The Lucian Newhall House is a historic house in
Lynn, Massachusetts
Lynn is the eighth-largest municipality in Massachusetts and the largest city in Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line at Suffolk Downs, Lynn is part of Greater Boston's urban inner core. Settled by E ...
. Built in 1866 for a prominent local businessman, it is a high-quality example of
Second Empire architecture
Second Empire style, also known as the Napoleon III style, is a highly eclectic style of architecture and decorative arts, which uses elements of many different historical styles, and also made innovative use of modern materials, such as i ...
. It was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
(as being at 281 Ocean Street) in 1985,
and included in the
Diamond Historic District in 1996.
Description and history
The Lucian Newhall House stands in Lynn's
Diamond District, a residential area where the city's elite lived during the period of historical significance. The house stands at the northeast corner of Nahant and Ocean Streets, presenting finished facades to both streets.
It is a -story wood-frame structure, with a flared
mansard roof
A mansard or mansard roof (also called a French roof or curb roof) is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope, punctured by dormer windows, at a steeper angle than the upper. The ...
. At the center of the roof is a square cupola with three round-arch windows on each side, and a broad-eaved hip-roof with an elaborate bracketed cornice. The building corners have wooden block quoining, and eaves—like those of the cupola—adorned with an elaborated bracketed cornice. The house's Nahant Street facade is three bays wide, with single-story projecting bays flanking a center entrance. The entrance is sheltered by an elaborate porch, which is joined to the roofs of the flanking bays and topped by a third projecting bay. Dormers with elaborate window-surrounds encompass round-arch windows, the center of which has a double window and is recessed. The Ocean Street facade of the house has a similar plan and decoration, but its ground-floor bays are rectangular, and its three roof dormers identical.
[
The house was built in 1866 for Lucian Newhall (October 14, 1824 – May 17, 1898), a descendant of early Lynn settlers. Newhall was one of the first local businessmen to establish a shoe factory in the city's Central Business District (in 1847), and remained in the shoe business until 1875. Newhall's house is one of the most visually prominent in the Diamond District.][
]
See also
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Notes
A common misspelling of "Lucian" is as "Lucien".
References
{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Buildings and structures in Lynn, Massachusetts
Houses in Essex County, Massachusetts
National Register of Historic Places in Lynn, Massachusetts
Historic district contributing properties in Massachusetts
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Essex County, Massachusetts
Houses completed in 1866
Second Empire architecture in Massachusetts