Dawson Building

The Dawson Block is an imposing three and one-half story brick building with prefabricated cast iron store fronts on the ground floor level. It stands in the heart of New Bedford's North End, an early streetcar suburb, on a triangular half-acre lot. A notable work of the prominent local architect, Samuel C. Hunt, the Dawson Block reflects the eclecticism of late 19th century vernacular architecture. The asymmetrical design borrows elements from a number of different architectural styles (most notably Classical X Revival) in a liberal, even exaggerated fashion that was a peculiar hallmark of Hunt's work. The Dawson Block rests on a foundation of vermiculated granite. Each of the two main blocks of the L-plan building has a truncated hip roof of slate punctuated by pedimented dormers.

The two sections of the building are joined by a hexagonal tower with an ogival dome. This massive feature anchors the composition to its corner site. The main entrance to the Dawson Block is located in the base of this tower in a canted wall. There are six subsidiary entrances, all recessed. Two of these are on Purchase Street and four are on Linden Street. Some of these entrances provided access to ground floor stores; others open onto stairways leading to the upper floors. The stair tower at the far end of the Linden Street facade has a steep pyramidal roof of slate. The main entrance is crowned by a semi-circular fanlight and is enframed by a wide molding embellished with a scroll console.

The larger of the two Purchase Street entrances has a Minton-type tile floor with a crimson and white stylized floral design. Prefabricated cast iron storefronts dsymmetrically divide the ground floor into bays. The current restoration intends to preserve this configuration.

/Architect Samuel C. Hunt, architect Statement of Significance (in one paragraph) The Dawson Block possesses integrity of location, design, setting, materials and workman- ship. It 1s signiticant as a center of late nineteenth and early twentieth century commercial activity and community life. The Dawson Block is also a notable work of the prominent local architect Samuel C. Hunt, and has long been an important and highly visible North End Landmark. Yew sur vrtg examies of cast trdd archi tecture fn New BedferdyeS he propecey shuse of meets criteria A and C of the National Register of Historic Places. Construction on the Dawson Block began in May, 1896. The building was erected on a 12,251 square foot lot at the corner of Linden and Purchase Streets.

It was described in various local accounts as the "first substantial brick building in the North End." City Building Department records estimated its cost at $53,000. The architect of the Dawson Block, Samuel C. Hunt, began his career as a carpenter's apprentice, becoming active in various aspects of the building trades. Hunt studied drawing at evening school and took his formal architectural training in Boston. the 1870s he was the construction foreman for two major local projects: During the Trinitarian Church and the Eddy Building. In 1880 Hunt opened a contracting business, and for the next ten years he worked on such buildings as the Harrington and Court Street Schools in New Beatora, and the #3 Bullding of the Cohannet Mill complex in Taunton.

By 1891, Hunt began billing nimself as an architect and during this period of his career he received commissions for city schools and engine houses. Hunt's.