41-45 Pleasant Street

History

Located at the corner of Pleasant Street and Hale’s Court, 41-45 Pleasant Street is a good example of a late 19th-century, frame commercial building in the Italianate style. The three-story building rests on a brick foundation and is sheathed in vinyl siding. The hip roof on the building is rather unusual.

It may suggest alterations to an earlier building. Measuring 5x5 bays, the building presents its narrow facade to Pleasant Street. Typical of the Italianate style, the building displays a bracketed cornice and a variety of window lintels, including arched windows with hood moldings on the second floor and segmentally arched lintels on the third floor. The first-floor storefronts appear to date to the early 20th century; Sanborn Insurance Co. maps indicate that the first floor was divided into two storefronts between 1914 and 1924. Although the storefronts were renovated in the late 1970s, they remain illustrative of the early 20th century. The first floor of the facade is ordered by four brick piers, which separate the two storefronts and the entrance to the upstairs at the northwest end of the building. A paneled frieze and denticulated cornice cap the storefronts, with raised square panels above the brick piers. Below the frieze, there is a transom of small glass panes. Each storefront features a recessed opening with an angled corner. The glazed wooden doors are flanked by large plate-glass windows, with wooden bulkhead panels below. The door leading to the upper levels is a modern, metal replacement.

Extending behind the main block is a single-story addition, constructed between 1906 and 1914, and “Iron clad” according to the Sanborn maps. It rests on a brick foundation, and the two doors and display window on the Hales’ Court elevation display modern “Colonial”-style fluted moldings.

Exactly when this building was constructed is not known at this time. There is no building on the site on the 1884 map, but this may have been an error. Deeds indicate that Joseph Hale conveyed the property (presumably just land) to Benjamin Hale in 1805, and the present building may have been constructed thereafter. The building remained in Benjamin Hale’s ownership until he died in 1866, at which time it was acquired by Henry Tappan for $ 1,400. Tappan owned many properties in Newburyport and apparently overextended himself. The extensive Italianate-style alterations to this building may very well have occurred during Tappan’s ownership. The building was known as the Central Building until at least the 1960s. The earliest mention of the block was found in the 1873 directory. Henry Tappan declared bankruptcy in 1872, and the property was sold to Franklin Tappan (the relationship is not known) of Charlestown. The property subsequently passed to Albert Tappan and to other apparent relations, including Malcolm McLoud and William and Emma Sayles, before it was sold to William and Antoinette Horsch in 1909. The Horsch family owned the building until 1924, when it was purchased by Benjamin Green. Martin Dugan acquired the property in 1928, and it became known as the Central Building. Martin Dugan owned several other commercial buildings along Pleasant Street, including 37-39 and 47-53. After he died in 1966, 41-45 Pleasant Street was sold to Haydn Eaton. The building has had at least six owners since that time.

Over the years, various organizations have used the upper halls in this building. The YMCA occupied the second floor of the building in the 1880s until it built its own building in 1891. During this period, the third floor functioned as a band room. In 1894, a conservatory of music leased both of the upper floors, and by 1898, the Knights of Pythias met here. The Ancient Order of Hibernians controlled the third floor from about 1906 until the 1940s. Occupied by CO. Townsend’s furniture store during the late 19th and early 20th century, the first floor was divided into two storefronts sometime between 1914 and 1924. The space at 41 Pleasant was used by Willey’s Confectionery and later Clough’s Candy in the 1930s and 40s; Montgomery Ward was here by 1951. The storefront at 43 Pleasant was occupied by Benjamin Katz’s fruit store beginning about 1940. This later became the Premier Market, operated in the 1950s and 60s by Saul Katz, before it moved next door to 53 Pleasant Street in the 1960s. Today, the building is occupied by two stores on the first floor with offices above.