University Green Area Heritage Study

Historic Burlington Research Project - HP 206

Historic Preservation Program - University of Vermont

109 South Prospect Street

Peirce-Spaulding House

(Photo taken by Julie Senk)

The Peirce-Spaulding House is located at the southwest corner of South Prospect Street and College Street, opposite the Waterman Building. The structure is that of a basic cube with an attached ell and is an exemplary piece of Neo-Colonial architecture that was clearly influenced by the Queen Anne style of the time.¹

Before the Peirce-Spaulding house came into existence, the plot of land had been owned by Mrs. Mary Constance Wheeler² and used as a garden space. By 1894, Albert G. Peirce commissioned architect Taylor Austin³ to design the two-and-a-half story structure⁴ that, at the time, had the address of 103 South Prospect before it was later reassigned to the street of 109 South Prospect.⁵ (Photo of Taylor Austin’s plans for the southern façade to the left, courtesy of UVM Campus Planning Services)⁶ It is believed that the carriage barn located in the rear of the lot was built at this time as well, as it is present in the 1906 Sanborn Insurance Maps, the first to include both the main house and the carriage barn.⁷ Albert G. Peirce was a Burlington businessman who ran the J.S. Peirce and Sons store on Church Street with his father, J. S. Peirce⁸ ultimately taking over the business when Peirce senior retired in 1873.⁹ The store specialized in agricultural implements, selling a variety of farm machinery, wagons, and seed.¹⁰ Peirce moved into his newly constructed house in 1895,¹¹ most likely accompanied by his wife, Delia J. Peirce, who is listed in the Burlington City Directory in 1905,¹² a year after Albert Peirce’s death on July 11, 1904.¹³ Burlington city directories show that Mrs. Peirce lived in the house for the next thirteen years until her death in 1917.¹⁴ The house lay vacant¹⁵ until it was purchased by Frank D. Spaulding, the second of the two long-running owners of the house, in 1918. The house was subsequently listed as his home in the Burlington City Directory of 1919.¹⁶ Spaulding was the president of Spaulding and Kimball Co., a wholesale grocers shop located on 201-209 Battery Street.¹⁷ A series of Spaulding family members resided here throughout the early 1900s, as seen through the Burlington city directories. The first was Janet Spaulding in 1928,¹⁸ a student who lived in the house until 1937.¹⁹ By 1935, she worked as a clerk for F.J. Preston and Son.²⁰ Loraine Spaulding was listed as a renter in 1932,²¹ staying at 109 South Prospect until 1939.²² She was student at the time, studying Civil Engineering at the University of Vermont.²³ Albert C. Spaulding is also listed as a renter by 1934, staying until 1939.²⁴ He spent his time at the University of Vermont Commerce and Economics.²⁵ By 1940 Frank was living on his own until 1944, when Albert Spaulding, along with his wife Carole, and Loraine Spaulding moved back in for a short period.²⁶ Frank Spaulding lived the remainder of his days at 109 South Prospect until his death in 1958.²⁷ In February of 1958 the University of Vermont purchased the Peirce-Spaulding House, making it the last piece of private property fronting the University Green to be acquired.²⁸ At the time of purchase, President Carl W. Borgmann viewed the acquisition as an opportunity to house the Alumni activities, Public Relations and Development staffs.²⁹ The Peirce-Spaulding building went on to serve as an Alumni Hall,³⁰ Public Relations,³¹ and now serves as the office space for UVM Administrative and Facilities Services. (Detail from 1906 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Burlington, VT to the left. Courtesy of UVM Special Collections.)

Notes

1. United States Department of the Interior, National Register of Historic Places. University Green Historic District. NPS Form 10900a (886), Page 25.

2. “Map of Burlington, Vermont 1890,” Surveyed and Published under the Direction of G. M. Hopkins, C.E., 320 Walnut Street, University of Vermont Special Collections.

3. David J. Blow, Historic Guide to Burlington Neighborhoods, (Burlington, VT: Chittenden County Historical Society, 1991), 170.

4. University of Vermont Campus Planning, Drawer 13, Drawing 300.

5. Burlington, Vermont, March 1906,"  Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, New York: Sanborn Insurance Map Company, 1906.

6. Burlington City Directory, (Springfield, MA: H.A. Manning and Co., 1923), 293.

7. Burlington, Vermont, March 1906, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, New York: Sanborn Insurance Map Company, 1906.

8. Peirce to George Perkins Marsh, Burlington, VT, December 15, 1863, in Letter from Albert G. Peirce to George Perkins Marsh, transcribed by James P. Tranowski and Ellen Thomson, University of Vermont Special Collections, 5.

9. David J. Blow, Historic Guide to Burlington Neighborhoods, (Burlington, VT: Chittenden County Historical Society, 1991), 170.

10. Burlington City Directory, (Burlington, VT: Free Press Association Printers, 1895), 217.

11. Ibid.

12. Burlington City Directory, (Burlington, VT: L.P. Waite and Co. Publishers, 1905), 217.

13. Ibid.

14. Burlington City Directory, (Springfield, MA: H.A. Manning Co., 1918), 412.

15. Ibid.

16. Burlington City Directory, (Springfield, MA: H.A. Manning Co., 1919), 293.

17. Ibid.

18. Burlington City Directory, (Springfield, MA: H.A. Manning Co., 1928), 293.

19. Burlington City Directory, (Springfield, MA: H.A. Manning Co., 1937), 169.

20. Burlington City Directory, (Springfield, MA: H.A. Manning Co., 1935), 163.

21. Burlington City Directory, (Springfield, MA: H.A. Manning Co., 1932), 175.

22. Burlington City Directory, (Springfield, MA: H.A. Manning Co., 1939), 173.

23. Ariel, (Burlington, VT: Free Press Printing Co., 1934), 323.

24. Burlington City Directory, (Springfield, MA: H.A. Manning Co.,1939, 173.

25. Ariel, (Burlington, VT: Free Press Printing Co., 1938), 95.

26. Burlington City Directory, (Springfield, MA: H.A. Manning Co., 1944), 194.

27. David J. Blow, Historic Guide to Burlington Neighborhoods, (Burlington, VT: Chittenden County Historical Society, 1991), 170.

28. “UVM Purchases Spaulding Property,” Bulletin of The University of Vermont, February 15, 1958.

29. Ibid.

30. Burlington City Directory, (Springfield, MA: H.A. Manning Co., 1960), 499.

31. Burlington City Directory, (Springfield, MA: H.A. Manning Co., 1978), 514.