Area less than one acre NRHP Reference # 82001992 Architectural style Italianate architecture | Built 1854 (1854) Opened 1854 Added to NRHP 11 August 1982 | |
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Location 2 Solomont Way (listed at 57 Rolfe St.), Lowell, Massachusetts Similar Kenneth R Fox Student U, Costello Athletic Center, Edward A LeLacheur Park, Tsongas Center, DeCordova Museum and Scul | ||
The Allen House, also known historically as The Terraces, is an historic house at 2 Solomont Way in Lowell, Massachusetts. Built about 1854 for an arms manufacturer, it is one of the city's finest early examples of Italianate architecture, and was in the early 20th century home the Charles Herbert Allen, a prominent local politician. Since 1957 it has been owned by the University of Massachusetts Lowell; restored in the 2000s, it houses an art gallery and the offices of the university chancellor. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
Description and history
The Allen House stands on the UMass Lowell South Campus, across Solomont Way from Weed Hall. It is set on a rise above the Merrimack River, of which it has commanding views. It is an irregularly massed and somewhat rambling brick building, 2-1/2 stories in height, with a gabled roof. THe gable ends are adorned with cloverleaf windows and there is brick drop ornamentation along the eaves. Some windows are set in round-arch openings. A bracketed Italianate porch is found on the front (east) side, and a Colonial Revival porch extends across part of the west side.
The house was built in the early 1860s as the mansion house of Rollin White, who invented a type of rear-loading revolver. White worked for Samuel Colt in Hartford, Connecticut for many years before moving to Lowell and establishing his own firearms company, later the Lowell Arms Company. The house was later the home of Charles Herbert Allen, a politician prominent in state politics, and the first civilian US governor of Puerto Rico.