33 North Street
The Callahan House (#33 North Street) is located on the southwest corner of North and Front Streets in the Old North End of Burlington, Vermont. The building was built in 1906 for the intention of workers housing. The Colonial Revival building is a three story, five by four bay structure consisting of six different apartments. The building has a square stone massing with three story wooden porch attached to the south side of the structure. The exterior is rough redstone, accentuated by rockfaced quoins on the facade corners. There is a central entrance, consisting of a metal door encased in a metal frame. The door is ornamented with a four-paned transom light and a rockfaced stone lintel. The windows on the front facade are all one/one double hung windows, with rockfaced stone lintels and sills. The windows on the three remaining facades are one/one double hung windows with elliptical window hoods. The roof of the building is flat and it has small, projecting cornice.
In 1906, the year of the building's construction, Burlington, along with the rest of the country, was experiencing an economic depression. The United States as a whole was experiencing massive bank closures and employment. In Burlington, the local economy was feeling the pain of a changed tariff law that involved Canada. For years, this tariff law prevented Canada from exporting finished goods into America. As a result, Canadian businesses established Burlington factories to finish their goods. In the mid 1890s, the tariff law was repealed and Burlington slowly felt the pain of the loss of the Canadian presence. Burlington did not rise out of the depression until the rise of the industry that came with the First World War. For the next seventy years, Burlington fluctuated between boom and bust, exemplified by the depression of the 1930s, the World War II industrial boom, the closing of the Winooski Mill in 1954 and then the arrival of IBM in 1961. From the 1970's to the present, Burlington has become much more reliant on tourism as its primary industry.
The Callahan House was one the last buildings to be constructed in the residential/commercial district of North Street. North Street has always served as diverse neighborhood, with an equal proliferation of residential and commercial structures. The area of North Street first started to be settled after the Civil War during the Burlington lumber boom. The first buildings in the area were used for the worker's housing or as commercial units. Since the first settlement, the North Street area has served as a haven for immigrants, laborers and small businesses with very little deviation from this pattern for over a hundred years.
The buildings around the Callahan House are much older and considerably different in style. Most of the structures in the surrounding area are two story, wooden frame, vernacular houses that were built before the turn of the century. As a result, the three story stone structure stands out within its surrounding environment. In addition, the Callahan House is the only building in the immediate area that does not have a first story store front. This suggests that there was never an intention to use the building for commercial purposes.
The Callahan House is an excellent example of a multi-family dwelling. There are three types of multi-family dwellings in the Burlington area: converted single family houses, buildings that have commercial first floors with apartments on the upper levels, and apartment flats. The presence of apartment buildings can be attributed to the success of the local lumber mills and their need for more workers. Another reason is that the cost of living had risen. During the first half of the century, common laborers could afford to build and own their own house, but as the depression set in, workers had to look towards renting their accommodations. In addition, young males ere immigrating to America and looking for cheap housing.
Converted single family dwellings were the most abundant, for it was the easiest method for a homeowner to gain additional income. This fact is exemplified by an abundance of converted Italianate, Greek revival and Vernacular structures in the Old North End. The Old North End was in close walking distance to the local industries, which resulted in homeowners taking advantage of the housing shortage and converting their homes. The next most common multi-family building are the commercial/residential structures. These are found in the dense, commercial areas. The mixed use buildings were a result of the building owner getting the optimum use out of the building. The owner could rent the first floor to businesses, while the second and third floor could be used for residential purposes. Out of the three types of mult-family dwellings, the apartment flat is the most rare in the Burlington area. The flat is different for it was built for the sole purpose of containing apartments and it did not have a prior or mixed use.
The Callahan House is a unique example of an apartment flat. For one, it is one of few examples of a Colonial Revival flat with a stone exterior. The apartment houses built before the turn of the century were typically wooden and Italianate; while after the turn of the century, the styles tended to be Colonial or Classical Revival with a brick veneer. The Callahan House is also unique for it was the only Post-1900 apartment flat that housed working class people. This can be attributed to the Callahan House's close proximity to the Waterfront. In comparison to other apartment flats in the Burlington area: The Hamilton on Pearl Street, The Ormond on Winooski Avenue, The Kelley House on South Union and the McSweeney House on Pearl Street; the Callahan House was the only flat to have laborers as tenants. The tenants of the other apartments flats were lawyers, teachers, store owners and corporate executives who appreciated the apartment's close proximity to the center of Burlington.
