Students of the famous Borden case have studied the properties on Third and Fourth Streets with some interest.  Third Street, directly behind the Borden House once was the address for Crowe’s barn, an orchard and Dr. Chagnon’s house and offices. Men in Crowe’s yard, as well as a young girl named Lucy Collette, watching out for patients on the day of the murder on the porch of Dr. Chagnon, had to give statements to the police.  Today the area is very much changed and Third Street has been cut off to an abrupt end by the large brick Borden Place East building.

There is a particularly fine early example of a Cape style dwelling at the corner of Spring and Third.  In 1892, during the Borden investigations, Spring Street stopped at Second Street.   Another notable Spring Street dwelling, which according to Rebello’s Lizzie Borden : Past and Present, was moved back one lot from Fourth Street, is the Oliver Gray house.  Oliver Gray was the father of Abby Borden, Lizzie’s murdered stepmother.  At the time of the murders, Abby’s half-sister Sarah Whitehead, her family, and her stepmother Jane Gray inhabited the house.  This house is often referred to as the “house which started all the trouble” as Lizzie’s father, Andrew J. Borden purchased and made over the house to his second wife without informing his daughters.  This made for hard feeling in the Borden house, and it is said Lizzie stopped calling her stepmother “Mother” as a result. 

The Cook Borden mansion on Fourth Street also has a Lizzie connection.  Cook Borden was a prosperous lumber yard owner, and a great-uncle to Lizzie.  Today the beautiful mansard-roofed dwelling is a home for single men and contains eight apartments.  The current color scheme of the house is particularly noteworthy, and picks out all of the amazing gingerbread and architectural detailing. It is truly a South End Painted Lady.  The round circle motifs on the porch are especially unique.

.  At the end of Fourth at the north corner of Borden was the one time location of Hiram Harrington’s smithy.  Mr. Harrington was not a champion of Lizzie during her ordeal, and did not speak to her father in his later years. Mr. Harrington was married to Andrew Borden’s sister, Lurana. There’s a lot of history in the two-blocks behind the Borden house, and some wonderful Victorian homes.

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.

Arnold B Sanford House c1884. Before the addresses were changed, when it was built, it was known as 34 Lincoln Ave. Arnold B. Sandford was treasurer of the Globe Yarn Mills and President of the Davol Mills.

The Sanford House on Lincoln Avenue

The term “Painted Lady” has now become part of the American vernacular and describes a Victorian house of three or more colors.  The painting scheme is also called “polychrome”. 

The term was first used for San Francisco Victorian houses by writers Elizabeth Pomada and Michael Larsen in their 1978 book Painted Ladies – San Francisco’s Resplendent Victorians.  There has since been sequels to the popular book, which has never been out of print since its first publication.

Fall River has a particularly fine collection of these glorious homes both in the Historic Highlands or “The Hill” section of the old mill town, and also in the south end of the city.  “Painted Lady” refers to the Victorian disdain for using too much make-up, paint and powder, which became associated with showgirls, ladies of the evening and actresses.  By using three or more colors on the intricate gingerbread details of these homes, highlighting the architectural elements is achieved.

The exquisite Queen Anne in the photographs below, the Sanford House, is located on Lincoln Avenue, and was recently repainted in October 2007.  It is surely one of the loveliest homes on The Hill and a favorite of locals.

As the world becomes more hurried and streamlined, a certain nostalgia for the workmanship and attention to detail has rekindled in today’s generation.  These amazing homes are being once again appreciated as testimonials to a slower, more gracious time when neighbors stopped to visit over lemonade on the porch, ladies bent over their needlework in wicker chairs, and children were happy to toss a ball on immaculate rolling lawns.  Fall River is rich in architectural heritage- may it ever be so.

Before The Rescue

In Bygone Days