15 Tremont Street

History

The house at 15 Tremont Street is a well-preserved, vernacular example of the Italianate style, constructed c. 1872. It is a 2½-story, wood-frame dwelling with a symmetrical five-bay façade, center entry, and a side-gable roof. The structure rests on a brick foundation and is clad in wood clapboards with paneled corner boards.

Flanking the entry are paired projecting bays on each side of the façade. These bays are detailed with paneled pilasters, bracketed eaves, and polygonal roofs, which add a three-dimensional quality to the front elevation. The roofline is articulated by broad gables with pedimented returns and molded trim.

The use of projecting bays, tall windows, and deep eaves underscores the Italianate influence. At the same time, the overall plan and scale suggest a vernacular adaptation of the style typical of post-Civil War Newburyport.

Historical Narrative

The home at 15 Tremont Street was constructed circa 1872 by Edward Dole, a local businessman, shortly after purchasing Lot No. 5 from the DeFord estate. The parcel was part of a subdivision laid out by engineer Rufus Sargent and auctioned in 1871, described in local newspapers as one of the most significant real estate transactions in Newburyport in years. The house and associated barn were valued at $8,000 at the time of their construction.

Over the ensuing decades, the home was occupied by a succession of Newburyport families, many of whom are documented in local newspaper articles. In 1894, the property was acquired by Thomas Glynn, whose descendants would reside at the address into the early 20th century. Newspaper records reveal that Thomas Glynn’s daughters, Agnes McGrath and Margaret Glynn, continued to occupy the home, with several deaths and milestones recorded at this address.

By 1921, the house had passed to Grace Clark Fernald and, by 1927, to Ernest J. Boutin, a Newburyport resident who was involved in a traffic summons reported in 1931. The property was foreclosed upon multiple times in the 1930s and 1940s, with the Newburyport Co-Operative Bank temporarily holding the deed on at least three occasions. In 1945, the property was acquired by George G. Blaisdell and later by Adam and Wanda Jurek, who were involved in a minor dog-related incident reported in 1954 and a small fire in 1946.

The Belliveau family occupied the home from the mid-1950s through the 1960s, as noted in multiple ambulance call records and obituaries in the Newburyport Daily News. The house was sold in 1981 to Dianne Learned and later to Brian E. Owens in 1983.