4 Park Street

History

On July 24, 1845, the county commissioners laid out a way, called Park Street, from High Street to Harris Street, through land owned by Stephen Hodge on the northwest side of Sewall Place. By 1851, five of the seven buildings on Park St. today had been built, nearly all of them in the predominant Greek Revival style.

Nos. 5, 6, and 7 Park Street are all simple two-and-a-half-story homes with wide, continuous cornices forming a pediment in the gable facing the street. Each of these houses has a simple Greek Revival doorway and cornerposts, characteristic of the style. These houses, with that at No. 1 Park St., also Greek Revival, set the character of this short street. Although Nos. 3 & 4 Park Street are of a slightly later date; they add, rather than detract, from the character of the overall streetscape. No. 4 Park Street is transitional from the Greek Revival to the Victorian styles. The bay window and bracketed entranceway are possibly later additions.

The 19th-century inhabitants of the houses on Park Street were interested in several aspects of Newburyport’s economy. Clearly, the development of the street was closely tied to the period in which Newburyport’s prosperity was in the manufacture of cotton cloth. Other inhabitants of the street were merchants and owners of small businesses.

The original owner of 4 Park Street has not yet been established. An 1873 Newspaper classified list lists Joseph A. Atkinson (1802-1877) as the owner.