324 Goundry Street

The Tuxbury Home

The large frame Queen Anne home at 324 Goundry Street dominates its corner location with a tall polygonal tower flanked by two massive gables with Palladian windows. The wrap-around porch still retains its original, unusual columns, which feature prominent entasis and compressed Corinthian capitals. Although sided, considerable character is still manifested through the massing and undulating elevations.

This house was built in 1901 for lumberman Alfred C. Tuxbury, treasurer of the W. H. Sawyer Lumber Co. He was evidently the company’s representative here, as the president lived in Worcester, Massachusetts. Tuxbury later became the president of Northern Lumber Co. He came from Saco, Maine.

Before Tuxbury built this home, he lived in a large, square, austere-appearing house at the southeast corner of Goundry and Manhattan Streets. Across the street from this mansion, the ice cream company of George M. Thompson operated at 10 Goundry Street. Ice cream was sold for 25 cents a quart in those days.

George Thompson’s father, Oren Thompson, was a carpenter who built many of the homes on Bryant Street. It is probably no coincidence that Tuxbury moved the the new home at the corner of Goundry and Bryant Streets.

Tuxbury’s daughter Edith was married to Charles Hill, the company’s secretary, and they also lived here before building their own house at 183 Christiana Street at Bryant.

The home was known for its beautiful woodwork, most of it carved mahogany with a satin finish. It was one of the most beautiful on the street, with many large rooms, carved mahogany woodwork, several Tiffany windows.

Tuxbury took his family on a tour of Europe, including Imperial Russia, which was almost unheard of in those days. Tuxbury was president of the Board of Education and one of the leaders in getting Felton School built. When he was not re-elected to the school board, he moved to New Jersey.

The house was then purchased by Preston T. Large, superintendent and vice president of the Buffalo Steel Co. His son, Fred, was a famous football player in Andover, Massachusetts. Fred married JuLou Palmer of the W. G. Palmer lumber family whose first home was at 341 Goundry. Large’s widow continued to live here until the 1920s.

George M. Thompson and his wife, Margaret, then took up residence and lived and operated an insurance business in the home until World War II, when the building became apartments. In the 1920s and 1930s they also operated a restaurant from the Bryant side entrance, called the Amber Room.

Marguerite Thompson,their daughter, a registered nurse, became a 2 nd lieutenant in the U.S. Army Nurses Corps during World War II, serving in France and was at the front lines during the Battle of the Bulge. When she returned home, she took care of LeGrand DeGraff during his last year of life while he was confined to the hospital bearing his family name.

From a 1927 City Directory

Closeup from a 1927 City Directory