Fall River Historical Society Summer Garden
Fall River Rising Exhibit

Now through August 23rd a special exhibit at Lotus Rising, 73 Columbia Street will be running featuring cityscapes, waterscapes and photos of city municipal buildings, cemeteries, and private homes. Among the photographs are some familiar Fall River Painted ladies.
Posted in Exhibits, Gingerbread Gems, Hidden Treasures | Tags: Fall River Photo Exhibit, Fall River Rising
Signs of Spring
The beautiful Dana Brayton house porch is getting a nip-tuck this week as the Rock Street side porch has supporting pillars replaced.

A little further south on Rock, one of the two “Twin Sisters” on the east side of the street recently received a little paint and powder which she sorely needed. The dove grey clapboard color and the chalky grey-lilac trim are worthy of any Painted Lady.

Her twin sister next door-

Underwood Street
Although Mapquest does not even show Underwood Street on its map of Fall River- it does exist and is a charming street which begins at the corner of French with the Hooper House, crosses Lincoln and Pearce streets and terminates at the intersection of President’s Avenue. There are a good many styles of houses, but the gambrel roof or Cape Anne seems to be very popular. The Hooper House, only a few doors down from Lizzie Borden’s Maplecroft begins Underwood in the shadows of the looming Charlton Hospital- and has always been a landmark structure. Today it is a multi-family home which some have compared to the popular Addams Family home from the old television program. Underwood is tucked away neatly, but for avid admirers of Painted Ladies, it is well worth the effort. Underwood also offers some fine views of the Simeon Borden/ Sarah Brayton House.
Charm on High Street
Tucked away on the east side of High Street are these two delightful capes which face each other like two old friends. Unlike any other architecture to be seen on the street, these two charmers are showing their west side elevations to the street and are easy to miss when driving by.
The unexpected color combinations of sage with violet shutters, surrounded by the white picket fence and exuberant plantings of hot pink cosmos make this gambrel-roofed “Cape Anne” a Painted Lady of sorts. 

The facing sister cape in buttercream paint with chocolate door and shutters boasts a venerable brick chimney and picture book welcome home warmth.
Spring, Third & Fourth Streets
The Fall River Public Library & The Titanic
One, among many reasons to visit and admire the art and architecture of the library atrium is a work by Fall River artist Mary Lizzie Macomber entitled, Marconi. Miss Macomber (1861-1916) was a much-celebrated artist of the American Pre-Raphaelite school whose paintings of beautiful women won international acclaim, and whose works were exhibited at the 1892 Chicago Columbian Exposition.
There are several works by Miss Macomber at the library, but one in particular is unusual and haunting. In April, 1912, the world was stunned by the sinking of the Royal Mail Steamer Titanic, bound for New York from Southampton on her maiden voyage. Thanks to Marconi’s invention of the wireless, the Cunard rescue ship Carpathia received the SOS and was able to save over 700 souls. In her painting Marconi, Mary Macomber portrays an ethereal, angel-like woman, listening over the ocean, with both hands to her ears. In the far distance at the top of the canvas, faint sparks can be seen traveling out over the water; a tribute to the life-saving invention of Gugliemo Marconi.
In the South End
Not all the great old Painted Ladies are on The Hill and in the Highlands. There are some architectural beauties to be found in the south end of town, in the Globe section and in Corky’s Row. Architectural diversity is one of the great charms of Fall River, whether in commercial and civic buildings or residential dwellings. The double and triple decker construction, so commonly seen in New England mill towns still abounds in the city, with a great many of these dwellings now clad in aluminum siding. Occasionally a shingled example still exists, and more rarely still, a brick dwelling. Some resourceful means have been found to preserve at at least some of the carved “gingerbread” ornaments and embellishments of these South End Painted Ladies. A few boast some eye-catching paint schemes as well.
Perhaps the most impressive example, in sheer size, of mill architecture in the area is the King Phillip Mill which engulfs several blocks.
The Simeon Borden/ Sarah Brayton House
This elaborate High Victorian Ruskinian Gothic residence was built in 1875 for Simeon Borden. He was a prominent civil engineer and land surveyor who was deeply involved in Fall River’s expanding street system following the Civil War.
The residence was built of brick instead of wood, which at that time made this an unusual building for the city. This particular style was popular in the mid-1870’s and many of the city’s buildings which resemble this house were designed by Hartwell and Swazey, such as the Academy Building in the Borden Block and the Central Congregational Church on Rock Street.
Simeon Borden sold the residence to Sarah Brayton in 1895 and it was then christened “Broadview”. Sarah S. Brayton died in 1915 and willed the home to her niece, Nancy Jannett Bowers Brayton who married Judge James Madison Morton in 1955. Their heirs donated the mansion to the Christian Day School which closed in 1992. Since 2001, it has been the address for the Women’s Center/ OB-GYN.
Summer in the Garden
Categories
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- Exhibits
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- Garden Spots
- Gingerbread Gems
- Hidden Treasures
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- House Tales
- Not Quite Painted Ladies
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- The South End Beauties
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