11 Hussey Street NANTUCKET
A House History
Above: 11 Hussey Street, circa 1890s Opposite: T. Gilbert & Co, advertising flyer
A Brief History 11 HUSSEY STREET HISTORY
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ccording to local tradition, the house at 11 Hussey Street was moved from the Capaum Pond area, but no evidence has been found to substantiate this claim. We do know the house was owned by William Hussey in the mid eighteenth century on land owned by his father, Sylvanus Hussey. Sylvanus was one of the wealthiest men on island and William was one of his ten sons. At least two of William’s brothers also lived in this area known as the Wesco Acre Lots: Nathaniel at 5 Quince and Christopher where 5 Hussey now stands. When Sylvanus wrote his will in 1765, he bequeathed twelve houses to his children and grandchildren; two of them were left to William. Although locations are not specified in the will, it is likely that the house William lived in at 11 Hussey Street was one of his father’s houses. William Hussey (1725–1805) married Abigail Starbuck (1729–1817), with whom he had nine children over the course of twenty years: William Jr., born in 1749; Elizabeth, born in 1751; Catharine, born in 1754; Laban, born in 1756; Ruth, born in 1758; Paul, born in 1761; Anna, born in 1763; Seth, born in 1765; and Abigail, born in 1769. Their daughter Anna, wife of Pete Barney, was the sole owner of the house when she died in 1828. Her heirs sold the house to Nathaniel Ray, a mariner, in 1829. His tenure at 11 Hussey was shortened by his death in 1830.
Peter C. Myrick (1776–1840), a master mariner, also executor of the Ray estate, purchased the house in 1830. In 1837, unable to repay a debt of $367.96 to Boston pianoforte makers Timothy Gilbert, Increase Gilbert and Henry Safford, Myrick was taken to court and forced to relinquish one half of the property to his creditors, including a portion of the lot and the house.Two years later, Peter’s son, Frederic W. Myrick (1814–1854), bought the house back, probably for his parents. Peter Myrick died the following year, but Frederic’s mother Elisabeth (née Barnard, 1776–1854) may have remained at the house until her death. Deed records indicate Frederic held the property until March 6, 1854, when he sold it to Joseph Cook, merchant. Frederic appears to have made a spring voyage immediately after the sale. Although a successful master mariner in his own right and the last captain of the ship Sarah—described as “one of the luckiest ship ever owned in Nantucket”—he is recorded as a passenger on the ship Walter Claxon in April 1854. Unfortunately, his luck ran out; the Walter Claxton sunk in rough seas off the coast of California in April that year. Myrick was one of several who made it into a small vessel, but it too was lost and all perished.
Florence Rand Lang, 1927, portrait by Elinor M. Barnard
New owner Joseph Cook held the property one year before selling to Joseph A. Sylvaro (1815-1888), patriarch of one of the early Nantucket families, with roots that can be traced to the Portuguese islands of Cape Verde and Azores. The Sylvaro family retained the property until 1912 when the property was sold to a summer resident, Florence Rand Lang Florence and her husband Henry Lang, lived in Montclair, New Jersey, and were among the most influential summer residents of Nantucket in the early twentieth century. The Langs began summering on island in 1909, and among their many contributions was Florence’s founding of Nantucket’s art colony. Beginning in the 1910s they purchased a large tract of land along Washington Street and the wharves and turned the old shanties and other commercial buildings into studios that they rented to artists at modest rates. Florence also founded the first art galleries on island for the artists to display and sell their work. The Langs assisted the island in other ways, donating to charitable causes including: purchasing the bell at the North Church, and children’s playground equipment at Jetties Beach; and completing commercial development, in particular, modernizing the old Swain lumber, coal and ice company as the Island Service Company. Under the Lang ownership this firm became the largest mercantile business on island; its property centered on Old South Wharf. The Langs also built the South Beach Boatyard.
The Langs held numerous properties, but the house at 11 Hussey Street bordered the Lang’s summer home and made the perfect place for family. By 1918 Florence sold the house to Emile Bornemann, whose wife was a half niece of Henry Lang. Emile Bornemann’s descendants own the property today. During the Lang ownership, changes to the house were made to modernize the ancient structure. Improvements made in 1913 included the introduction of both plumbing and gas, the installation of the early twentieth century kitchen and butler’s pantry (still in use), and the construction of a rear stairway, bathroom and a one-story screened porch . Bornemann introduced electricity in 1920, and in the 1930s he added a garage, second-level sleeping porch—later destroyed by Hurricane Bob—a breakfast room to the rear of the house, and the rear entry-pantry now used as a laundry. In 1955, the breakfast room was extended approximately six feet into the side yard. In the 1940s, Bornemann built a small two-story addition along the rear of the house to extend the bedrooms at the northeast corner. The long stewardship of the Bornemann family has helped to preserve the early house. It is one of the rare examples retaining elements that tell a story of the island from the heyday of whaling to its evolution into a summer resort community.
Damage to porch after Hurrican Bob
11 Hussey Street, circa 1880s
ARCHITECTURE
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his large timber frame structure retains many of its early features, and like all houses it has evolved over time with historic additions and more modern changes. The house is unique in that most changes occurred by the early twentieth century, making the house one of those timepieces that are increasingly rare today. Clay Lancaster, in The Architecture of Historic Nantucket, suggests the house was built first as a two-bay half-house constituting the west section of the present building. This section of the house could possibly date to the first half of the eighteenth century, and stylistically there are elements that suggest this is the case. In addition, Lancaster’s theory is strengthened given that the east end—the possible later section-- has a raised basement. Development of the structure into a full house appears to have been complete early on since the east section also retains eighteenth century features. The 2 ½ story, four bay house has a façade with a three-bay wide second floor and sits on a stone foundation. Windows are early plank windows with peg construction that protrude from the wall. Some of these windows retain eighteenth and early nineteenth-century sash with twelve-over-twelve lights. The current front porch was added in 1913, but has an early to mid nineteenth century door surround with classically-inspired pilasters. The original articulated chimney, destroyed during Hurricane Bob, has been replaced above the roofline, but internally the chimney retained its original form. Additions, from the early twentieth century, are found to the rear of the house and overall have been sensitively added by incorporating early elements such as the window at the northeast corner of the rear elevation. The interior of the house retains a remarkable number of historic features and is among the best preserved of the period. The entryway, known as a porch, has its original or old threshold with grooves to drain water. A fine open winder staircase, opposite the door and running to the garret, is unusually wide. Behind it is a large chimney stack anchoring the center of the structure that cleverly incorporates cupboards and closets into space around the chimney works. This massive brickwork is covered in early parge of a lime composition and serves three fireplaces on the first floor. Tying the structure together are massive hand hewn and exposed corner posts that flare at their tops, forming what are known as gunstock posts. Exposed central ceiling beams and girts (the horizontal members) are decorated with beads along their edges.
Parlor
The parlor to the east side of the porch is a large room of approximately 17 ½ feet square. The fireplace wall is paneled with a large raised panel overboard and a late eighteenth or early nineteenth century Federal mantel decorated with fine, reeded pilasters and dentil bands. Changes over the years are apparent in the various elements from the simple hand hewn board visible above the mantel, fine raised panel and later decorative mantel. It is possible the opening was larger originally. A large cast iron stove sits on the stone and brick hearth. Two-paneled doors with old hardware flank the mantel and are topped by boards with applied battens. The early two-panel door from the porch is crowned by a four-part transom with glass. Two early doors on the north wall retain simple casement moldings. Other early and important historical features in the room include a two-part cradleboard at the northwest corner, mirror boards between the front windows that were meant to support a looking glass, and the large central beams and rear wall post. A picture rail is embedded in early plaster on the room’s south and east walls. Flooring, as is the case for the first floor, probably is of nineteenth century vintage, and newer ž molding has been added to the baseboard at that time. Some large old boards are visible from the basement. The small room to the rear of the parlor was extended c.1943, but retains early windows with paneled shutters. The rear window and shutters were reused when the room was extended. Early twentieth century paneling has been added at chair rail level.
Fireplace detail
Dining room
Cupboard detail
The dining room, approximately 12 feet by 17 ½ feet, also retains early features. The fireplace wall is paneled with similar board and batten elements to those found in the parlor. A shelf supported by corbels is of a later date (probably late nineteenth or early twentieth century). Among the early features is the small cupboard at the northeast corner with its raised panel door and beaded surround. Unlike the parlor, the entry door from the stairway/porch lacks a windowed transom. The west wall has been changed over the years with the addition of an exterior door to the side porch, a built-in corner cupboard and window realignment. A board and batten wall at the north end curves slightly at the fireplace wall.
