12-16 Inn Street

History

The building at 12-16 Inn Street is a three-story brick commercial block, flanked by similar buildings. All of the buildings were apparently constructed about 1818. The side-gabled block is built of brick laid in a common bond, with six courses of stretchers alternating with a single row of headers.

Facing Inn Street pedestrian mall, there is a central entrance containing a modern six-panel door with partial sidelights. The door is capped by a row of three square panels and a semicircular wood panel, outlined by header brick.

On either side of the central opening is a storefront consisting of glass-and-wood double doors flanked by 3 x 4-light picture windows cut into the wall. Both of the storefronts are topped by header brick lintels. Six wooden 12/8 windows with brick header lintels punctuate the second floor; there is no opening in the center. On the third floor, there are six smaller 8/8 windows with a smaller 6/6 window in the center.

The rear (west) wall of the building is set back slightly from the adjacent building to the south. The fenestration pattern on the west wall consists of two modern windows, doors on the first floor, and two bays of windows on the ends of the floors above.

What is now Inn Street is located approximately where a major conflagration started in 1811, destroying much of Market Square. Inn Street was laid out in 1818 as part of the reconstruction of the area after the fire. This block and its neighbors were probably built shortly after the street was laid out.

As in most business areas, the businesses on Inn Street changed frequently, and 12-16 Inn Street was no exception. Josiah R. Brady manufactured cigars at 12 Inn Street beginning in the 1870s. The 1888 Sanborn map shows the building containing a cigar store and a fruit store. Around the turn of the century, Harry Brooks operated a restaurant at 16 Inn Street; between 1909 and 1919, Benjamin Nesmer owned it. In the early 20th century, a cobbler was also located here. By the 1960s, the building was vacant.

Most of the buildings on Inn Street were demolished as part of Urban Renewal in the late 1960s and 1970s. In 1971, Richard E. Sullivan of the Merrimack Valley Credit Bureau was selected as the developer of 12-16 Inn Street, known as Urban Renewal parcel 9C. Work on the building was completed in April 1973. The Inn Street pedestrian mall was completed in 1974.