507 Central Street

Building at 507 Central Street in Lowell, Massachusetts.
  • Historic Name: William R. Cady House and Grocery
  • Uses: Residences and Commercial Space
  • Date of Construction: Circa 1841
  • Style/Form: Greek Revival
  • Architect/Builder: Unknown
  • Foundation: Stone and concrete
  • Wall/Trim: Vinyl Siding
  • Roof: Gable roof and flat roof (rear addition)
  • Major Alterations: Gable dormer(s) removed from roof
  • Condition: Good
  • Included in Hengen survey? No
  • Related oral interview? No
  • Portuguese owned? Yes (by 1942)
  • Recorded by: Gregory Gray Fitzsimons and Marie Frank
  • Organization: UMass Lowell
  • Date: July 2023

Description

This 2-1/2 story wood-frame structure is one of two outstanding examples of Greek Revival architecture in Back Central. Similar to the house at 11 Centre Street, this house at 507 Central Street has a full-columned portico. It also has a long, rectangular plan. But major differences include a full-basement, which has served as a commercial space, possibly from its original construction, as well as one major rear addition, a wood frame, 2-1/2 story structure that was likely built by its third owner, Weld Spalding, in the 1850s to serve as rental apartments. Other features on the main façade include 3-bays with an off-center front entrance and a rounded dormer window below the gable roof peak. A number of alterations are evident, notably vinyl siding, the removal of a gable-roofed dormer, and some concrete work in place of the original stone foundation.

History

This Greek Revival house dates from ca. 1841 and appears to have been built by Mark J. Smart (1814-1848), a mason who purchased the lot on Central Street from David Dana in November 1840. The property changed hands twice before Weld Spalding, a speculator in Lowell real estate who lived next door (at the corner of Central and Centre streets), purchased it in 1846. Spalding rented the house for over 25 years. The building included a commercial space on the ground floor, fronting Central Street. It appears Spalding expanded the residence in the 1850s with a two-story wood-frame addition to the rear of the house. William R. Cady, from Woodstock, Vermont, bought the property in 1873. Several years after his death in 1894, the Spalding heirs re-purchased the house and grocery store, again renting it. Two unmarried Irish-American sisters, Catherine V. and Margaret E. Sweeney, owned the property briefly in the early 1940s, until Manuel S. Gomes, born in Lowell but whose parents were from the Azorean island of Fayal, bought it in 1942. For several years Gomes operated a floor covering business out of the former grocery store space, while raising a family with his wife in the residence. Gomes eventually became a real estate dealer and owned the Greek Revival house for nearly 33 years. He sold the property in 1975 to a Portuguese-American family, headed by John T. and Albertina L. Bettencourt. Currently, this early outstanding example of antebellum Greek Revival architecture in Lowell continues to serve as a residence with a commercial space on the ground floor, now occupied by Branca Tropical Brazil, a clothing store.

Sources

  • Lowell Atlases, 1850, 1896, 1924, 1936.
  • Property deed, Dana to Smart, November 19, 1840, book 35, pages 217-218, Northern Middlesex Registry of Deeds.
  • Property deed, Leavitt R. Josselyn to Weld Spalding, October 5, 1846, book 50, pages 413-414, Northern Middlesex Registry of Deeds.
  • Property deed, Spalding to Cady, July 28, 1873, book 95, pages 401-403, Northern Middlesex Registry of Deeds.
  • Property deed, Catherine V. and Margaret E. Sweeney to Manuel S. Gomes, February 4, 1942, book 974, pages 80-81, Northern Middlesex Registry of Deeds.
  • Obituary of William R. Cady, Lowell Sun, October 30, 1894.
  • Lowell city directories for 1849, 1855, 1866, 1870, 1943, 1948 and 1956.