17-19 Bromfield Street

History

The Lunt family is well-established in Newbury. Henry Lunt was one of the first settlers to arrive with Rev. Parker and to establish a large tract of farmland, which he managed with his wife, Anna. The Lunt family has a Scandinavian background, originally coming from Northern England near York.

That fighting spirit from the days of the Vikings clearly persisted through the American Revolution. Men such as Cutting Lunt fought bravely as privateers or valiantly in the fledgling navy under John Paul Jones. Captain Macijah Lunt, after his experiences as a privateer, became one of the most prosperous merchants in Newburyport. The Lunt family expanded widely, with branches in Portland, Maine, and other communities along the eastern seaboard. In recent years, the late Sylvia and Wilhelmina Lunt actively volunteered at the Historical Society of Old Newbury, significantly advancing the Cushing Museum’s prosperity. On a more everyday level, Lunt & Kelly and Chase & Lunt remain well-known local establishments.

Bromfield Street surrounding this house was largely open farmland near Joppa Flats. To the south was a long building called a Rope Walk, where rope was made for shipbuilding and later twine for industrial purposes. Various Lunt family members owned several homes along this street.

Initially, the house was owned by Silas Lunt, designated as 15 South Street. He was a ship carpenter working in the shipyards lining Newburyport’s harbor. Born August 26, 1775, and dying June 2, 1867, Silas built the homestead after marrying Sarah Hoague in 1802. He was the son of Cutting Lunt, a Revolutionary War privateer, and Mary Gerrish, from a well-established seafaring and merchant family.

Silas lived in the home until near his death, when it was sold to Paul G. Lunt, owner and operator of the adjacent Twine and Rope Factory, which had been acquired from the Amos Pettingell Rope Manufacturing Company. Paul later moved up the street to 65 Bromfield and sold the property to Charles W. Lunt, who worked at the factory as a cordmaker. Charles lived in the house, and after the rope factory closed in 1887, he continued as a night watchman at the N.D. Dodge Mill. He eventually sold the house to E. F. Fuller near the turn of the century. By 1906, the rope factory was gone, and new dwellings surrounded the now comparatively small structure.

As one of the oldest buildings on South Street (later renamed Bromfield Street in honor of John Bromfield), it was reassigned to 11 Bromfield Street and, in 1918, following city renumbering, became 17 Bromfield Street. Despite newer buildings surrounding it, the house retains its Federal-style core. The city assigned a construction date of 1850. However, architectural evidence suggests it was likely built closer to the 1830s, according to the National Register of Historic Places.

This significant house was initially located in Newbury, as the border with Newburyport ran down the center of the street. The current border was established when Newburyport became a city in 1851. The neighboring buildings were constructed in 1880, and the streetscape was subsequently filled in with later late-Victorian architecture.

Historic maps, including the McIntire map and a dimensional map just before the turn of the century, show the Lunt House in its isolated position, with the nearby rope walk still in existence. After passing through multiple owners, the property was acquired by Jeffrey D. Stoehr in 1976 and later sold to local architect Jonathan Woodman in 1984 for $113,000. At that time, the two-family house was considered affordable housing; its full value today is approximately $530,000, with potential to reach $600,000 or more if upgraded. In 1988, the house was converted into the Mae C. Bradshaw Realty Trust.