location. The tavern is in excellent condition, and its large size makes it highly adaptable.

The bank added space to the two-story ell on the side of the house. The roof of the ell was extended down to cover a single-story addition across the front of the ell. This is where most of the banking operations were, including space for tellers.

Demolition Delay Bylaws: municipalities in Massachusetts can enact a demolition delay bylaw that covers historic buildings. These bylaws gives the local Historical Commission time to work with owners who are seeking to demolish their historic building, to see if there is a way to save the building, either by incorporating it into the owner's plans, moving it, or finding a new owner for it. These delays vary in length from six to eighteen months, with six months the typical length. It is up to the municipality what triggers the delay - buildings older than 50 or 100 years, or buildings on the State or National Register, are common triggers. The success of the delay depends on an active and informed Historical Commission as well as an owner willing to work with the commission. Often, if the owner knows they have a historic building where the delay will be imposed, they will apply early to waive the demolition delay, then simply wait it out, reducing the effectiveness of the demolition delay as a preservation tool.

The Odd Fellows Home, Worcester - Lost

The Romanesque Revival style Odd Fellows Home was opened in 1892 to serve as a home for aged members of the fraternal order. A 1902 Classical Revival wing expanded the building’s capacity. Sited on a hilltop overlooking Worcester, the Odd Fellows Home provided sweeping views of the city for its residents. A much-loved local landmark, the building’s five-story clock tower was visible from around the city. One of a number of hospitals and institutions built on the outskirts of Worcester at the end of the 19th century, the Odd Fellows Home occupied this grand building for nearly 100 years until the organization opened a modern facility next door in 1990. After a portion of the building served as a church for a few years, the building was left vacant and deteriorated from a lack of maintenance. The current owner purchased the Odd Fellows Home with the intent to demolish the building and replace it with a single-story nursing home. The demolition was completed during July and August of 2014.

Below are photographs of the Odd Fellows Home during a visit with the current owner in 2012.

Dunroving, Worcester - The Aksila Brothers

Working in the Dunroving neighborhood at about the same time as Edward Lavallee were the Aksila brothers. They developed Old Brook Drive, which would eventually connect with Lavallee's Aylesbury Road. Old Brook Drive led south from Moreland Street, an area the Aksilas also developed. They chose to build exclusively Tudors in this neighborhood, all during the 1940s. Several lots at the southern end of Old Brook Drive were not sold until the 1950s and 1960s; these houses were not built by the Aksilas, and differ greatly in style from their Tudors. The Tudors vary greatly in their massing and styles, but all have half-timbering and bricks laid with scattered stone or slate.

4 Old Brook Drive

5 Old Brook Drive

Brothers Ames and Anton Aksila were involved in the family business of carpentry. Their father, Mati, had arrived in the U. S. from Finland in 1894, settling in Worcester thereafter. Mati's children, including Ames and Anton, are all listed as carpenters or builders in various Worcester city directories from the first half of the 20th century. There are also numerous entries for real estate trusts owned by the Aksilas at the Worcester County Registry of Deeds, suggesting they were very busy with their real estate and building business.

7 Old Brook Drive

9 Old Brook Drive

The Aksilas worked not only on Old Brook Drive and Moreland Street, but also just to the south, on Jamesbury Drive and Knollwood Drive. An ad from a Worcester city directory in the 1950s shows Ames Aksila and the house the brothers built at 2 Jamesbury Drive. The neighborhood is notable because it has a conservative synagogue, Congregation Beth Israel. The synagogue's campus buildings were constructed in 1959 not by the Aksilas, but by R. L. Whipple Co., a Worcester firm that did work in the Dunroving area.

2 Jamesbury Drive today

A city directory ad from the 1950s showing 2 Jamesbury Drive

This coming Wednesday,  April 30, I will be giving a talk on the Dunroving development, its history, and its buildings. Free and open to the public at Preservation Worcester (10 Cedar St., Worcester) at 5:30 pm.

April Talk at Preservation Worcester

On Wednesday, April 30 at Preservation Worcester, I will be giving a talk about a project I've been working on for the organization - "It Doesn't Have to Look Old to be Historic: Worcester's Mid-20th-Century Dunroving Neighborhood." One of Worcester's more suburban neighborhoods, Dunroving was developed between the 1930s and 1970s. The area is a mix of Colonial Revival, Tudor, and Modern houses. Its early residents were white-collar workers from Worcester's major companies, as well as doctors and lawyers; later, the population shifted to become almost entirely Jewish. I'll be discussing the history of the neighborhood, the developers, the residents, and the different styles of buildings.

