Cooper-Davenport Tavern Wing

The Cooper-Davenport Tavern Wing is a historic wood-frame building in Somerville, Massachusetts, near the border with Cambridge and southeast of Porter Square. Although the supplied subject is presented in a brand-oriented data format, the Wikipedia subject is a building rather than a commercial brand, product line, or operating company. Its significance comes from its survival as a rare local example of Federal-period architecture and from its connection to the early transportation and commercial history of the Porter Square area. The building originated in the context of a tavern established by Jonathan Cooper. In 1757, Cooper built a substantial house at the intersection of what are now Beech Street and Massachusetts Avenue, north of present-day Porter Square. The property soon served as a tavern, taking advantage of an area that was beginning to develop as a commercial and travel corridor. In 1806, the opening of the Middlesex Turnpike along the route of present-day Massachusetts Avenue increased traffic and likely enhanced the importance of the tavern’s location. During this period, John Davenport owned the property and built the surviving structure as a wing attached to Cooper’s earlier tavern building. The structure is a roughly rectangular, two-story, wood-frame building with clapboard siding and a hipped roof. Its northeast-facing front is four bays wide. The entrance is positioned in the second bay from the right and is framed by pilasters, an eyebrow transom window, and a gabled pediment. Two brick chimneys rise through the left side of the roof. These features reflect the restrained architectural vocabulary associated with the Federal period and help explain the building’s local preservation value. The property changed substantially in the nineteenth century. By the 1880s, the building complex had deteriorated, and the property was acquired for construction of St. James Episcopal Church. The original 1757 tavern building was demolished, but the Davenport wing was preserved and moved to its present location around 1888. This relocation accounts for the building’s separation from the site of the tavern with which it was historically associated. At its current site, at the north corner of Harris and Eustis Streets, the building stands within a densely developed residential neighborhood. The Cooper-Davenport Tavern Wing is now used as a multi-unit residence rather than as a tavern or commercial hospitality venue. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. Its historical value rests on the combination of early regional transportation history, the Cooper tavern association, Federal-period design, survival after the loss of the main tavern building, and the nineteenth-century effort to relocate and preserve the wing.

The history of the Cooper-Davenport Tavern Wing begins with Jonathan Cooper’s construction of a large house in 1757 at the corner of present-day Beech Street and Massachusetts Avenue, north of Porter Square in what is now Somerville. The house soon became a tavern. At the time, the surrounding area was only beginning to develop as a commercial district, and the tavern served a location that would later become more important because of regional road traffic. A major change came in 1806 with the opening of the Middlesex Turnpike along the route of present-day Massachusetts Avenue. The turnpike improved movement through the area and brought additional traffic to the tavern. John Davenport was the owner of the property during this period and constructed the surviving two-story wood-frame building as a wing to Cooper’s earlier 1757 tavern. The building’s architectural character is associated with the Federal period, and its simple rectangular form, clapboard exterior, hipped roof, formal entrance surround, pilasters, transom, and pediment distinguish it from later nineteenth-century construction. The building complex declined by the 1880s. The property was then acquired for the construction of St. James Episcopal Church. The original tavern structure built by Cooper in 1757 was demolished, removing the principal building associated with the site’s tavern history. The Davenport wing survived, however, and was moved approximately to its present location around 1888. Its relocation preserved an important remnant of the earlier property while separating it from the original tavern site. The present building occupies the north corner of Harris and Eustis Streets, in a densely built residential area near the Somerville–Cambridge boundary and southeast of Porter Square. It is a roughly rectangular, two-story, wood-frame structure with clapboard siding and a hipped roof. The northeast-facing front has four bays, with the entrance in the second bay from the right. The doorway is marked by pilasters, an eyebrow transom window, and a gabled pediment, while two brick chimneys rise through the left side of the roof. In its current setting, the building functions as a multi-unit residence. Its historical identity is therefore architectural and civic rather than commercial: it is a surviving component of an early tavern property and one of the few Federal-period buildings remaining in Somerville. The Cooper-Davenport Tavern Wing was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. The listing recognizes its relationship to the area’s early transportation and hospitality history, its Federal-period design, and its survival despite the demolition of the larger tavern building and the redevelopment of the original property.

• 1989

  National Register listing

  [1]Cooper-Davenport Tavern Wingen.wikipedia.org

  The Cooper-Davenport Tavern Wing was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, recognizing its architectural and local historical significance.

• 1888

  The wing is moved to its present location

  [1]Cooper-Davenport Tavern Wingen.wikipedia.org

  Around 1888, after the property was acquired for construction of St. James Episcopal Church and the original tavern was demolished, the surviving wing was relocated to the north corner of Harris and Eustis Streets.

• 1806

  The Davenport wing is constructed

  [1]Cooper-Davenport Tavern Wingen.wikipedia.org

  John Davenport, then owner of the tavern property, built the surviving Federal-period structure as a wing to Cooper’s earlier tavern building. The Middlesex Turnpike also opened along the Massachusetts Avenue route that year.

• 1757

  Jonathan Cooper builds the original house

  [1]Cooper-Davenport Tavern Wingen.wikipedia.org

  Jonathan Cooper constructed a large house at what are now Beech Street and Massachusetts Avenue, north of present-day Porter Square. The property soon operated as a tavern.

Not applicable as a commercial brand; the subject is a preserved historic building associated with an eighteenth- and nineteenth-century tavern site.

1. 1Cooper-Davenport Tavern Wingen.wikipedia.org