39-41 Union Street

Exterior of 39-41 Union Street in Lowell.
  • Historic Name: N/A
  • Uses: Apartments
  • Date of Construction: Circa (ca.) 1840; ca. 1875
  • Style/Form: Second Empire (an 1870s alteration)
  • Architect/Builder: unknown
  • Foundation: Granite stone
  • Wall/Trim: Vinyl siding
  • Roof: Mansard
  • Major Alterations: Altered windows; vinyl siding; three-story porch off the rear of the house; altered doors
  • Condition: Fair
  • Included in Hengen survey? No
  • Related oral interview? No
  • Portuguese owned? Yes (by 1910)
  • Recorded by: Gregory Gray Fitzsimons and Marie Frank
  • Organization: UMass Lowell
  • Date: July 2023

Description

This three-story wood-frame building was probably built in the Greek Revival style and was a 2-1/2-story dwelling with a gable roof. It was likely altered in the 1870s with an additional story, constructed with a mansard roof. In the past 20 years or so it has been altered with vinyl siding, new windows and doors, and a three-story porch to the rear of the house. While the building might have been originally a single-family home, it has been a multi-family home since at least the 1870s.

Exterior side of 39-41 Union Street in Lowell.

History

Robert Anderson, a carpenter, possibly built this house ca. 1840. He is listed in the 1841 city directory, living on Union Street. Like many other dwellings on Chapel Hill at this time, it was likely a built in the Greek Revival style. In 1844, Anderson and George Griffin, co-owner of the property, sold it to John Anderson of Merrimack, New Hampshire. By 1850, as shown on the Sidney and Neff map of Lowell, the house was owned by a “Dr. Pierce.”

In 1869, Hugh Morrison (1829-1887) bought the property from Paul F. Litchfield. From County Tyrone, Ireland, Morrison immigrated from his native land in 1846, arrived in Boston, and settled in Lowell. Initially he worked as a laborer, but saved enough money to operate a small store. He subsequently dealt in real estate in various parts of the city and lived on Gorham Street. Morrison sold the Union Street property to another Irish-born real estate speculator, Patrick Bradley, who had also worked as a laborer. It was likely during Bradley’s ownership, in the 1870s, that the roof of the house was raised with a mansard addition, and the dwelling became a multi-family home. Neither Morrison nor Bradley ever lived in the house; nor did the next owner, Martha Coleman. A widow, Coleman bought the property in 1875, while living nearby with her adult children on Union Street in a brick tenement (see entry for 19 Union Street). Coleman rented 39-41 Union Street until she passed it to her daughter, Elizabeth (1852-1929), who had married an Irish immigrant, John Francis Fox. The property remained in the Fox family until 1902, when Mary E. and William F. Boyle purchased it. They too used the dwelling for rental income.

In 1910, Portuguese immigrants Sebastião and Emelinda Espinola bought the multi-family house from the Fox family. At this time, the Espinolas were among the few Portuguese in Back Central to own property. Sebastião Espinola, a weaver born in the Azores, was a well-known figure in Lowell’s Portuguese community. He died suddenly in 1917 from appendicitis, leaving his wife and four daughters. Soon after, Joseph and Rosa Silva bought the property. Joseph Silva held the highly skilled position of loom fixer at the Appleton Mills. He, his wife, and four children lived at the 39 Union Street address, renting the part of the house to two other Portuguese families. The multi-family home appears to have remained in the hands of the Silva family into the 1950s.

Sources

  • Sidney & Neff, Map of Lowell, 1850.
  • Lowell atlases, 1906, 1924 & 1936
  • Federal census, Lowell, Massachusetts, 1910, 1920 & 1930.
  • Lowell city directories, 1906, 1916, 1926, 1936 & 1950.
  • Obituary of Hugh Morrison, Lowell Sun, August 6, 1887.
  • Obituary of Sebastião Espinola, Lowell Sun, March 23, 1917.
  • Property deed, Anderson et al to Anderson, December 16, 1844, book 45, pages 246-247, Northern Middlesex Registry of Deeds.
  • Property deed, Litchfield to Morrison, June 2, 1869, book 68, pages 7-9, Northern Middlesex Registry of Deeds.
  • Property deed, Morrison to Bradley, July 14, 1869, book 68, pages 531-533, Northern Middlesex Registry of Deeds.
  • Property deed, Bradley to Coleman, October 27, 1875, book 68, pages 274-276, Northern Middlesex Registry of Deeds.
  • Property deed, Coleman to Fox, February 24, 1892, book 231, pages 207-208, Northern Middlesex Registry of Deeds.
  • Property deed, Fox to Boyle, May 19, 1902, book 343, pages 143-145, Northern Middlesex Registry of Deeds.
  • Property deed, Boyle to Espinola, September 12, 1910, book 456, pages 186-187, Northern Middlesex Registry of Deeds.