601-603 High Street is a historic Romanesque Revival building in Dedham Square, Massachusetts. Both the 1996 [1] and 2009 [2] Master Plans of the Town of Dedham have recognized the historic, aesthetic, and economic importance of the building.
601-603 High Street is a historic Romanesque Revival building in Dedham Square, Massachusetts. Both the 1996 [1] and 2009 [2] Master Plans of the Town of Dedham have recognized the historic, aesthetic, and economic importance of the building.
The land was acquired in 1819 by George Dixon and he built a home there. [3] [4] In the ell of the house was an apothecary shop that sold products produced by Dedham's Wheaton & Dixon. [3]
By the 1880s, the Dedham Institution for Savings, which had been housed for 40 years in the Norfolk Mutual Fire Insurance Company at 4 Pearl Street, determined that they needed additional space and a building of their own. [5] [6] On April 26, 1887, the bank purchased the Phoenix Estate on the corner of High and Washington Streets, the site of the present day Knights of Columbus building, next to the Dixon property. [7] On August 13, 1887, a committee was formed [lower-alpha 1] to look into the cost of erecting a building on the site. [7]
On February 27, 1890, however, the property was sold and a new committee [lower-alpha 2] was appointed to sell this property and to purchase the Marsh lot next door. [7] The new property was purchased on March 18, 1890. [7] On February 14, 1891, plans and cost estimates for a new building were accepted by the bank trustees and construction commenced. [7] On August 22, 1892, the bank moved into their new quarters in the west end of the building. [4] [5]
When first opened, the lower level housed the Dedham National Bank and William Hurley's drug store in addition to the Dedham Institution for Savings. [8] [5] The second story housed the newly organized Fisher Ames Club, a men's social club. [5] [8] At the time of its opening, the local newspaper reported that people were lining up at the counter of the bank before the operation had moved down the street. [5] The janitor had to tell them they were not open for business yet. [5] A month later, the same paper reported that "the new bank building is a beehive of industry... The building is fitted throughout with the best of furniture and contains every modern convenience." [5]
Dedham Savings sold the building on October 22, 1985, [9] although they kept a branch office located in the building until they moved to the other side of Dedham Square in 2007. [10] Since that time, the building has come to be known as the Schortman Insurance Building after its new owner. [5] The building was sold in the summer of 2019 to Mark R. Epker, a resident of Dedham and the principal of Vantage Real Estate. [5]
The building was designed by Hartwell & Richardson and built by Darling Brothers of Worcester [7] [5] [6] in the Romanesque Revival style. [11] [2] [12] It was constructed with "old gold fire flashed," or roman, brick with brownstone trimmings. [7] [5] [6] There are three dramatic arches facing the street, [5] one for each of the three principal tenants at the street level. [6] One was Dedham Savings, the second was Dedham National Bank, and the third was a druggist. [6] The ends of the arches and the braces of the downspouts are accentuated by whimsical brownstone carvings, including entwined dolphins. [5] Along the cornice line are large cast panels of foliate ornament. [5] Above the center arch, in the copper downspout header boxes, the year "1892" is impressed. [5] It also features high pitched roofs and steep dormers. [2] [6]
Since its construction, the building has been remodeled. [5] The two side arches were originally entrances to the two banks and the center arch was a window, but today the center arch is a main entrance to the building and the side arches are windows. [5] The bank is now a lawyer's office, although the vault remains. [5] Within many of the offices the original oak paneling and fireplaces remain. [5]
The history of Dedham, Massachusetts, from 1800 to 1899 saw growth and change come to the town. In fact, the town changed as much during the first few decades of the 19th century as it did in all of its previous history.
The Germania Bank Building, later renamed the St. Paul Building, is a historic office building in downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. It was built in 1889. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 for its local significance in the theme of architecture. It was nominated for being Saint Paul's only surviving brownstone high-rise.
The Norfolk County Courthouse, also known as the William D. Delahunt courthouse, is a National Historic Landmark at 650 High Street in Dedham, Massachusetts. It currently houses the Norfolk County Superior Court. It is significant as a well-preserved Greek Revival courthouse of the 1820s, and as the site a century later of the famous Sacco-Vanzetti trial. The building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1972, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It replaced an earlier courthouse, built in 1795.
