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National Streetcar Museum
National Streetcar Museum
Mack Building
Built 1886
Building History
Although it is not possible to tell by looking at it, the Mack Building has actually had not one but two additions made to it. The obvious one is the modern addition evident on the north side of the building. The other is the entire fourth floor of the earlier building, put on so seamlessly that evidence of it is not readily discernable on the exterior. Although it was not uncommon in Lowell for a floor to be added to textile mills to provide sorely needed square footage, the need for increased space in the business district normally resulted in buildings being replaced with larger ones. The Mack Building, constructed in 1886 is one of the few examples of a commercial building being raised a story.
The building started its life as a narrow, three-story, commercial Queen Anne style building of straightforward design. The building features decorative paneled brickwork between the floors and an intact storefront with cast iron piers and a sheet metal lintel. Brownstone sills and lintel courses enrich the front façade, while granite is used at the sides and rear. The projecting corner piers are decorated with metal caps and pointed finials. A sheet metal cornice decorated with palmettes at either end separates the third and fourth stories.
The building was built by and for the W.A. Mack & Company, a firm dealing in iron work – principally stoves, ranges, and furnaces but also exterior architectural fittings and trimmings. The wares were presented behind a standard 1880s storefront and fabricated or assembled and stored on the upper floors. Loading doors and the hoist beam used to move these heavy items to and from the original upper floors still remain in the left-side wall on the alley, through which ran a railroad siding.
Preservation and Reuse
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts acquired the building in the late 1970s for inclusion in the Lowell Heritage State Park. The building was completely rehabilitated in 1979 to house State Park offices and a historical waterpower exhibit. Exterior work included storefront restoration and reconstruction, new wood windows, and masonry repointing and cleaning. Building code compliance required the installation of two enclosed exit stairways and an elevator. These elements were included in a modern addition because their inclusion in the existing building would have used about half its space.
Since the state’s scaling back of the Lowell Heritage State Park in the 1990s, the building has served a variety of public functions and is presently the home of the National Streetcar Museum and the City of Lowell’s Parks and Recreation Department.