1 Middle Street

History

Located at the northeast corner of State and Middle Streets, 1-5 State Street is a three-story brick block displaying an angular, slightly irregular plan. The building is constructed of brick laid in a Flemish bond and later sandblasted, resulting in significant pitting of the brick surfaces and spalling of the sandstone lintels.

The main, three-story block has a State Street facade that measures six bays wide. A later two-story addition, two bays wide, fills the space between the original building and the South Row to the north. The brick on the addition is laid in a stretcher bond, and the building is capped by an iron railing. The storefront at the corner of Middle and State Streets has an iron corner column resting on a brick-and-concrete base. A surviving granite post and base remain from the original storefront. The angled door contains a c. 1970 glass-and-wood door. The adjacent display window facing Middle Street has three vertical panes over a paneled wooden bulkhead and granite base. Facing State Street is a full storefront with a recessed entrance flanked by two display windows on one side and a single shop window on the other. Above the granite base, there is a wooden-paneled bulkhead with a wide frieze above the windows, and metal columns visible inside. A fluted Colonial Revival surround marks the upstairs entry. The final storefront, at 1 Middle Street, dates to the early 20th century and has a modern glass-and-panel door flanked by two display windows capped by two-light transoms. Wide, paneled wooden pilasters support the simple frieze. Adjacent, a single arched window opening punctuates the brick wall. The upstairs windows on the Middle Street elevation are less regular in their spacing but, like the front, display splayed lintels.

The upstairs openings feature modern 6/6 wooden windows, supplemented by wooden inserts to fill the larger openings. The smaller third-floor openings also contain 6/6 sash. A tall brick chimney rises from the south side of the low-gable roof. A low gabled firewall separates this block from the adjacent Middle Street buildings.

The building at 1-5 State Street was probably constructed shortly after the 1811 fire. A pharmacy was first established at 1 State Street by Daniel Smith in the early 19th century. An article in the Newburyport Daily News in 1890 refers to this as the oldest store in Newburyport. The store was taken over by Samuel A. Smith before 1860. By 1886, the store had been purchased by W. Lunt Bartlett. A woodcut of the exterior of the storefront appears in the Daily News on October 11, 1890. Edward W. Eaton opened Eaton’s Drug Store at 1 State Street in 1900 and remained at the location until 1922, when it moved to State and Pleasant Streets. The Rite Price Store was located here in the 1930s and 40s, and the space was later occupied by Pete’s Shoe Service in the 1950s and 60s.

Samuel Stevens, Jr., was selling cloth and dry goods at 5 State Street in 1849. Shortly thereafter, the space was taken over by Toppan & Pingry, grocers and dealers in West Indian goods. The storefront at 5 State Street was occupied as a grocery store in 1888, by a variety store in 1894, and by a restaurant by 1906. The restaurant was operated under various names, including Ideal Lunch (c. 1940) and Currier’s Ocean Grill (c. 1950). In 1961, the entire block was sold by Victor Fields of Brockton to Andronikos and Angelina Kosta. Kosta operated Andy’s diner on Merrimac Street and operated the former Ideal Restaurant as the New Yorker restaurant.

The upstairs hall has been used by various groups over the years. The Order of United American Mechanics, John Sumner Council, No. 28, met here beginning about 1905, and the hall was known as the Central Labor Union Hall. Later groups included the Knights of Pythias and the Hellenic American Club in the 1930s and 1940s.