By Jordan J. Phelan
Staff Writer
CLAREMONT — The Albert Ball House in Claremont is among half-a-dozen cemeteries, edifices, and religious establishments scattered across the state and spanning three centuries of history that have recently been added to the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places.
The New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources, established in 1974 and part of the New Hampshire Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, announced on Monday via press release that the state Historical Resources Council has recognized the following locations:
Albert Ball HouseThe Albert Ball House first served as the home of the co-founder of Sullivan Machinery, at one point New Hampshire’s largest machine company, when constructed circa 1885. Ball worked on a number of inventions that over the years received more than 130 patents in the walkout basement of the house.
“The Queen Anne-style house’s architectural details include square, triangular and scale-shaped shingles as well as a classic “Stick-Victorian” sunburst panel with hanging finial in one gable,” according to the New Hampshire Department of Natural and Cultural Resources press release.
Andover Town HallBuilt in 1879, Andover Town Hall’s Italianate details include bracketed window and door hoods, paired ornate bracketing along the eaves and wide corner brackets; the distinctive “1879” in the front gable appears to have always been an upside-down “2.”
“After the town offices relocated from the building in the 1960s,” the press release states, “it served as a chair factory, professional offices and is currently a community center.
Association HallThe idea of local investors around Derry in 1875, Association Hall was designed to have commercial space on the first floor, auditorium space on the second, and meeting space for St. Mark’s Lodge of Freemasons on the third.
“A well-preserved example of Second Empire architecture, its most significant features are its mansard roof, window pediments – ten of which have Masonic symbols – and heavy curved double brackets with drop pendants,” the press release states.
Hillsborough Center CemeteryFounded circa 1790 on land donated by John Hill, one of the town’s original proprietors, Hillsborough Center Cemetery contains approximately 400 burial markers in mixed styles and materials ranging from slate with curved tympanums and urn and weeping willow designs to those made from marble and granite.
“In keeping with an 18th-century New Hampshire law requiring burial grounds to have fences and gates, the cemetery is enclosed by a stone wall,” the press release states.”
Keene Unitarian Universalist ChurchThe Keene Unitarian Universalist Church’s two different architectural styles reflect the periods in which the sections were built.
The 1894 church’s Gothic Revival elements are made from granite quarried at the nearby Roxbury Granite Company. “They harmonize with the church’s Tudor-style stucco gables and diamond-paned leaded glass windows,” the press release states.
An attached education wing of the contemporary style added between 1959 and 1960 incorporates the prefabricated exterior material Kalwall, still made in Manchester.
Morrison HouseAlthough moved from its original location at the onset of the 1990s, Londonderry’s Morrison House, built circa 1760 — the same year that then-New Hampshire Gov. Benning Wentworth issued a land grant for what is now Pownal, Vermont, and 15 years prior to shots being fired at the Battles of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts to kick off the American Revolution — remains one of the oldest standing capes in town and is the only surviving building from one of its earliest settled areas, which is now commercially developed.
Members of the Morrison family, who moved to the area – then known as Nutfield – in 1719, owned the property until 1924.
Anyone wishing to nominate a property to the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places must research the history of the nominated property and document it on an individual inventory form from the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources. Having a property listed in the Register does not impose restrictions on property owners. For more information, visit nh.gov/nhdhr.
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