The talk begins at 5:30 pm and is free and open to the public. More information can be found on Preservation Worcester's website.

Read my previous posts about Dunroving here:

Dunroving, Worcester - The Background

Dunroving, Worcester - Edward Lavallee

Dunroving, Worcester - Edward Lavallee

I have been progressing in my work on the Dunroving neighborhood in Worcester, and wanted to begin giving a description of the developers who worked in the neighborhood. I'll begin with Edward Lavallee, who developed the southern section of the neighborhood, along Flagg Street. Lavallee laid out the streets that would eventually be extended north by E. Whitehead Inc. He was working at roughly the same time as the Aksila brothers, who developed Old Brook Drive off of Moreland Street.

Lavallee did an interview with the Worcester Sunday Telegram in 1975 where he looked back on his career as a builder; Lavallee was 92 at the time. He had no formal training in the construction industry; he began his working career as a moulder at Crompton & Knowles, a prominent Worcester company that manufactured textile machinery. In the 1920s he began purchasing land and building houses, hiring a crew of workmen to do the construction. Lavallee worked all over the city, and estimated that he built around 400 houses during his career, spanning the 1920s to the 1940s. He was know for the quality of his construction, and this is reflected in building permits: the estimated cost of his houses is regularly a few thousand dollars above other houses of the same period.

Two of Edward Lavallee's very traditional Colonial Revival style houses, at 1 Aylesbury Road and 22 Brookshire Road.

Lavallee purchased approximately 43 acres in the Dunroving area in 1930. It had been part of the Chamberlain-Flagg farm, and included the late 18th century farmhouse at 2 Brookshire Road. Lavallee apparently planned to demolish the farmhouse, but was convinced to let it stand. Of the neighborhood, Lavallee "knew the city was ready for something big in that section," and he set out to make it one of the most impressive residential areas in the city. Working in the 1930s and 1940s, he constructed a variety of Colonial Revival and Cape style houses. The houses are not overly large, but it is evident from their detail and current condition that Lavallee took great care in their construction. Lavallee's new development quickly developed the reputation he wanted, as many of the earliest residents were executives at some of Worcester's prominent companies, such as Crompton & Knowles, Wyman-Gordon, and Norton Company.

2 Brookshire Road differs slightly from other Lavallee houses with its Tudor styling; 126 Flagg Street is a modified Cape.

Nearly all of Lavallee's houses in this neighborhood were done in the Colonial Revival style. What is interesting about the buildings is that there is both variety, but several forms also repeat. It is unclear how Lavallee came up with the designs for his houses; while in his interview he mentions hiring a good foreman and a good crew of builders, he makes no mention of the design process. So it is unknown if he designed the houses himself (unlikely, given that he had no formal training) or if he had someone else design the buildings for him. One possibility I considered in my research is that he built Sears houses. During the early part of the 20th century, the Sears Roebuck company sold complete house kits by mail-order. The houses came in a variety of styles and sizes, to suit all tastes and locations. And while one of Lavallee's Capes that repeats several times appears very similar to a Sears house, without interior access to the building, it is hard to say for sure if he did indeed build Sears houses. It is also possible that he took the designs of the Sears buildings and used them as models, building his own houses from scratch to the company's designs.

Lavallee's house at 122 Flagg Street appears very similar to the Attleboro, a Sears house from 1935. Lavallee used this Cape with the same detailing several other times in the neighborhood, as seen below at 5 Brookshire Road and 136 Flagg Street.

In addition to this neighborhood, Lavallee also worked nearby, further west down Flagg Street. The neighborhood includes, Gaskill Road, Rittenhouse Road, Beeching Street, and Frontenac Road. In that area he built a mix of Tudors and Colonial Revivals; the same quality and variety is reflected in that neighborhood. In directories from the time he was working, Lavallee is listed as living at 37 Flagg Street, at the corner of Rittenhouse Road and Flagg Street, suggesting he was living where he was working. The house is a very large two-story brick Colonial Revival with four full-height columns supporting a portico over the middle of the house; it is in keeping with Lavallee's style, and it is very likely that he built the house himself. Aside from his 1972 interview, there is almost no other information available about Lavallee. He was a prolific local builder, but he was just one of many local builders working in the middle of the century, a time when the country was experiencing a huge building boom as many city residents sought a more suburban lifestyle.

