10-12 Decatur Street

This small, two-by-three bay, gable front house sits on the north side of Decatur Street near Intervale Avenue.  The building features one-over-one, double hung sash windows, clapboard siding, concrete foundation, asphalt shingle roof with raking eaves, and a small central chimney.  The entrance is the leftmost bay of the front facade, next to a squared-off bay window.  There are two dormers on the eastern side of the roof and one on the western.  Currently, the house has a cross-gable plan with a large ½ story addition to the rear on the western side. 

The raking eaves and small central chimney are characteristic of the 1870s.  The clapboard siding is in good shape and may not be original.  The asphalt shingles have most likely replaced the original slate, 1870s roof, and the windows and casements are replacements.  Most foundations in the 1870s were stone, although concrete was coming into use.  The concrete foundation on this structure is in very good shape, indicating it may not be original.  The easterly facade appears very stable, with a solid, uniform foundation, whereas the westerly facade is severely sagging and the foundation is more rugged and weathered.  Perhaps the westerly facade has not yet received the same refurbishment and is more indicative of the original structure.

The cross-gables first appear on the 1900 Sanborn Insurance map, although the addition is already evident on the 1885 Sanborn map.  Originally, an open porch extended along the front and around the western facade, as it first appears on the 1894 Sanborn map, but it was enclosed at some point after 1978.  The 1978 Sanborn map also reveals the bay window, which was a later addition.  Currently, the front of the house is undergoing construction, and it appears the porch is being extended across the facade, indicating the decorative brackets and turned posts, inconsistent with the simplicity of the original structure, are recent additions.

The first owner was most likely John B. Beauchamp, in 1873, a carpenter and joiner working for E.W. Chase and Pope & Watson, respectively, and later working as grocer at A.J. Ferguson.¹  John and his wife Adelina emigrated from Canada with their son Eugene, a tailor, and his wife Eyilda, and John’s mother Angelique.²  The Beauchamp family remained at this address until around 1903.³  As early as 1885, this building is listed as a grocery in the front and a dwelling in the back, indicating John Beauchamp may have opened his own grocery from the house and perhaps relating to the additions at that time.⁴  Eugene Beaupre and his family also inhabited the house from around 1881-1889.  Eugene worked for M.J. O’Brien and Company.  The Beaupre family inhabited many different houses in the Old North End, primarily on Decatur and Bright Streets throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s.⁵

See house on 1877 Birds-Eye Map