4-part online class about Marblehead's historic architecture

4 Wednesdays in February ~ 10  am  to  11:30  (questions  11:30  to  noon)

350 Years of architecture in Marblehead - from founding by 1629 to 1976 Bicentennial

Follow the town’s development as it transformed from a rough and struggling fishing settlement (1629-1713) to a boisterous international Atlantic seaport (1714-1830), with a half century as a gritty but prosperous English commercial trading port (1720-1775) that was the tenth most populous metropolis in British North America until the American Revolution devastated the town socially and economically. Then, after recovery in the 1830s, from a satellite industrial shoe-making town (1830-1888) to a seaside summer resort (1874-1915), and from a post-war commuter town (1918 to the present) to a thriving residential and business community (1970s to now).

Why do Marblehead streets and houses look the way they do ?

What are some of the special aspects of Marblehead buildings ?

Learnhow to identify major defining elements of each architectural time period and style, and Find out how economic conditions and national events impacted the town’s built environment.

The course will touch on interiors –– but a separate course next year will explore that in greater depth.  

Feb.          

3rd       1629 to 1729       Settlement by 1629 / boom town 17-teens / Town House constructed 1727-29

10th      1700 to 1775       Georgian style developed as M’hd. grew exponentially / economy crashed 1770s

17th      1776 to 1876       Post-Revolution “Federal” style / 1830s recovery / Abbot Hall cornerstone laid 1876

24th      1877 to 1976       A.H. 1877 / big fires '77 & '88 / resort era 1870 - 1917 / post-wars devel. / Bicentennial 1976