24 High Street, the J.W. Gould House (b 1850)
The J. W. Gould house sits on a small lot that was once owned by Nathaniel Lord III, purchased by Ammi R. Smith in 1820. The 1832 map shows no house between the Smith and Lord houses. The house first appears in the 1856 Ipswich map. Architectural features include Federal and Greek Revival elements, suggesting a construction date by 1850. I have not been able to trace the early deeds for this house.
The 1832 map shows no house between the Ammi Smith house (known as the Phillip Call house) and the home of the widow of Nathaniel Lord III, no longer standing.
The 1856 Ipswich map shows this house owned by “Caldwell” between the S. R. Smith house on the left, and the W. Lord-Nathaniel Lord house on the right.
Thomas Franklin waters referred to this lot in his discussion of the houses on either side, in his book, Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony:
“Nathaniel Lord, by his will made in 1818, bequeathed the east end of his dwelling to his widow, and the west end to his son, Nathaniel Lord 3rd (Pro. Rec. 393: 37). Heirs of the family still own it. The adjoinng house on the west is build on a part of the original estate.”
Phillip Call House, 26 High St (still standing): “Ammi Smith bought a small piece of the Nathaniel Lord 3rd on the east of his lot, December 9, 1820 (225: 219).”
The house on the left in this old photo is the Caleb Lord House at what is now the corner of Manning and High Streets, an early First Period house. Behind the Caleb Lord house is the Nathaniel Lord house, another very early house that was torn down, and for a long time a vacant lot remained. You can see in the old photo that it was a double house, two houses joined together.The X is over one of the chimneys on the J. W. Gould house, third from the left.
The house at 24 High Street first appears in the 1856 map, owned by “Caldwell.” The house was owned by J.W. Gould in the 1872 village map. The 1884 map shows the owner as “W. Gould and the lot lines indicate it shares the lot with the Phillip Call house, owned at that time by Mrs. John G. Caldwell. In 1910 the owner of 24 High St. was “A. Gould” with the narrow lot that it sits on today.
In 2014 the house was renovated by Windhill Builders and was placed on the market. Shown below are “before and after” pictures. The builder’s site indicated that this is a Federal house built around 1810, based on architectural features, but there is no historical documentation to indicate the early date.
The J. W. Gould house at 24 High Street as it appeared in 2013. Photo from the Town of Ipswich Patriot Properties site.
An early photo of 24 High St.
Sources:
We have been researching 24’s ownership,and there were several houses on and divisions of the property before the 1800’s, and after that it became the JW Gould house. From then on, It remained in that family for many generations. J.W. Gould was my g-g-g grandfather.
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Thanks for your comment, and finding the erroneous reference to a Manning ownership. I updated the page with information from Thomas Franklin Waters and historic maps. Please reply on this page with the information from your research, especially any deed information you have..
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