Purchase-Ferre House

The Purchase-Ferre House is a historic house at 1289 Main Street in Agawam, Massachusetts. Built in 1764, it is one of a small number of surviving 18th-century houses in the town. It has been in the hands of the Ferre family since 1799, and is little-altered since then. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.[1]

Purchase-Ferre House
LocationAgawam, Massachusetts
Coordinates42°2′58″N 72°36′58″W
Area3.35 acres (1.36 ha)
Built1764
ArchitectPurchase, Jonathan
Architectural styleColonial, Georgian
NRHP reference No.90001805 [1]
Added to NRHPNovember 29, 1990

Description and history

The Purchase-Ferre House is set on the east side of Main Street (Massachusetts Route 159), south of Agawam's town center. It is a 2-1/2 story wood frame structure, five bays wide, with a side gable roof, clapboard siding, a large central chimney, and a sandstone block foundation. The main facade, facing west, is symmetrically arranged, with the entrance in the central bay, flanked by sidelight windows and pilasters, and topped by a dentillated entablature. The present door is a replacement, but the original house door survives. The interior of the house includes the remnants of a basement apartment (apparently only used in the 18th century), and has a typical Georgian plan on its main floors, with a narrow entry vestibule with winding staircase, parlors to either side of the chimney, and the original kitchen space behind the chimney. A c. 1970 addition to the rear houses a modern kitchen.[2]

The Georgian style house was built in 1764 by Jonathan Purchase, and was acquired by Moses Ferre in 1799 after a series of intermediate owners. It has since remained in the hands of Ferre's descendants. It underwent relatively little alteration during that period, and is one of Agawam's oldest houses. It was reportedly used at one time to manufacture boxes for the Springfield Armory.[2]

See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. "NRHP nomination and MACRIS inventory record for Purchase-Ferre House". Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved 2013-12-06.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.