#33 North Street was constructed in 1906 by unknown contractors and was funded by Michael Callahan, a local stone mason. The Callahan family lived on the Western end of North Street for many years. The 1869 Beers Atlas shows a Callahan residence on the corner of North Street and North Avenue. By 1890, the Callahan clan had sold their residence and had relocated to 23 North Street. On September 17, 1906 Michael Callahan bought the land that is presently #33 North Street from William Callahan, Michael's younger brother. At this time Michael abandoned his occupation of stone mason, and started a second hand furniture store in his home on #23 North Street . In the same year, Michael constructed the apartment house, and by 1907, the first tenants moved into the building. In February of 1908, Michael Callahan purchased the present day parking lot from a local laborer by the name of John Beatty, whose family had owned the land since May of 1872.
On February 11, 1919, the executor of the estate of Michael Callahan, Walter A. Gage sold the property to Elmer Hill. Between the ownership of Elmer Hill and the present day owners, William and Phyliss Bissonnette, the Callahan House changed hands ten times. Elmer Hill owned the building for the longest period of time: 36 years and 11 months (02/11/19 -02/03/56); while Lee Zachary, of Lee Zachary's Pizza House notoriety, owned the building for only one year and ten months (03/21/84 - 11/29/85).
The first tenants of the Callahan House in 1907 were four laborers and two employees of the local lumber company, J.R. Booth. For the next eighty-eight years, the building housed the working class, retirees and the occasional student. In its entire history, the Callahan House served as a commercial base only once. This deviation came in 1933, when an individual by the name of Clement Lovejoy moved his taxi business from 41 Lakeview Terrace, and occupied an apartment in the Callahan House. By 1935, Mr. Lovejoy felt the pains of the depression, abandoned his taxi business, moved to 88 Pitkin Road and became a laborer.
The only interruption in the Callahan House's smooth and uneventful history came in 1965. For some unannounced reason, all six apartments were completely vacant. The individuals who lived in the house in 1964, relocated to addresses on Sherman Street, Manhattan Drive and North Street and did not return to the Callahan House in 1966. One can only assume that 1965 was a year for renovations or extensive damage for the Callahan House, which would attribute for the vacancies. One can also speculate that the living arrangements in the apartment were not spectacular, for none of the occupants chose to return in 1966. During this period, Joseph C. and Evelyn B. Rocheleau of #30 Front Street owned the building. The Rocheleau s, who ran a cabinet making business in their Front Street residence, bought the land in April of 1964 and sold the building by March of 1967. In the three years that the Rocheleaus owned the building, they only had tenants in the building for eleven months.
There have been virtually no exterior alterations done to the Callahan House since its construction in 1906. The 1912 Sanborn Map shows that there was an exterior, three story porch attached to the rear of the building. The porch still exists today, although there have probably been minor repairs over the years. The building has no other appendages or outbuildings. When Michael Callahan bought the present day parking lot, there was a small one and a half story, wooden house on the premises. The 1912 Sanborn Map suggests that Michael Callahan demolished the building. The only other alteration that is noticeable is the metal door on the front facade. The door is a modern addition, and what it replaced is unknown. The other remaining mystery was the aforementioned complete vacancy of the building in 1965.
Although the Callahan House has had an uneventful structural history, the owners and tenants paint a vivid picture of Burlington society over the last one hundred years. By tracing the ownership of the Callahan House, we discover that local, working class people invested into the building. The majority of the building's owners were hard working individuals who saw the Callahan House as a source of additional income. The tenants of the Callahan House reflect a social pattern as well. The first tenants in 1907 were local laborers, and the tenants of 1995 are part of the working class as well. Between 1907 and 1995, there has been a vast array of nationalities living in #33 North Street, ranging from the French Canadians to the Vietnamese. The presence of immigrants is consistent with a national, municipal and neighborhood pattern. The United States has always served as a Mecca for immigrants; and throughout its history, Burlington has been a center for these immigrant settlements, with the Old North End serving as a focal point. The human history of #33 North Street is consistent with the broad social patterns of the neighborhood, for it served as a home for both the working class and immigrants throughout history.
The Callahan House is a unique Burlington structure. Not only does it symbolize broad social patterns, but it is the only example of a Colonial Revival apartment flat in the city of Burlington. It is also one of the few examples of a multi-family building that has not been converted from a single family dwelling. In addition, the building has a limited history of commercial use. The Callahan House was followed by other stone/brick apartment flats in 1907, 1914 and 1927. For these reasons alone, the Callahan House is an anomaly within the city of Burlington.
Image credit: Redfin