gmushinsky
C453511-02F2_17
Pentax K1000 SE, lens SMC Pentax-M 1:1.4 50mm, film fuji Thomas Oliver Hazard Perry Burnham was born in Essex in 1814. During the mid 1800's he became a successful and affluent used bookseller & publisher in Boston. In his will he bequeathed $20,000.00 for the building of a town hall and library in Essex. The location of the building site, was chosen in a closly contested vote, over South Essex. The architect Frank Weston's design was selected over two others in a blind competition and is representative of the Shingle Style architecture.
The construction began in 1893. Stones for the foundation were contributed by the townspeople from various locations. The clock tower was donated by Lamont Burnham of Boston and the Santa Maria weather vane commemorates the shipbuilding of Essex.
The dedication of the completed building was in February 1894.
Today the building is still used for the T.O.H.P. Burnham Library and town offices.
The Essex Town Hall and T.O.H.P. Burnham Library is a large three-story wooden Shingle-Style municipal
building with a fieldstone ground floor, carriage porch, flared shingle siding (second story and above), conical
stair towers, and a steep hipped roof with triangular vent dormers. The eastern end of the building is surmounted
by a square two-story clock tower with conical corner turrets and a large ship weathervane. On the exterior, the
building remains largely unchanged from its original 1893-94 form. The interior of the building retains most of
its original uses and many of its original features. Even though the large second-story hall has had office space
inserted into its center, other auditorium features remain intact, including its stage, balcony, and ceiling
elements. Located on a hilltop in Essex Center, the building fronts on a mixed residential and commercial
stretch of Martin Street and overlooks the valley below, including the meandering Essex River and its salt
marshes. The 1.5 acre parcel is roughly divisible into three contributing parts, fulfilling citizen needs for access
(the semicircular Front Driveway and Walk, dating from 1893-94), recreation (the ca. 1903 Town Hall Baseball
Grounds), and commemoration (Memorial Park, 1946-52). The baseball diamond occupies a riverbottom flat at
the base of the building’s hill; the steep grass-covered hillside between offers informal spectator seating for
games. The most prominent objects are a half-dozen memorials to war veterans along the northern and eastern
edges of the site, especially those counted as contributing objects: the large 1905 Soldiers’ Monument, the 1919
Memorial Tree Tablets, the 1943 stone and wooden triptych Essex Honor Roll, and the 1949 Goodhue
Memorial Stone
C453511-02F2_17
Pentax K1000 SE, lens SMC Pentax-M 1:1.4 50mm, film fuji Thomas Oliver Hazard Perry Burnham was born in Essex in 1814. During the mid 1800's he became a successful and affluent used bookseller & publisher in Boston. In his will he bequeathed $20,000.00 for the building of a town hall and library in Essex. The location of the building site, was chosen in a closly contested vote, over South Essex. The architect Frank Weston's design was selected over two others in a blind competition and is representative of the Shingle Style architecture.
The construction began in 1893. Stones for the foundation were contributed by the townspeople from various locations. The clock tower was donated by Lamont Burnham of Boston and the Santa Maria weather vane commemorates the shipbuilding of Essex.
The dedication of the completed building was in February 1894.
Today the building is still used for the T.O.H.P. Burnham Library and town offices.
The Essex Town Hall and T.O.H.P. Burnham Library is a large three-story wooden Shingle-Style municipal
building with a fieldstone ground floor, carriage porch, flared shingle siding (second story and above), conical
stair towers, and a steep hipped roof with triangular vent dormers. The eastern end of the building is surmounted
by a square two-story clock tower with conical corner turrets and a large ship weathervane. On the exterior, the
building remains largely unchanged from its original 1893-94 form. The interior of the building retains most of
its original uses and many of its original features. Even though the large second-story hall has had office space
inserted into its center, other auditorium features remain intact, including its stage, balcony, and ceiling
elements. Located on a hilltop in Essex Center, the building fronts on a mixed residential and commercial
stretch of Martin Street and overlooks the valley below, including the meandering Essex River and its salt
marshes. The 1.5 acre parcel is roughly divisible into three contributing parts, fulfilling citizen needs for access
(the semicircular Front Driveway and Walk, dating from 1893-94), recreation (the ca. 1903 Town Hall Baseball
Grounds), and commemoration (Memorial Park, 1946-52). The baseball diamond occupies a riverbottom flat at
the base of the building’s hill; the steep grass-covered hillside between offers informal spectator seating for
games. The most prominent objects are a half-dozen memorials to war veterans along the northern and eastern
edges of the site, especially those counted as contributing objects: the large 1905 Soldiers’ Monument, the 1919
Memorial Tree Tablets, the 1943 stone and wooden triptych Essex Honor Roll, and the 1949 Goodhue
Memorial Stone