16-18 Fruit Street

History

The house at 16–18 Fruit Street is a good example of the three-story, hip-roofed Federal house form with foreshortened third-story windows. The 5 × 2-bay house is set with its broad elevation to Fruit Street. It rests on a brick foundation and is sheathed in vinyl siding. Underneath the projecting eaves is an arcaded cornice (see also 2–4 Fruit Street). Two interior brick chimneys rise from the roof.

The center entrance is sheltered by a single-story, flat-roofed enclosed porch with bracketed eaves, which appears to date to the mid-19th century. Both the outer and inner doors are Greek Revival in style, consisting of a four-panel door flanked by full sidelights and a transom light. Windows on the structure consist primarily of double-hung 6/6 sash, which are fitted with storms and shutters, and on the first and second floors are capped by entablature lintels. There are no entablatures on the south elevation, and later, in the late 19th century, peaked lintels were installed over the windows and door on the north elevation to mirror those on the adjacent 14 Fruit Street. The third-floor windows have 3 × 2 lights and are lintelless.

Behind the north half of the house (16 Fruit Street), there is an offset two-story, gable-roofed ell with an overhang under the pediment facing the street. Set behind 18 Fruit Street is a two-story, flat-roofed ell, which is four bays deep and terminates with a single-story ell, two bays deep, at the rear.

The house is set close to the street with a row of four granite posts along the brick sidewalk. The driveway to the south of the house terminates at a three-story brick building oriented with three bays to the street. On the first floor, there are two garage doors and a loft door centered on the second floor. Windows feature double-hung, modern 1/1 sash fitted with storms.

The land on which this house was built was part of a large tract sold to Richard Pike and Benjamin Wyatt in 1798. The house was apparently built by 1808, at which time its owner, Jacob Perkins, gave a mortgage deed on his home and land to Charlotte Hamilton of Exeter, New Hampshire.

Born in Newburyport, Jacob Perkins (1766–1849) was an American inventor, mechanical engineer, and physicist credited with a variety of useful mechanical inventions, including 21 American and 19 English patents, considered impressive for their engineering diversity. When he was just twelve years old, he apprenticed to a local goldsmith named Davis. At the age of 21, Perkins made the dies for the copper coin issued by the State of Massachusetts, and three years later, he invented a machine for cutting and heading nails with a single process. It was patented in 1794, and the nail machine was first erected at Newburyport and later at Amesbury.

In 1809, he was given a patent for a machine to polish and grain morocco leather. One of his most important inventions was the stereotype plate for impressing (engraving and printing) bank notes on steel plates, which made the documents more difficult to counterfeit. A variation was also used for school copybooks for teaching penmanship. In 1813, he was awarded a patent for a pump used in fire engines and for bilge pumping on ships. He was also credited with the design of a warm-air central heating system installed at Massachusetts Medical College in Boston in 1815.

Perkins left Massachusetts in 1816 for Philadelphia and sailed for England in 1819 with the intention of securing the Bank of England's interest in his banknote machinery. He remained in England throughout his life and, between 1819 and 1836, secured eleven patents, many of which related to boilers and steam engines. Other inventions included a method for plating shoe buckles, an early refrigerator (an ether ice machine), a plenometer, a bathometer, a steam-pressure gun, and a rapid-fire gun.

Perkins’ business of printing bank bills from patent steel plates was established as early as 1808. In July 1808, Jacob Perkins gave a mortgage deed of his house and land to Charlotte Hamilton of Exeter, New Hampshire, who conveyed the same to William B. Swett of Boston in 1815. The brick building in which the bank notes were printed was probably erected soon after.

Jacob’s brother, Abraham Perkins (1768–1839), later continued the engraving business. Local tax records show that in various years, including 1818, 1820, 1830, and 1838, Abraham Perkins is listed as the owner of a brick factory and house on Fruit Street. In 1825, a local paper referred to the printing of banknotes here: “Notwithstanding the hue and cry of hard times, there is more money made in Newburyport today than any other town in the Commonwealth” (Moody 1949).

Abraham Perkins and his wife, Elizabeth Knapp, married on December 14, 1794, and had seven sons and three daughters. Mrs. Perkins died in 1831; Abraham died on April 2, 1839. After Abraham’s death, the Fruit Street property was sold to Daniel Silloway, who subsequently conveyed the property to Daniel S. Poor (Essex County Deeds, Book 450, Pages 245 and 240). S. Poor is shown as the owner on the 1884 map.

In the late 19th century, the house was rented out to a variety of tenants. In 1870, the U.S. Census indicates that grocer Benjamin Evans, four family members, and two non-family members were in residence at 16 Fruit Street. Architect Rufus Sargent, his wife, and two daughters were living at 18 Fruit Street. The William Harney family was living at 16 Fruit Street in 1880, while Cyrus Stephens, a grocer, and his family were living at 18 Fruit Street. In 1900, Albert Morse, his wife, and two boarders were residing at 16 Fruit Street, while 18 Fruit Street was occupied by the Sargent family.

Francis Poor sold the property to Mary Parsons in 1905, and it remained in the family until 1920. According to the 1910 U.S. Census, Rebecca Ayer, her son George, and a boarder were living at 16 Fruit Street, while Samuel Parsons (a shoe repairer/wood worker), his wife Mary, two sons, and a daughter were residing at 18 Fruit Street.

Frank Rollins owned the property from 1920 until 1948. He was the superintendent of a shoe factory and later sold oil burners. Rollins lived here with his wife, Maud, and daughter, Helen. In 1930, the other unit was occupied by Russian immigrants, Samuel and Jean Bloom, but tenants changed frequently in the 1930s and later. During his ownership of the property, Rollins tore down one corner of the brick building for a garage space and gave 5,000 bricks to the Sons and Daughters of the First Settlers of Newbury society to use in the restoration of the large chimney in the Jackman Willet House at 116 High Road in Newbury.

William and Edna Boyle purchased the house in 1948. They lived at 18 and rented out the other unit. The building was sold by Edward Boyle in 1973. The present owner, James Lagoulis, acquired the property in 1973. It is divided into apartments.