23 Ames Street

Gabled two-story stone house in the Federal/Georgian style.
  • Historic Name: Richmond House
  • Uses: Residential
  • Date of Construction: Circa 1825
  • Style/Form: Federal/Georgian
  • Architect/Builder: Unknown
  • Foundation: Rubble
  • Wall/Trim: Stone/granite
  • Roof: Gable roof
  • Major Alterations: New windows; original Federal porch removed; vinyl siding on wood frame addition.
  • Condition: Good
  • Included in Hengen survey? Yes
  • Related oral interview? No
  • Portuguese owned? Yes
  • Recorded by: Gregory Gray Fitzsimons and Marie Frank
  • Organization: UMass Lowell
  • Date: August 2023

Description

This is the only stone house in Back Central (and one of just a handful of stone houses in Lowell overall). It is built from the same stone, Merrimack quartzite ,used for St. Anne’s Episcopal Church (and may have employed the same builders). The style is Federal/Georgian: the stone was laid to resemble quoins at the corners and it has a symmetrical front façade with a central entry flanked by two windows on each side on the first floor and then five windows on the second floor. The entrance originally had an open porch supported by two elegant, fluted Doric columns (these were replaced after 1981 with square stock supports). The north elevation also has ample windows with two on each floor and one in the gable. The windows have substantial granite lintels (irregularly shaped slabs rather than dressed). The east elevation only has one door at center with one window above. The house sits on a raised foundation and small windows illuminate the basement. The stone for the walls may have come from the construction of the mill and canal on the Concord River (see below). The main façade of the house is oriented 90 degrees west from Ames Street (the north end elevation faces Ames). Sometime after 1850 a wood addition was constructed off the south elevation; this runs up to Richmond Street. The wood frame addition is now vinyl sided. The 19th century house number is 19 Ames Street.

History

This is without doubt one of the most significant buildings in Back Central. Not only do the construction from stone and Federal design elements set it apart, it is also situated in one of the earliest areas of Back Central subdivided into lots. Known as the “Richmond House,” its construction predates the purchase of the site by Perez O. Richmond in 1837. In 1797-8, Nathan Ames (a blacksmith from Chelmsford) started purchasing properties along the Concord River; he purchased more in 1808 and 1812, and then in 1828 building rights along the river and the right to widen canals (see deeds below). The 1825 map includes his name across a large parcel of land adjacent to the Concord River; the map also indicates a structure in the vicinity of 23 Ames as well as mill buildings at the base of Mill Street. 

The construction of the house on this open site may explain the unusual orientation of the house—facing west towards Central Street rather than along Ames Street (since Ames Street did not exist in 1825). It is possible that the stone for the house came from the construction of the mill buildings along the Concord River. In 1828, Ames sold his properties to the manufacturer Daniel Balch (and three other men) “with all the buildings thereon.” Shortly after, in February of 1829, the Massic Falls Manufacturing Company incorporated with the aim of producing cotton and woolen goods, iron and paper. They hired I.A. Beard in 1829 to draw up a plat of the property divided into lots. (This plat was copied by Caleb Butler in 1831—see below). This plat includes all the numbered lots as well as the new streets of Ames and “Middle” (which later becomes Richmond Street). 23 Ames Street is lot #23—notably the lot runs through from Ames to “Middle.” By 1834, Perez O. Richmond arrived in Lowell; he quickly became connected with the manufacturing opportunities; between 1837 and 1838, the properties along the Concord River and Ames Street changed hands; Balch, who live in Maine, sold 23 Ames to Joel Stone, Jr (one of the Massic Falls incorporators; he also ran a dry goods store in Lowell); Stone in turn sold 23 Ames to Perez in 1837; in the deed the stone house is specifically mentioned. Perez built his offices on the lots adjacent to 23 Ames along what is now the corner of Ames and Lawrence Street (21 Ames) and for the next twenty years ran a highly successful paper business (he died in 1854). Perez never lived at 23 Ames—his home address was on Lawrence Street. However, his son Charles occupied the house.

