4-8 Inn Street

History

The building at 4-8 Inn Street is a three-story brick commercial block, flanked by similar buildings. All of the buildings were apparently constructed about 1818. The building is constructed of brick laid in a common bond alternating six courses of stretchers to a single row of headers.

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.

In the late 19th century the block at 4-8 Inn Street was part of the Adams House Hotel. It is known that Joshua Ryder sold oysters at 4 Inn Street in the 1850s. James Murphy sold liquors at 8 Inn Street in the late 1880s while Wah Lee operated a laundry next door at 6 Inn Street, which was joined a few years later B.G. Sargent's oyster saloon. At the turn of the century Jeremiah McDonald's liquor store included both 6 and 8 Inn Street. It was later taken over by Thomas Coffey, bottlers and bar room between 1909 and 1924. Constantine Conior operated a grocery store here in the 1940s and 50s; it was later known as the Royal Food Store. In 1894 Thomas Hennessey built a bowling alley in the rear of the Adams House at 4 Inn Street.

Most of the buildings on Inn Street were demolished as part of Urban Renewal in the 1960s and 1970s. The remaining buildings, including 4-8 Inn Street, were rehabilitated. This property, known as Urban Renewal parcel 9D, was rehabilitated by Swift Barnes and the Old Newbury Crafters, under the auspices of the Newburyport Redevelopment Authority. The Inn Street pedestrian mall was completed in 1974. The building now contains a mix of offices and retail tenants.