Paris Fletcher Store and House
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Bridport Historical Society (Paris Fletcher Store and House)
c. 1813, c. 1818 house; 1826 store. VT 22A at Middle Rd., Bridport village
Paris Fletcher moved to Bridport from Woodstock, Vermont, in 1810, and established himself as a merchant at the intersection of the 1811 Fair Haven to Vergennes Turnpike (VT 22A) and the road leading to the nearby Brid-port village green. His trade evidently prospered because by 1820 he added an ornate gable-front Federal addition to his c. 1813 wood-frame house, with four monumental columns and a full Doric entablature at the eaves (both nearly identical to those on the 1811 wood-frame Baptist church in Monkton Boro). In 1826 Fletcher built a two-story store next to his house. This building is remarkable for its sophisticated brickwork including parapet end walls, a gable fanlight, and recessed arched wall panels. Its nearest contemporaries are eighteen miles up the turnpike in Vergennes, but Fletcher's connections to Woodstock and its arched-panel masonry could also be a source. Together, the house and store form a little island of Federal design in an otherwise rural landscape. Appearing today much as when they were built, the two buildings illustrate the prominence and success of many village merchants in Vermont in the first half of the nineteenth century. Fletcher's home is preserved by the Bridport Historical Society and open by appointment.
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Location: Bridport, VermontRegional Overviews:Styles:Materials:
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Citation
Glenn M. Andres and Curtis B. Johnson, "Bridport Historical Society (Paris Fletcher Store and House)", [Bridport, Vermont], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/VT-01-AD35.
Print Source
Buildings of Vermont, Glenn M. Andres and Curtis B. Johnson. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2013, 131-131.
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