Edward Lavallee, and another one of his Colonial Revival houses at 7 Brookshire Road.

Crown Hill Local Historic District

            The City of Worcester recently designated a 40-acre area of Crown Hill a local historic district.  This provides both recognition and protection for the historic buildings within the district.  Crown Hill is one of the city’s oldest residential neighborhoods, with the city’s highest concentration of Greek Revival buildings.  The Crown Hill Local Historic District is bound roughly by Pleasant, Irving, Austin, and Newbury Streets, and includes 152 buildings and 21 vacant parcels or parking lots.  Local historic districts are one of the most important tools at a preservationist’s disposal.  They are used to help preserve an area of a city or town that has retained a significant amount of its historic fabric and character.  Designating these areas as a local historic district helps to prevent inappropriate changes that might negatively impact the area’s historic nature.

             Although the Crown Hill area was subdivided at the beginning of the 19th century, major development did not occur until the second half of the century.  The area’s location just outside of Downtown Worcester made it an ideal site for a middle-class residential district.  As a result, many of the buildings are high style examples of popular mid- and late-19th century styles, such as Greek Revival, Italianate, Second Empire, and Stick Style.  Crown Hill declined, like much of the rest of the city, throughout the 20th century.  Some of the buildings were subdivided into apartments, while others were demolished and replaced by parking lots and modern structures.  Preservation Worcester (then the Worcester Heritage Society) began working in the area in the 1970s, buying properties, rehabilitating them, and reselling them with preservation restrictions to insure their future preservation.  This spurred other local property owners into action, and today the area’s historic character remains visible throughout the district.  Only a small number of buildings have been significantly altered, and few infill buildings disrupt the historic streetscape.  Out of the 152 buildings within the proposed district, only 19 are considered non-contributing, or non-historic.

            Local historic districts provide a local-level review process with the goal of preserving the district’s historic character.  There are over 200 local historic districts in Massachusetts, and Worcester has two other districts: the Massachusetts Avenue Local Historic District was established in 1975, and the Montvale Local Historic District was created in 1993.  The Worcester Historical Commission oversees all three of the districts.  The Oxford-Crown Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976, and this district was expanded in 1980.  However National Register listing provides little real protection for buildings.  Creating the Crown Hill Local Historic District ensures that there is local review of changes in the district.  The new district is also larger than the area covered by the National Register listing, allowing for review of more properties and thus having even more of an impact.  Local historic district regulations apply to non-historic structures and vacant parcels, enabling the Worcester Historical Commission to make certain future development in the neighborhood is in keeping with its historic character.  While there are various federal and state statutes that provide protection for historic buildings, these are limited in their reach.  Aside from preservation restrictions on individual buildings, local historic districts provide some of the best protection for historic buildings.

            The enabling legislation that allows for the creation of local historic districts, Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 40C, was passed in 1960.  This legislation outlines the process by which a city or town may create a local historic district and how the district will operate.  First, City Council creates a study committee; this committee is tasked with examining the historic resources of the area under consideration, and then writing a bylaw to present to City Council.  This bylaw discusses the boundaries of the district as well as the guidelines the local historic district commission will follow in reviewing changes within the district.  In the case of Crown Hill, a study committee was created by city council in September of 2008 at the request of Crown Hill residents.  Following the enabling legislation, a survey of the proposed area’s historic resources is undertaken, ensuring that the study committee is fully educated as they write the bylaw.  A survey of Crown Hill was done in 2010, updating and expanding upon existing information about the area; this survey is now available on the City’s website.  The Massachusetts Historical Commission must approve the study and bylaw before they can be presented to City Council.  Crown Hill’s study and bylaw were approved late last year, and the Worcester Historical Commission voted to pass them on to City Council.  The bylaw passed City Council on March 12, creating the Crown Hill Local Historic District.

            As mentioned earlier, a small section of the proposed Crown Hill Local Historic District is also a National Register of Historic Places district.  There are some important distinctions between these two types of districts.  While the Crown Hill Neighborhood Association has been very active in the creation of the local historic district, local historic districts can be designated without the input or approval of the district’s residents.  This allows a city’s government to protect an area of the city for the greater good, giving local historic districts a greater purpose; their regulations are to preserve the past not only for current residents, but also for future generations.  In the case of a National Register district, however, a majority of property owners must consent to the listing.  What kinds of changes the two districts review also differs.  Properties in a National Register district will only undergo a review process if the work to be done to a property involves federal or state licensing, permitting, or funds.  Since most homeowners do not need or use any of these things when they renovate or rehabilitate their house, National Register listing has little direct impact on an area.  But for local historic districts, generally any changes that are visible from a public way can be reviewed.  It is important to note that only changes will be reviewed; routine maintenance does not fall under the local historic district commission’s purview.

