17-19 Tremont Street

History

17–19 Tremont Street is a well-preserved example of a Vernacular Italianate-style double house constructed circa 1877. The building is a 2½-story, side-gabled, wood-frame structure with a symmetrical five-bay façade and two projecting polygonal bays at the outermost ends. The house is clad in clapboard siding and rests on a low brick foundation.

The roof is moderately pitched and side-gabled, with boxed eaves and paired brackets beneath the cornice line—a hallmark of the Italianate style. Two brick chimneys pierce the ridgeline, symmetrically placed and suggesting heating sources for each unit. A shared central entrance porch provides access to both units, with separate entry doors (nos. 17 and 19) set beneath a shallow-pitched hipped roof supported by paired chamfered posts and decorative brackets. Each door is flanked by narrow sidelights and topped with transoms, consistent with late 19th-century double-house construction.

The two-story polygonal bays project from the façade and are enriched with simple applied trim panels between stories, molded window surrounds, and bracketed sills and cornices. Fenestration throughout consists of a narrow two-over-two double-hung wood sash, typical of the Italianate style during the late 19th century. The original window surrounds appear intact, featuring molded lintels and subtle cornice details.

The building’s overall plan and mirrored façade suggest it was purpose-built as a double house, a detail corroborated by its depiction on a 1894 Newburyport map, which shows it divided into two dwellings from the outset. This configuration reflects Newburyport’s late 19th-century residential development pattern, particularly in working- and middle-class neighborhoods expanding in the post-industrial era.

The property at 17–19 Tremont Street in Newburyport has a well-documented lineage dating back to the late 19th century, characterized by continuous residential use and evolving ownership that reflects broader social and economic shifts. Originally appearing in the land records in a deed from Enoch T. Noothend to Nat'l Pierce in 1878 (Book 1076, Page 262), the property included an appurtenant right-of-way. This detail remained legally significant in subsequent transfers. By 1880, the house was a two-family dwelling, with the Greenough family residing at No. 17 and the Stinson family at No. 19. James E. Stinson, a locomotive engineer with the Boston & Maine Railroad, continued to occupy 19 Tremont well into the early 20th century, as noted in the 1900 Census and a 1911 newspaper report. The Stinsons’ 34 or more years of tenancy suggests the property was likely rented for decades before becoming owner-occupied in the mid-20th century.

By the mid-20th century, the property transitioned into owner-occupied use. On October 1, 1947, Wilfred J. Poulin and Amy O. Poulin conveyed the property to Wilfred F. Chatigny and Jeanette R. Chatigny (Book 3571, Page 386). The Chatignys, a World War II-era family, owned the house during a notable fire incident in January 1949. According to The Newburyport Daily News, the fire began in No. 19, then occupied by the Jeuvelis family. Heroic efforts by neighbors and first responders preserved much of the home’s contents, underscoring the communal resilience and neighborhood character of the time. The Chatignys sold the property to Carl J.L. Walden and Dorothy A. Walden in 1954 (Book 4124, Page 269), initiating a series of ownership transfers through the latter half of the century.

Subsequent owners included the Bizeau family, who acquired it in 1958 (Book 4454, Page 468), and the Egans, who took the title in 1969 (Book 5627, Page 328). The Egans sold the house to Nicholas Evins Hurlin in 1973 (Book 6023, Page 545). Hurlin later became a trustee, along with Harold F. Humphrey, of the One Boardman Street Realty Trust, as outlined in a declaration dated April 11, 1985. This trust received the property from Haverhill Development Corporation on January 2, 1985 (Book 7916, Page 327), cementing its transition into a form of commercial or investment holding.

Through its long and varied history, the property at 17–19 Tremont Street has remained a fixture of Newburyport’s evolving urban fabric, serving as home to working-class families, railroad professionals, and veterans while also bearing witness to moments of crisis and community cohesion. Its architectural and social continuity reflects both the city’s historical character and the broader narratives of 20th-century American residential life.