448-454 and 456-458 Central Street

Three story Italianate structure built mostly of brick with wood frame.
  • Historic Name: Fancy Lunch Tenement and Hose Co. No. 6
  • Uses: Stores, apartments, fire house
  • Date of Construction: Circa 1840-1892
  • Style/Form: Italianate
  • Architect/Builder: Unknown
  • Foundation: Granite
  • Wall/Trim: 448-54: brick; 456-58 wood frame with brick front
  • Roof: Flat
  • Major Alterations: First story of #456-58 altered by 1980; first story of 448-54 altered with vinyl siding and new windows by 2023
  • 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: July 2023

Description

This entry consists of two separate structures visibly joined by a brick-faced insert at the first story (see photo). They are both three-story and illustrate the continued use of the Italianate Style in Back Central. Although the ornament is restrained, they still incorporate bow windows, eave brackets, entry brackets, and overall symmetry. #456-58 has a string course (material unknown—possibly sandstone or a composite) at the sill level of the second story, the lintel level of the second story and the sill level of the third story. The eave brackets—visible up through 1980—were removed or covered when the buildings were vinyl sided; only the Italianate entry brackets at 448-54 remain. The facades of #448-454 and 456-458 are connected at the first story but the two buildings do not share a party wall. As indicated at the auction of the properties in 1929, #448-454 had two stores on the first floor and four apartments of five rooms each; 456-58 had one store on the first floor and four apartments of four rooms each. The rear of 456-558 also had a four-room cottage.

History

A structure on the site of #448-54 can be traced back to the map of 1841; by the 1850 Plan of the City of Lowell, the shape of the structure is more defined, and the 1879 atlas indicates that it was wooden. The 1879 atlas also notes that the 456-58 site is owned by the city and houses Hose Company No. 6 in a wooden structure. The 1882 atlas indicates substantive changes. There is now a brick building at 448-454 (originally numbered #224-230 and known as the “Fancy Lunch Tenement”) with two bay windows on the front façade and windows indicated on both side elevations; the site of 456-58 still has the hose company. By the 1892 map, however, the 456-58 site no longer indicates the hose company and the façade of the wooden structure has a brick front to match that of 448-454. Development of the site can be linked to A.C. Wheelock, a real estate agent and possibly the largest owner of tenement property in the city; he owned the lot at 490 Central that he sold to the city for a new fire station (see entry for 490 Central) and that sale may have included an exchange for the 456-58 lot owned by the city. By 1906 all of the properties from #448 up to #490 were owned by Wheelock.The construction of the tenement and store at #456-58 and the two stores and tenements at #448-54 attests not only to the increasing population in Back Central but the commercial nature of Central Street by the end of the 19th century. Waclaw Taraszkiewicz operated a grocery in #454 by 1916 (see also entry on 18-20 North Street). Also of note: a Portuguese Club is listed in the 1926 city directory at #448.

Wheelock died in 1911 and his widow married Herbert Merrill in 1912; by 1924 the properties are listed under the name of Merrill. The buildings were sold as part of the 1929 auction of Wheelock’s estate to Arthur J. Roux; the 1952 atlas still lists both structures as tenements, owned by Belvidere Trust. They sold to Irene Leandro in 1975; in 1978 Leandro sold a portion to Carlos Cunha who sold it to Eurico da Silva in the same year. In 2020 the Silva family sold the property to Yuri Santos and the structures remain residential.

Sources

  • Beard and Hoar, Map of Lowell, 1841.
  • Sidney and Neff Map of Lowell, 1850.
  • Lowell atlases, 1879, 1882, 1892, 1906, 1924 and 1936.
  • Lowell city directories.
  • Lowell Sun, Auction of Wheelock Estate, March 11, 1929
  • Lowell Sun, Feb. 20, 1911, “Andrew C. Wheelock—One of Lowell’s Oldest Business Residents Is Dead.”
  • Registry of Deeds.
  • Lowell Sun, Nov. 25, 1959, p. 32, Waclaw Taraszkiewicz obituary.