Not only is the history of the house intimately connected with early manufacturing in Lowell, it also welcomed Edgar Allan Poe. Charles and his wife Nancy will be forever linked to the famed author. Between 1848-9 Poe visited Lowell three times. On those visits he formed a close friendship with Nancy Richmond (who went by the nickname “Annie.”) Nancy Richmond had a reputation as a “great lady” of Lowell, a supporter of the liberal arts and various charities; Poe had just lost his wife in 1847 and found in Nancy a kindred spirit. Perceived insults about Charles as a “despicable” person by another Lowell family, the Lockes of Wamesit Cottage on Lawrence Street, spurred Poe to defend the Richmonds and move to their house at 23 Ames during his visit. In 1849, shortly before his death, Poe penned the poem “For Annie.” After the death of her husband Charles, Nancy Richmond had her name legally changed to “Annie.”

By 1859, Charles and Nancy moved from 23 Ames Street to a house in Belvidere; “M.J. Richmond” (not Charles) sold the house to Orlando Boswell (listed under variant spellings including Bushnell) in 1860; however, in 1863, Boswell sold the house back to Charles. Then in 1870 Charles sold the house to Charles Page. Sometime in the period of ownership between the Richmonds and the Pages, wood frame additions were made to the southern elevation of the house that extended all the way to Richmond Street. By the 1882 atlas, the stone portion was listed as a dwelling and the wood addition as a tenement. The Pages lived there until the death of Charles Page in the mid 1890s and it was sold to Hannah and Edward Campbell. Edward was a finisher at the mills. After the death of Edward, Hannah sold to Webster and Mary Wilcox in 1905. Webster was a carpet weaver. It is evident from the city directories at this time that the stone house and the wood addition served as two separate units. For example, a John Decker in 1926 and a Mrs. Bella Rice in 1936 occupied “unit 2” (the wood addition) during the Wilcox ownership (who lived in unit 1). After the death of Webster, Mary sold the house to Mary McCarthy in 1943. The McCarthy’s seem to have run the units as rental income as the city directories list a number of changing occupants and also vacancies. For example, in 1946 Agostinho Nunes (a boilermaker for B&M) lived in unit 1 (the stone house) and the wood addition was listed as “vacant.” (Nunes lived in unit 1 for over twenty years.) By 1950, Joseph Mondazzi bought the property; he worked at the Ames mill as a machinist and drawer; he and extended family members lived in unit 2 and continued to rent out unit 1 to Nunes. Finally, in 1973, Mondazzi sold to Gorgina, Laureana and Manuel Torres. The Torres lived in the house for the next fifty years, selling in 2023 to Lorena Landaverde.

Sources

  • Plan of Land and Buildings Belonging to the Merrimack Manufacturing Company, 1825.
  • U.A. Boyden, Plan of Lowell Village, 1834
  • Beard & Hoar, Map of Lowell, 1841.
  • Sidney & Neff Map of Lowell, 1850.
  • Lowell atlases 1879, 1882, 1892, 1906, 1924 & 1936.
  • Lowell city directories.
  • Elizabeth Hengen, Lowell Cultural Resources Inventory Poe in Lowell: Lowell Cultural Resources Inventory Poe in Lowell

Registry of Deeds:

  • Nathan Ames purchases: Bk 3:347, 353; Bk 4:231, 352, 465, 467
  • Nathan Ames to Daniel Balch et al: Bk 8:122
  • Daniel Balch to Joel Stone Jr: Bk 30: 284
  • Caleb Butler plan for the area: Plan Book 3: 11 (note: search under Book 903: 11)
  • Joel Stone Jr to Perez Richmond, Bk 24: 492
  • M.J. Richmond to Orlando Boswell, Bk 25: 532
  • Boswell to Charles Richmond, Bk. 35: 353
  • Charles Richmond to Charles Page, Bk 76: 466, 469
  • Charles Page to Hannah and Edward Campbell, Bk 291: 567
  • Hannah Campbell to Webster Wilcox, Bk 378: 414

Additional Images:

  • Pl Bk 3:11 Registry of Deeds: