Manchester Village Historic District
Manchester-by-the-Sea Visitors
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Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts
(The Maritime Trail)
The Manchester Village Historic District, in Manchester, is 39 acres in size, located on Route 127 in the center of town, in a rough arc around the head of the town's harbor. The buildings in the District represent an excellent sampling of virtually every major type of vernacular architecture from the 17th to the early 20th Century. Forster Cemetery, the Tappan Cemetery and the 1661 Cemetery, and also the Manchester Common, are the Village's main sites. Also included is the Trask House, home of the Manchester Historical Society.
The District has 26 surviving Colonial and Georgian houses. Of the remaining houses, that of Dr. Joseph Whipple, built ca. 1765 at 8 Washington Street, remains the purest example of the Manchester version of "high style" Georgian architecture.
Prosperity in 1-800-1812 fueled the rise of a monied class, and the town's appearance, particularly in the downtown area, was transformed by the construction of fine new houses. The Federal-style house built in 1804 for Israel Forster, a shoreman, is an excellent example of what money and taste could create in Manchester.
After the War of 1812, the town's maritime economy was revitalized, partly from privateering profits. Between 1820 and 1835, Manchester experienced a period of intense residential construction, as old estates were subdivided and new houses went up on the lots.
After the Civil War, in which more than 150 men from Manchester served in the armed forces, the cabinet and furniture manufacturing business continued as the town's mainstay, seafaring having been largely abandoned. Some architectural representations from this period are quasi-Second Empire in style and Queen Anne-style.
Between 1885 and 1910, the district also absorbed a scattering of rather severe boxy houses which reflected national trends. This style came to dominate the areas of the town that expanded after 1910, the terminal date for Manchester's furniture manufacturing.
Within the Village District stand 40 commercial buildings, most of them built as stores, a few others associated with the days of cabinet making and furniture manufacturing. The oldest and most prominent is the building at 7 Central Street, now a restaurant, which was built as a warehouse by John Lee, shoreman and merchant, on land purchased from the town in 1754. This gambrel-roofed, five-bay structure was a first-rate store in those days. The Lees were Manchester's leading 18th century family.