Whistler House Museum of Art

Moody-Francis-Whistler House

Built ca. 1825

Whistler House ca. 1947

Building History 

Built ca. 1825, the Moody-Francis-Whistler House is probably the most intact architectural example from Lowell’s earliest period of industrial development.  In this house, built by the Locks and Canals Company for corporate engineering managers, lived Paul Moody, George Washington Whistler, and later, James B. Francis, all major contributors to American civil and mechanical engineering practice in the nineteenth century.  Whistler’s famous son, artist James McNeil Whistler, was born in the house in 1834.

 The building is a good example of a clapboarded-frame, five-bay, center-hall house of the late Federal style and was one of the most substantial houses built during Lowell’s first generation, yet it appears modest by today’s standards.  The few exterior changes that have taken place over the years consist primarily of the addition of an entrance canopy, probably constructed in the 1850s, a second story on the rear ell, and a large dormer on the back slope of the roof.

Preservation and Reuse

The Lowell Art Association acquired the building in 1908 and has maintained it as an art museum ever since.  The Association’s stewardship undoubtedly accounts for this house being the sole survivor of the once-numerous single and double woodframe houses built by Lowell’s earliest industrial corporations during the 1820s along Worthen and Dutton Streets.

 The house’s historic fabric is almost completely intact and successive small projects through the last decade began to bring back the building’s earlier luster.  The slate roof has been repaired, the original cornice, siding, and trim has been restored, and the windows have also received extensive restoration.  Recently, work has been undertaken to begin the restoration of many of the building’s interior spaces.

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