Constructed in 1850 in Manchester, New Hampshire, the Hill-Lassonde House was a prime example of Italianate architecture. The home was built in 1850 for Alpheus Dwight Burgess, a machinist, on land he purchased three years prior in 1847. The house was listed under the National Register of Historic Places in 1985, which was owned by Hill’s descendants at the time of the house’s registration. The house was quietly demolished in 2016 to be turned into a parking lot for luxury apartments half a block away.
The Alpheus Gay House was built on 184 Myrtle Street in Manchester, New Hampshire around 1870 by Alpheus Gay himself. Gay, a building contractor local to the area built one of the most elaborate Italianate houses in the state. The house, a two and a half story wood frame house, was owned by the Currier Gallery Art before being placed in private hands. The house was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 where it still remains as a historic landmark in Hillsborough county.
Located at 220 Myrtle Street in Manchester, New Hampshire, the Thomas Russell Hubbard house is an Italian Villa-style home built in 1867 by its owner and namesake. It is believed that the design and style of the house were inspired by several writings on architecture by Andrew Jackson Downing. The Hubbard house represents Downing's ideas through the complexity of the architecture and the sophistication of the decoration as shown through ornate woodwork and complex roofing planes among other features. In Downing’s view, the home should represent the personality and the economic station of the owner, in this case, Thomas Russell Hubbard. The home was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988 and still remains a historical landmark in Manchester today.
Constructed in 1892 for Roger Sullivan, from whom the house gets its name, the Roger Sullivan House is an exquisite example of the Queen Anne style. The Queen Anne style, and the Roger Sullivan House by extension, is characterized by its asymmetrical design, large projecting bay windows, towers, turrets, porches, stained glass decoration, roof crestings, decorative trim, patterned shingles, banisters and spindles, ostentatious detailing, and specially crafted chimneys. Additionally, true to the style, the Roger Sullivan House is richly decorated in a variety of forms, textures, materials, and colors, both internally and externally. According to a publication highlighting homes across the state of New Hampshire, the Roger Sullivan House is just as progressive and elegant as the man who once occupied it.
Located at 1800 Elm Street, Manchester, New Hampshire, the Frank Pierce Carpenter house is a traditional Queen Anne Style home built in 1891. This historic home, likely designed by Edgar Allen Poe Newcomb, was the residence of Frank Pierce Carpenter, a notable entrepreneur in the Manchester area. Carpenter lived in this house until his death in 1938, and in 1942 the house was offered to the American Red Cross and would serve as their headquarters during World War II. The American Red Cross still resides in the Frank Pierce Carpenter house today.
Located at 2000 Elm Street in Manchester, New Hampshire, the General John Stark house is a traditional cape-style house with a gabled roof and a center chimney. Archibald Stark built this historic house in 1736, and his son John resided there from its construction in 1765. The home remained in the family until 1821. The house was owned by the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company for a brief period. Eventually, the house was donated to the Daughters of the American Revolution, who renovated and restored the structure. As of 1970, the house functions as a D.A.R meeting site and a local museum.
In 1922, the same year mill workers went on the great nine-month strike across Manchester (as well as the greater New England area), William Parker Straw, agent of the Amoskeag manufacturing mill in Manchester, was in the process of constructing his new mansion on North River Road. Currently known today, almost a hundred years later, as the William Parker Straw house, the residence is recognized as one of the finest examples of Tudor revivalist architecture in the area. Tudor homes are characterized by their steeply pitched gable roofs, playfully elaborate masonry chimneys, and embellished doorways—all of which the William Parker Straw House exhibits.
This Tour is a Driving or Biking Tour.
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This driving tour of Manchester includes a mixture of well-known landmarks and lesser-known homes of historic and architectural significance. In addition to surving as a driving tour that shares some of the history of the community, it explores the 19th century of Manchester, New Hampshire.
