25 Groves Avenue

Exterior of three-story cottage.
  • Historic Name: None
  • Uses: Single-family home
  • Date of Construction: Circa 1900
  • Style/Form: Greatly altered cottage
  • Architect/Builder: Unknown
  • Foundation: Rubble stone
  • Wall/Trim: Vinyl siding
  • Roof: Flat and gable
  • Major Alterations: Projecting bay with vinyl windows on the second story; vinyl windows elsewhere, vinyl siding
  • Condition: Good
  • Included in Hengen survey? No
  • Related oral interview? No
  • Portuguese owned? Yes (by 1920)
  • Recorded by: Gregory Gray Fitzsimons and Marie Frank
  • Organization: UMass Lowell
  • Date: July 2023

Description

This two-story wood-frame dwelling was built in the 1890s as part of a real estate development off Lawrence Street in what was known as Benson Court. It was originally a small six-room cottage with a cellar, resting on a stone foundation. It has been greatly altered over the years with projecting bay windows on the second story, vinyl-framed windows on all façades, and vinyl siding. It is almost unrecognizable from its original construction.

History

In the late 19th century Groves Avenue, off Lawrence Street, was called Benson Court or Lawrence Street Court. Several wood-frame cottages were built here in the 1890s. An auctioneer described the cottage house that would become 25 Groves Avenue as consisting of six rooms, with a water closet and a cellar. The auctioneer sought to interest working-class families in purchasing the several homes on this street. A number of Irish families lived here in the early 1900s. An Armenian immigrant, Zaker Hoyen, who lived on Tyler Street and speculated in real estate, bought the cottage at 25 Groves Avenue from Dominick J. Duffy in 1910. Hoyen then rented the house for a number of years before Anibal Duarte (1880-1961), who, at the age of 14, immigrated from the Azorean island of Terceira, purchased it in 1920. Duarte had worked in the city’s textile industry before becoming a carpenter. He and his wife, Maria, also from Terceira, raised their five children in this cottage. Duarte likely built a second story and expanded the size of the cottage with other additions. The Duarte family was known for its luxuriant garden with vegetables, flowers, and grape vines in the small yard of the home. Anibal and Maria Duarte lived in the home for the remainder of their lives.

Sources

  • Lowell atlases, 1906 & 1924.
  • Federal census, Lowell, Massachusetts, 1920 & 1930.
  • Lowell city directories, 1906, 1916 & 1926.
  • Auction Announcement, Lowell Sun, October 9, 1901.
  • Obituary of Anibal Duarte, Lowell Sun, March 29, 1961.
  • Obituary of Maria Duarte, Lowell Sun, June 28, 1969.
  • Property deed, Duffy to Hoyen, May 28, 1910, book 450, page 241, Northern Middlesex Registry of Deeds.
  • Property deed, Hoyen to Duarte, May 4, 1920, book 623, pages 272-273, Northern Middlesex Registry of Deeds.