Orville Hungerford - Homestead

Homestead

One of Orville Hungerford's goals was to earn enough money from his ventures to build a grand home. In 1823, he began to construct the largest house in Watertown on a piece of property that he purchased in 1816 for $500.00 from Olney and Eliza Pearce. On November 11, 1825, he opened the six-paneled door with a brass eagle-knocker at 336 Washington Street and moved into his mansion, made out of native limestone with 10 fireplaces and a carriage house. The English ivy-covered residence eventually passed to Orville's daughter, Frances E., a spinster, whose estate conveyed it to her niece Helen Hungerford (Mrs. Leland G. Woolworth). After Helen died, ownership of the house transferred to her sister Harriet Hungerford, another spinster. Harriet had been living next door in her father Marcus Hungerford's house at 330 Washington Street. She moved into the Orville Hungerford mansion in 1946 and lived there until her death on October 26, 1956. By this time most of the family had moved out of the Watertown area and no one wanted to return. The Watertown National Bank bought the property from Harriet's estate and sold it to Joseph Capone, a developer. In turn, John R. Burns, purchased the structure and reassembled the house minus the left wing several blocks away on Flower Avenue West, where it still stands. The house is in remarkably good shape today due to the loving care and modernization efforts of its recent owners. At present, the old Hungerford homestead on Washington Avenue is the site of a Best Western Carriage House Inn, attached out back to the original carriage house.