            As evidenced by both the condition of their houses and their efforts to get the district created, Crown Hill residents are very proud of their neighborhood.  Crown Hill has a high number of historic buildings, and many of these buildings still retain all of their trim and have few additions.  The district has seen little infill, with only a small percentage of buildings considered non-contributing.  The neighborhood is also significant as one of the oldest residential neighborhoods in Worcester.  For all of these reasons, Crown Hill was an ideal candidate for designation as a local historic district.  With the creation of the Crown Hill Local Historic District, a local review process will guard against any inappropriate alterations to the numerous historic buildings, helping to protect the neighborhood’s historic character into the future.

This article originally appeared in an edited form in the Fall, 2013 edition of Preservation Worcester's Preservation Matters newsletter.

Dunroving, Worcester - The Background

For the past several months I have been working on a major project at Preservation Worcester: surveying and inventorying a neighborhood in the city that has a mix of 1930s-1940s Colonial Revival houses and 1960s-1970s Modern (or Contemporary) houses. The neighborhood was brought to our attention by a resident, Kristina Wilson, who is also a professor of Art History at Clark University. She found it interesting because the neighborhood has long been known for its large Jewish population, and she was interested in the connection between the Jewish residents and the Modern houses. I began my work on the neighborhood in the spring, and this past week I assisted Kristina with a class she is co-teaching this fall with a geography professor, Deb Martin. The class is focused on suburbia and the idea of freedom. On Friday, I helped the class begin writing inventory forms about another nearby street (Denison Road) that was nominally part of the development and has 15 1930s Colonial Revival houses on it. 

The area is in the northwest of Worcester, roughly bound by Flagg Street on the south, Salisbury Street on the east, and Moreland Street on the north and west.  Salisbury Street is a main Worcester artery that heads northwest out of downtown towards the neighboring town of Paxton. The area was originally on the outskirts of the city, and as such was mostly rural, with large farms existing into the 20th century.

The land the neighborhood now sits on was originally part of the Chamberlain-Flagg farm. The Flagg family owned the property for most of the 19th century, and it was finally sold out of the family in the 1920s, when the developers of the neighborhood purchased it. One of the developers intended to demolish the mid-18th century Chamberlain-Flagg House, but luckily he chose not to, and the house still stands at 2 Brookshire Road. It is thought to be one of the oldest, if not the oldest, houses in Worcester.

As seen above in 1922, the area was still divided into large parcels. 2 Brookshire Road, the Chamberlain-Flagg house, is part of the two-triangles property on Flagg Street. This would eventually be purchased by Edward Lavalle, who would also purchase much of the "(E. Flagg Est.) L. A. Kent" land to the north of it. To the northeast of Edward Lavallee, the large "Wm. MacKay" estate, listed as 92 acres, was purchased by E. Whitehead, Inc. This included land on both sides of Salisbury Street which the firm would develop for single-family housing. The final area covered by my research is the land owned by "P. H. Durrey" to the north of the Whitehead's land. This was purchased by two brothers, Ames and Anton Aksila, who would go on to develop multiple neighborhoods in this area. Below is a modern map showing the developers and their respective parcels.

The lot marked with an "X" that separates the Whitehead's land into two parcels was purchased by John H. Eresian, an Armenian immigrant. The lot was originally five acres, but Eresian split it into two 2.5-acre lots that would become 162 and 164 Flagg Street. Eresian would keep 162 for himself, and sold 164 to a fellow Armenian immigrant. Both houses are done in the Spanish Eclectic style; however while Ereisan designed and built 164 himself, he hired the architect Jasper Rustigian to design 162. Interestingly, Rustigian was also an Armenian immigrant.  Today the lot of 164 maintains the original long and narrow 2.5-acre configuration, but the lot of 162 was subdivided in the 1950s and 1960s, and now makes up the eastern side of Meadowbrook Road.

The house at 162 Flagg Street, designed by Jasper Rustigian. The Spanish Eclectic styling of 162 and 164 Flagg Street stand out in the neighborhood, which is full of more traditional Colonial Revival houses.

This is the start of a series of posts highlighting this neighborhood and my work there. Up next, information on the Aksila brothers and their work in the area.