12 RIVER RD
architectural description
Style: Italianate/Queen Anne
Architectural significance: Two-and-a-half-story residence with its gable end towards the street and a two-story bay window on the east side. Most of the windows display the original 2/2 sash. The most distinguishing detail of the house is the round-headed Italianate attic window in the gable end facing the street. According to the present owners, they believe that a single-story kitchen had been added to the rear elevation by about 1900, later raised to its present two-story height.
A large three-story barn also stood on the property, removed about 1977 to make way for the present garage.
historical narrative
Historical significance: Although not identified by the 1906 map of Andover, this house appears to have been constructed considerably earlier, substantiated by deed research done by the Baileys. The original owner is not known.
By 1915, the property had been acquired by Lizzie (Stevens) Bailey, who assembled a 44-parcel subdivision known as "Stevens Park" between River Road and Webster Street. The engineer who laid out the development was John Franklin of Lawrence, later responsible for laying out Shawsheen Village. The development never worked out, possibly because of the small lot size (more appropriate to city lots than rural subdivisions of the period). The two principle streets, Bailey and Stevens street, proposed to bisect the subdivision, remain "paper streets" to this day.
Twelve River Road, like many houses close to Lawrence, was occupied for much of its later history by Lawrence mill operatives. Lizzie Bailey sold the property in 1915 to Henry P. Lannan (c. 1859 - 1929), a Lawrence butcher. The large three-story barn which stood adjacent was said to have been used for butchering, with a large walk-in freezer. Within three weeks he had moved to Lawrence and sold the property to Louis and Hortense Deconningh. Deconningh and his daughter Zoe Madeline were both weavers, presumably working in one of the mills in Lawrence. Another mill "operative" , Matthew (or Motejii) Tatulis bought the property in 1932. By 1938, John Stasukiewicz, a 42-year old mill operative, was living here with his wife Mary. Today the property is owned by Lizzie Bailey's grandson and his wife.
bibliography/references
Interview with Frank and Eileen Bailey (24 Oct 1987)
Franklin, John, C.E., "Plan of Stevens Park", (1910), Plan 135 in the Essex County Registry of Deeds.
Andover Street Directories. Andover Historical Society
inventory data
| Place: | |
| Historic District: | Not Applicable |
| Address: | 12 river rd |
| Historic Name: | |
| Present Use: | Residence |
| Original Use: | Residence |
| Date of Construction: | 1880s |
| Source: | Visual estimate |
| Style/Form: | Other |
| Architect/Builder: | |
| Foundation: | |
| Wall/Trim: | Asbestos shingles |
| Roof: | |
| Outbuildings / Secondary Structures | Garage (1977) Attached shed (1977) |
| Major Alterations: | Rear kitchen (c. 1900) |
| Condition: | good |
| Moved: | |
| Demolished: | |
| Acreage: | 1.04 acres; Acreage: about 2 acres |
| Setting: | Close to busy road; undeveloped woods in rear |
| MHC inventory number: | |
| Recorded by: | Peter H. Stott, Org.:BU OPA |
| Organization: | |
| Date: | 25 Oct 1987 |
other historic buildings
- on river rd
- in Not Applicable
- with architectural style Other
Post Office Building
