Upper Main Street is the heart of the Old Historic District here on Nantucket. Wander past beloved local businesses like Murray's Toggery Shop (home of Nantucket Reds) and Mitchell's Book Corner, you'll find one of the country's most interesting collections of pre-Civil War era historic mansions.
All of Nantucket Island is a National Historic Landmark and a Local Historic District, and you can feel the sense of history radiating from the cobblestones. Many of Nantucket's finest historic homes come with a Main Street address.
Main Street itself was first laid out by the Proprietors around 1697, but it wasn't given a name until town accessor Isaac Coffin was tasked with coming up with a list of street names to send to the federal government in 1799.
At the corner of Main and Pleasant Streets is the real seat of architectural power on Nantucket. Here, you will find a cluster of commanding Greek Revival homes: The Three Bricks (93, 95, 97 Main Street), the Hadwen (96 Main Street) and Hadwen-Wright (94 Main Street) Houses, and the Benjamin Easton House (9 Pleasant Street).
Where did whaling captains on Nantucket live?
These homes were not home to whaling captains (who made their homes along nearby Orange Street), instead, these were the homes of the captains of industry who were involved in whale oil trade.
94 Main Street is one of Nantucket's most unique residences. Finished in 1847, a year after a fire ravaged the island's commercial downtown, construction of such a large wood-framed Greek Revival mansion "must have been an optimistic sign to islanders at a time when the whaling economy was suffering and the Great Fire had just destroyed a large portion of the town," architectural historian Michael May wrote of the grand home.
Unfortunately for Nantucket's economy, the island was no longer the major player it once had been in the American whale fishery. Kerosene and gas were becoming the primary fuels used for lighting and heating. Some islanders went off to fight in the Civil War, and others would rather take their chances panning for gold in California rather than sign up for another multiyear voyage on a whaleship.
94 Main Street was truly the last grand mansion of the whaling era, built by silver and whale oil trader William Hadwen. Hadwen had already built a mansion of his own at neighboring 96 Main Street, today it is the Nantucket Historical Association's Hadwen House Museum.
William Hadwen was the son-in-law of Joseph Starbuck, who commissioned The Three Bricks for his three sons across the street. Perhaps to outdo his father-in-law, William Hadwen first had 96 Main Street constructed for himself and his bride, Eunice Starbuck Hadwen. The Hadwens had no children of their own, but grew particularly fond of their niece, Mary G. Swain. Mary married George Washington Wright, and the Hadwens had the adjoining mansion at 94 Main Street constructed for the young couple, who already had a growing family.
Why is there Greek Revival architecture on Nantucket?
The newly minted America had recently fought two wars against the British, the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Americans did admire English classical architecture, but did not want to be remined of the tyranny of the very country who'd they just fought two wars against.
Builder's guides, first imported from England and later authored by American architects, focused on Greek Revival architecture. Greek style architecture was favorable in America, as buildings in this style served as a visual linkage back to the free city-states of ancient Greece.
Simply put, Greek Revival style architecture, on and off Nantucket, was a way of connecting the relatively new democracy of America back to one of the great democracies of ancient times.
What is unique about the architecture of 94 Main Street?
During the Greek Revival period on Nantucket, there were five buildings with two-storied porticos built: the Methodist Church (2 Centre Street), the Atheneum (1 India Street), the Coffin School (4 Winter Street), the Hadwen-Wright House (94 Main Street) and the Hadwen House (96 Main Street). 94 Main Street is one of only two residential structures that was built with a two-story portico during that period. Today, it remains the only dwelling with such a unique façade.
Spaciousness is a key component of Greek Revival architecture. Grand staircases, wide pocket doorways that allow two rooms to function as one, and features only found in 94 Main Street, like the second-story ballroom, are all elements that remind us that this is no ordinary home.
Architectural historian Clay Lancaster, who authored many definitive works on island architecture, wrote of 94 Main Street in The Architecture of Historic Nantucket: "The second-story domed interior with adjoining domed stairhall constitutes the handsomest suite in Nantucket."
In addition to the beauty of the room, the ballroom was constructed with a high level of technical acumen, using a system to deflect vibrations from dancers and avoid damage to the ceiling below. Under the flooring, rungs similar to barrel staves protected the plastered ceilings below, an early form of shock absorption.
Architect Frederick Brown Coleman designed 94 Main Street, its sister house at 96 Main Street, the Nantucket Atheneum, and the Methodist Church. Lancaster writes that Coleman "changed the appearance of Nantucket more than any other individual."
It must have been something to watch these houses rise. Under construction between 1845 and 1847, the opulent Hadwen and Hadwen-Wright Houses were a steep departure from the restrained Quaker ethos that had dictated most building on Nantucket up until this point. Quakers didn't believe in being ostentatious about their wealth. Hadwen, it seems, wanted people to know he had been a success! William Hadwen grew up in Newport, not Nantucket, and his taste must have been influenced by what he saw there, his travels, and in plan books.
After the decline of the whaling industry, the island slowly crawled out of economic depression, inviting busy city folk to its shores to relax along its quiet streets and calm beaches. In the early 1920s, the owners of 94 Main Street rented "handsome furnished rooms." Advertisements in the newspaper for these rooms boasted hot and cold running water! (Today, 94 Main Street offers all modern conveniences.) The owners even appealed to those looking for off season lodging, welcoming both Autum vacationers and hunters. Sadly, the house began to fall into despair. In 1927, Leopold and Anna Chambliss purchased the home and went about a restoration that ensured the house would not slip from memory. The Chambliss family owned 94 Main Street until 1962.
Longtime stewards of 94 Main Street the Lodge Family owned 94 Main Street for more than 50 years. It was under this ownership that the Lodges decided to preserve the interior and exterior character defining architectural features of the Hadwen-Wright mansion via a historic preservation easement. A preservation easement is a document that travels with the deed of the house and helps a homeowner plan for the continued stewardship of historic properties that meet such a high degree of style and integrity.
People from across the country and all over the world come to Nantucket to stroll along Upper Main Street, each hoping to be transported to the island's thrilling, romantic past. Those who make it their home are not just part of the story; they are part of the island's future.
For today's buyers, owning a piece of Upper Main Street means becoming the newest steward of that history, joining a short list of families, from the Hadwens and Wrights to the Chamblisses and Lodges, who have shaped this stretch of Main Street for nearly two centuries. See more of Nantucket's Town neighborhood, home to the Old Historic District.
