Houghton Mansion | |
 Houghton Mansion | |
   | |
| Location | 172 Church Street, North Adams, Massachusetts |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 42°41′46″N73°6′22″W / 42.69611°N 73.10611°W |
| Part of | Church Street-Caddy Hill Historic District (ID83000567, 85003376 [1] ) |
| MPS | North Adams MRA (AD) |
| Added to NRHP | October 25, 1985 |
The Houghton Mansion is the former home of Albert Charles Houghton and his family in North Adams, Massachusetts. It was later used as a Masonic temple, but is now empty.
Albert Charles Houghton, President of the Arnold Print Works and first Mayor of North Adams, Massachusetts, built what is now the Masonic Temple in the 1890s, shortly before his term as Mayor expired. It was his third home in North Adams, and the most extravagant, reflecting his wealth and status. Built in a Neoclassical Revival style, it has strong Greek features along with an eclectic array of influences from many diverse sources. The mansion's roof was made with Spanish tile, and the clapboards were thinner near the bottom to make the house appear taller than it actually was. There was a formal garden in the rear, which was often used for parties to raise money for the North Adams Hospital. The Houghtons moved in circa 1900, the family then consisting of Mr. Houghton, his wife Cordelia, and their youngest surviving daughter Mary, then 23 years old. Another daughter, Laura died as an infant, while three others lived to grow up, marry, and produce their own children. In 1905, when Mr. Houghton was 61 years old, his health started to fail. At that point, Mary resolved that she would never wed, but devoted her life to taking care of her father. A manic workaholic with a passion for business, Mr. Houghton did not in fact retire, but only cut back, dividing his time between the APW sales officers in New York City and North Adams, leaving the major decisions to be decided by his son-in-law, William A. Gallup. [2] [3]
In spring 1914, the Houghtons invested in their first car, a seven-passenger Pierce-Arrow touring car, and sent their long-time chauffeur, John Widders also known as John Winters, to learn to drive it. On August 1 of the year, Mr. Houghton, and his daughter, Mary decided to go to Bennington, Vermont for a pleasure drive. Mrs. Houghton decided to stay home. They were accompanied by Dr. and Mrs. Robert Hutton of New York. Mrs. Hutton (nee. Sybil Cady) was a childhood friend of Mary's and a daughter of the North Adams shoe manufacturer WG Cady. With Widders at the wheel, the car left the Houghton mansion at 9:00 am; at 9:30 it was in Pownal, Vermont heading up what is now Oak Hill Rd. The road was under repair, and a team of horses was parked on the right hand side. Widders went around them on the left, at about 12 mph. On the left shoulder, the car tilted and went down a steep embankment, rolling over three times before coming to rest in an upright position in a farmer's field. Everyone except Mary Houghton was thrown out of the car. The men all escaped with minor injuries such as cuts, scrapes, bruises and minor fractures. The women weren't so lucky. Mrs. Hutton was killed almost instantly when the car rolled over her. Mary Houghton was hurt just as badly and died of her injuries at 3:00 pm at the North Adams Hospital. Expecting to survive, Mr. Houghton was taken home, he died ten days later on August 11, 1914. It was said he died of a broken heart. The investigator for the State of Vermont exonerated Widders of all wrongdoing, blaming the accident instead on the soft shoulder of the road. But Widders still blamed himself and, at 5:00 am on August 12, 1914, he shot himself in the cellar of the Houghton Barn with a horse pistol. [4]
Following the crash, one of two surviving Houghton daughters, Florence, moved into the house with her husband, William A. Gallup, and made the mansion their home, looking after Mrs. Houghton until her death in 1916. They resided in the house until Mr. Gallup retired in 1926. Florence Gallup and her sister, Susan Houghton McKeon, sold it to the Masons in 1926. The Masons did away with the formal garden and constructed their lodge building in its place. In more recent years, for the sake of economy, the Spanish tile roof was removed and replaced with asphalt, and siding has been put on over the clapboards. Otherwise, the exterior looks just as it did when it was built. [4]
Unable to afford keeping the building up to code, the Lafayette-Greylock Freemasons in 2017 sold the house to hotel developer Benjamin Svenon at a reported price of $160,000. The building has since been closed to the public. [5]
The Order of the Eastern Star is a Masonic appendant body open to both men and women. It was established in 1850 by lawyer and educator Rob Morris, a noted Freemason, and adopted and approved as an appendant body of the Masonic Fraternity in 1873. The order is based on some teachings from the Bible, and is open to people of all religious beliefs. It has approximately 10,000 chapters in 18 countries and approximately 500,000 members under its General Grand Chapter.
Josiah Cleaveland Cady was an American architect known for his Romanesque Revival designs. He was also a founder of the American Institute of Architects.
William Morris Hunt was an American painter.
The Moss Mansion Historic House Museum is located at 914 Division Street in Billings, Montana, United States. It is a red-stoned mansion built in 1903 by Preston Boyd Moss and his wife, Martha Ursula Woodson Moss, (Mattie). Mr. and Mrs. Moss moved to Billings from Paris, Missouri where, "There was more happening at midnight than at noon in Paris Missouri"
Ann Eliza Smith was an American author. She was president of the board of managers for the Vermont woman's exhibit at the Centennial Exposition of 1876, at Philadelphia, and was frequently chosen in similar capacities as a representative of Vermont women. During the Civil War, she coordinated a response to the Confederate raid on St. Albans on October 19, 1864. In 1870, Governor Peter T. Washburn, who had served as adjutant general of the Vermont Militia during the war, recognized her efforts and presented her with an honorary commission as a lieutenant colonel on his military staff.
