- Built
- c. 1855
- Style
- Colonial Revival Colonial Revival
- Neighborhood
- High Street District
- MACRIS
- NWB.25 ↗
- Formerly
- 104–106 High Street
History
This house was initially built as a double house between 1851 and 1872. At that time, the house was transitional in style, with heavy window lintels, doorways, and features of both the late Greek Revival and Italianate styles. The house suffered a serious fire on February 24, 1894.
The roof was burned, and much of the building's interior finish was destroyed. In the years that followed, the building was substantially rebuilt after the fire. Today, the house is the finest example of a Georgian Revival building in Newburyport. The house details are excellent, and there is an incredible amount of information. The gambrel roof is steeper than it would have been if built in the eighteenth century. The Palladian window in the gambrel’s end is also a feature that would not occur in an earlier age. The doorways and roof balustrade are exceedingly ornate. The entrances and their porticos are inspired by the Federal style, so standard on High Street.
Historical Significance
This house was originally built about 1860. The house burned in 1894, when it was owned by Reverend Louis A. Pope and Mrs. William Mosley. Reverend Pope served as minister of the Baptist Church and Society of Newburyport from 1889 to 1901. He was also president of the Newburyport Choral Union in 1896.
Rev. William A. Moseley was born in Newburyport and graduated from Harvard. He studied for the ministry and was a pastor for a Unitarian Church in Burlington, Vermont, and afterwards in South Scituate, Massachusetts. At his death in 1894, Moseley left a trust to his sister, which was to be given to the Newburyport Public Library at her death. He also left generous sums to the Howard Benevolent Society and the General Charitable Society of Newburyport.
Planning work on this building?
Reviews that may apply
Newburyport Historic District (National Register, listed 1984) · Downtown Overlay District (DOD) · Parcel 14-47-A/C · Zone R3
Planning Board decides
Downtown, new construction, alteration or demolition of a historic building (individually listed or contributing in 1984) needs a DOD special permit, judged against the Secretary of the Interior's Standards; the Historical Commission sends an advisory report. Replacing windows, doors, signs, awnings or fences is reviewed by the Planning Office at staff level, with a window inventory; a new opening in a wall needs the Board. This lot is in an underlying R3 district, where alterations (not demolition) of a one- or two-family house are excluded from DOD review. The demolition delay ordinance does not apply downtown except to work the Zoning Administrator excludes from DOD review.
Zoning Administrator first stop
Every project starts with a zoning determination from the Zoning Administrator, which says which of these reviews apply and whether the work also needs zoning relief (a special permit for a non-conformity, or a variance). Fees, forms and filing deadlines are on the City’s site.
Not legal advice, not an official City publication, and not the position of the Historical Commission or any board. Says what the ordinances say as of September 30, 2026; the Zoning Administrator decides what applies. Boundaries: Merrimack Valley Planning Commission / City of Newburyport GIS (MIMAP); 1984 status from the National Register nomination's district data sheets. City's quick guide to the DCOD and demolition delay ↗ · Do I need approval? Project by project →
Details
1 close-up
From the archive
3 items · maps, papers, old photographs
More built 1830–1860
Sources
- Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System - NWB.25
- 1914 Sanborn map, sheet 17 (Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division, Sanborn Maps Collection)