The Ames Schoolhouse is a historic school building at 450 Washington Street in Dedham, Massachusetts. It was originally part of the Dedham Public Schools. It currently serves as the town hall and senior center for the Town of Dedham.
The Brooklyn Savings Bank was a building in Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn, New York, designed by prominent Brooklyn architect Frank Freeman. Completed in 1894, it was considered one of Freeman's finest works, but in spite of its widely recognized architectural significance, the building was demolished in 1964, shortly before the designation of the neighborhood as a historic district.
Hartwell and Richardson was a Boston, Massachusetts architectural firm established in 1881, by Henry Walker Hartwell (1833–1919) and William Cummings Richardson (1854–1935). The firm contributed significantly to the current building stock and architecture of the greater Boston area. Many of its buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Provident Institution for Savings (est.1816) in Boston, Massachusetts, was the first chartered savings bank in the United States. James Savage and others founded the bank on the belief that "savings banks would enable the less fortunate classes of society to better themselves in a manner which would avoid the dangers of moral corruption traditionally associated with outright charitable institutions."
The former Young Men's Christian Association Building in Albany, New York, United States, is located on Pearl Street. It was built in the 1880s in the Romanesque Revival architectural style, with an existing neighboring structure annexed to it and a rear addition built in the 1920s. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. Two years later, when the Downtown Albany Historic District was designated and listed on the Register, YMCA building was further included as a contributing property.
The Dedham Public School System is a PK–12 graded school district in Dedham, Massachusetts. It is the oldest public school system in the United States.
The N&D Group is a mutual insurance carrier based in Dedham, Massachusetts, comprising three regional property and casualty insurance companies which market personal and commercial insurance product lines through independent insurance agents. The group conducts business in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New Jersey, and wrote about $267 million in annual insurance premium in 2021. Founded as The Norfolk Mutual Fire Insurance Company in 1825, The N&D Group is one of the oldest mutual insurance companies in the United States.
The Dedham Museum and Archive, is a historical society dedicated to preserving and establishing a greater sense of appreciation for the history of Dedham, Massachusetts. It consists of a museum and an archive. As of 2002, it had nearly 1,000 members.
Dedham Savings is one of the oldest American banks still in operation and one of the oldest banks in the state of Massachusetts still doing business under its original charter.
The Security Savings Bank, also known as the Appleyard Building, is a historic building in Ashland, Wisconsin, United States. In 1974, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. It was designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque Style by the architectural firm Conover and Porter, of Madison.
The Norfolk House also known as the Norfolk Hotel, was a tavern in Dedham, Massachusetts originally built in 1801 and located at 19 Court Street. It hosted John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, and the Marquis de Lafayette.
Brookdale Cemetery is an historic cemetery in Dedham, Massachusetts. More than 28,000 people are buried there. Mother Brook runs behind it.
110 East 42nd Street, also known as the Bowery Savings Bank Building, is an 18-story office building in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. The structure was designed in the Italian Romanesque Revival style by York and Sawyer, with William Louis Ayres as the partner in charge. It is on the south side of 42nd Street, across from Grand Central Terminal to the north and between the Pershing Square Building to the west and the Chanin Building to the east. 110 East 42nd Street is named for the Bowery Savings Bank, which had erected the building as a new branch structure to supplement its original building at 130 Bowery. The building was erected within "Terminal City", a collection of buildings above the underground tracks surrounding Grand Central, and makes use of real-estate air rights above the tracks. The building is directly above the New York City Subway's Grand Central–42nd Street station.
The Dedham Public Library is a public library system in Massachusetts established in 1872. It is part of the Minuteman Library Network.
Hannah Shuttleworth (1800-1886) was a philanthropist from Dedham, Massachusetts.
19 Court Street is an historic building in Dedham, Massachusetts that was originally built in 1801 as a two-story, Federal-style single-family home. It was soon thereafter converted into a tavern, and hosted John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, and the Marquis de Lafayette. In the 2010s it was converted into apartments. It has more than 15,000 square feet of living space.
Ebenezer Burgess was the minister of the Allin Congregational Church in Dedham, Massachusetts.