William Seward Webb was a businessman, and inspector general of the Vermont militia with the rank of colonel. He was a founder and former president of the Sons of the American Revolution.
Seaview Terrace, also known as the Carey Mansion, is a privately owned mansion located in Newport, Rhode Island. It was designed in the Châteauesque style based on the French chateaux of the 16th century, and completed in 1925. It was the last of the great "Summer Cottages" constructed and is the fifth-largest of Newport's mansions, after The Breakers, Ochre Court, Belcourt Castle, and Rough Point. The television show Dark Shadows used its exterior as the fictional Collinwood Mansion. Part of the main house and some of the outbuildings were leased to Salve Regina University until recently.
Llangain is a village and community in Carmarthenshire, in the south-west of Wales. Located to the west of the River Towy, and south of the town of Carmarthen, the community contains three standing stones, and two chambered tombs as well as the ruins of 15th century great house, Castell Moel. In 2001 the community's population was recorded at 574, decreasing slightly to 573 at the 2011 census.
The Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion is the eighteenth volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series published by Grosset & Dunlap, and was first published in 1941. The original text was written by ghostwriter Mildred Wirt Benson, based upon a plot outline from Stratemeyer Syndicate co-owner Harriet Stratemeyer Adams. The book's title was changed to Mystery of the Moss-Covered Mansion when it was revised in 1971, because the story is completely different and not much of the investigation takes place at the title location. In the original, many plots and much investigation all tie back to the same house deep in the forest, while Nancy helps her father locate an heiress, expose an impostor, investigate a murder, and look into strange screams at the mansion; none of the action in the original story took place in River Heights.
Edgerton is an unincorporated community in Jackson Township, Allen County, in the U.S. state of Indiana.
Pollyanna is a 1960 American comedy-drama film starring child actress Hayley Mills, Jane Wyman, Karl Malden, and Richard Egan in a story about a cheerful orphan changing the outlook of a small town. The film was written and directed by David Swift, based on the 1913 novel Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter. The film won Hayley Mills an Academy Juvenile Award. It was the last film of actor Adolphe Menjou.
The Ramsay-Durfee Estate, also known as Durfee Mansion, Durfee House or Villa Maria, is a historic Tudor Revival style mansion in the West Adams Terrace neighborhood of Los Angeles. It has been designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Bellamy Mansion, built between 1859 and 1861, is a mixture of Neoclassical architectural styles, including Greek Revival and Italianate, and is located at 503 Market Street in the heart of downtown Wilmington, North Carolina. It is one of North Carolina’s finest examples of historic antebellum architecture. It is a contributing building in the Wilmington Historic District.
Mount Saint Peter Church is a Catholic Church at 100 Freeport Road in New Kensington, Pennsylvania. The church is located along the Allegheny River and is approximately 25 mi (40 km) north-east of the city of Pittsburgh within the Diocese of Greensburg.
Albert Charles Houghton was an American businessman and politician who served as the first mayor of North Adams, Massachusetts.
The Pullman Memorial Universalist Church of Albion, New York was constructed in 1894 as a memorial to the parents of inventor and industrialist George Mortimer Pullman. The structure, built of pink Medina sandstone and featuring fifty-six Tiffany stained glass windows and a Johnson pipe organ, is in the Orleans County Courthouse National Historic District. The building has been in constant use since its opening; the congregation affiliating with the Unitarian Universalist Association in 1961 but keeping its historic name.
George W. Lininger (1834-1907), was an implement dealer, art collector, private gallery owner, and civic leader in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. Many of the art works Lininger collected became the foundation of the permanent collection at the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha.
Ebenezer Pemberton was an American educator and 2nd Principal of Phillips Academy Andover from 1786 to 1793. Refusing to follow his uncle's wishes to become a clergyman, Pemberton pursued a teaching career that would become his life's work. After graduating from Princeton University, he served terms as principal of a number of schools for early education including Plainfield Academy in Plainfield, Connecticut, Phillips Academy, and his own Pemberton Academy in Billerica, Massachusetts. He founded another school in 1810 in Boston, serving as principal there until poor health forced him to retire.
Victor Buckley (1838-1882) was a British Foreign Office official, suspected of being an agent for the Confederate cause during the American Civil War.
Sarah Maria Clinton Perkins was an American Universalist minister, social reformer, lecturer, editor, and author of Sunday school books. Early in life, she was engaged in educational work. She was involved in the temperance movement and advocated for women's suffrage. She was an early abolitionist and an early Prohibitionist. Perkins was a highly educated woman, a writer and speaker of rare force. Moving to Cleveland, Ohio, after being widowed in 1880, she was for many years actively connected as National Lecturer with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). She filled various other positions in reform associations including, President of Cleveland's Equal Franchise Club, and president of the Literary Guild of Cleveland.