Kitchen cooking fireplace with bake oven
The house’s rear floorplan was changed in the early twentieth century –probably it originally contained a small room at each corner (like that at the northeast corner) and a larger central room. Still, it retains its massive brick chimney centered on the inner wall with its bake oven, warmer/storage area, massive hand hewn lintel, and exposed stepped breast. Also evident is an early window on the north wall and exposed timber framing. Today one enters the kitchen through a pantry off the dining room containing early twentieth century shelving and cabinets along the north, west and south walls. Incorporated at the same time is a very rare survivor: the kitchen’s three built-in cupboards including a soapstone sink. These elements are constructed of stained beaded wood. The north wall’s east door leads to a laundry room. The exterior door in this wing is grained painted in a fashion similar to that found at the Maria Mitchell Birthplace on Vestal Street. The west door leads to the 1936 ironing room with pickled wood walls. The door is topped by a transom that opens and retains its early opening mechanism. To the east of the kitchen is the rear stairway that served as a phone station. The stairs leading to the second floor probably date to the Lang period (c. 1915).
Kitchen
The second floor originally had a similar plan to the first floor, but with fireplaces probably only in the two front rooms. The floor retains very wide board flooring that has been painted and appears to be hand planed without mechanical sanding. Original or old plaster is also evident throughout. The stairs hall or passage is lighted by a window and the garret steps have been enclosed by the nineteenth century addition of a plank door. The east chamber has a simple mantel (possibly early nineteenth century) with shelf flanked by closets with two paneled doors and HL hinges. Like the first floor, the room is divided by a central beam and has corner posts and two north wall doorways. The doors and hardware are original and/or old. The room is simpler than the first floor but equal in size. The north wall east door leads to a small chamber that retains an exposed gunpost stock. The northwest door leads to a twentieth century hallway running east/west that provides access to the rear stairway, a central bath along the north wall of the house, and the northwest corner room. This room, like its mate at the northeast corner has a door from its coordinating front chamber. In addition the northwest chamber retains its exposed timbers. The southwest chamber also retains historic elements including a Federal mantel with large raised paneled overboard, picture rail, and paneled doors. Changes include the addition of a new window on the west wall and addition of a closet in the northwest corner.
East Chamber
Gunstock post detail
The large garret hold three main rooms; the east and west bedrooms added in 1913. Early features include the vertical board sheathing and wide board flooring. The rear room has a c. 1930s dormer and pickled wood walls as well as its original or very early ladder leading to a roof hatch. In summary, 11 Hussey has one of the best-preserved interiors on-island, with a long list of features very worthy of careful preservation.
11 HUSSEY STREET OWNERS: Sylvanus Hussey
-1765
William Hussey
1765-1805
Heirs of William Hussey, including Anna Hussey, daughter
1805-1829
Nathaniel Ray, Mariner
1829-1830
Peter C. Myrick, Master Mariner
1830-1837
Timothy Gilbert, Increase Gilbert, and Henry Safford
1837-1839
Frederic W. Myrick
1839-1854
Joseph Cook, Merchant
1854-1855
Joseph A. Sylvaro
1855-1888
Heirs of Joseph A. Sylvaro
1888-1912
Florence Lang
1912-1918
Emile Bornemann and family
1918-
Nantucket Preservation Trust
March, 2014 Historic images courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association; Current photos by Michael May
Nantucket Preservation Trust Advocates, Educates, and Celebrates the Preservation of Nantucket’s Historic Architecture
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his brief history is an important contribution to the island’s architectural record. Documentation is one of the ways the Nantucket Preservation Trust celebrates the more than 2,400 historic homes, farms, and workplaces that contributed to the island’s designation as a National Historic Landmark in 1966. By providing owners of historic houses, island residents, schoolchildren, and visitors a broad spectrum of programs and projects, we encourage the preservation of irreplaceable structures, architectural features, and cultural landscapes. Lectures, walking tours, house markers, special events, and publications—including the house histories and neighborhood histories—define our unique work on Nantucket. We hope you enjoy the history of this house, its past owners, and its place in Nantucket’s remarkable architectural heritage.
Nantucket Preservation Trust Post Office Box 158 • Nantucket, MA 02554 www.nantucketpreservation.org Copyright © 2014 Nantucket Preservation Trust
nantucket preservation trust Post Office Box 158 • Nantucket, Massachusetts www.nantucketpreservation.org