Then & Now: Do you know where this is?
In 1912, after buying land that once held the estate of a mayor of Worcester, noted lawyer and banker Francis Henshaw Dewey II commissioned the construction of a mansion.
Dewey, the son of a judge, solicited multiple architects to come up with blueprints. He liked the design of Little & Browne of Boston. The Flemish Revival style gave prominence to gable roofs.
Dewey hired E.J. Cross Co. of Worcester to build his mansion. Cross was a major player in the region's construction trade, with All Saints Church on Irving Street in Worcester, the Beaman Library in West Boylston and the Worcester Country Club clubhouse among its still-standing projects.
The construction of the house was completed in 1913, with Dewey and his wife, Lizzie Davis Bliss, soon making it a destination in Worcester's social circles. Mrs. Francis H. Dewey, as the newspaper referred to her at the time, was involved in many philanthropic efforts, regularly hosting the Worcester Girls' Club, St. Wulston's Society (art, literature) and other groups in the mansion's spacious first floor.
A short story in the Worcester Telegram of Jan. 15, 1914, talked about a scare for the Dewey family: "Engine 4 was sent...to the house owned and occupied by Francis H. Dewey. A defective chimney caused a joist to catch fire, and the damage was about $15."
The mansion remained in the family for decades, even after Francis Dewey's death in 1933. In 1975 it was bought by an architectural firm and reworked into offices. Multiple businesses and organizations fill the stately building today.
See tomorrow's Telegram & Gazette, and telegram.com, for the answer.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Then & Now: Do you know where this is?
