The Old Feather Store (1680–1860) was a shop located at Dock Square and North Street (formerly Ann Street) in Boston, Massachusetts, in the 17th–19th centuries. It was also called the Old Cocked Hat.[1] Built in 1680 by Thomas Stanbury, it was demolished in 1860.[2][3]
Through the years the building had several successive owners and was used for varying commercial purposes. William Antram made hats, c. 1708. John Greenleaf ran an apothecary, 1766–1778. Samuel Wallis sold goods from West India, c. 1789. Samuel Richards sold hardware, c. 1789, as did Jonathan Phillips, c. 1803. Beginning in 1806, Daniel Pomeroy, John K. Simpson, Daniel P. Simpson, and William B. Simpson sold feathers. Charles Lovejoy sold clothes, c. 1806. William Tileston conducted business in the indigo trade, c. 1809.[2][4]
Its timber-frame architecture featured multi-level gables, and facades embedded with glass. A contemporary observer described its appearance in the mid-19th century, prior to its demolition:
The outside of the building was covered with a strong, and, as time has proved, durable cement, in which was observable coarse gravel and broken glass, the latter consisting of fragments of dark-colored junk bottles. At the upper part of the principle gable on the Dock square front the date of the time of erecting the building, 1680, was distinctly impressed into the rough-cast cement in Arabic figures, together with various ornamental devices.[4]
The "cement" material was called "roughcast" and was a well-known material in England used to cover the exterior of buildings. Roughcast was a suggested building covering after the great Boston fire of 1679, as it was less likely to catch fire than clapboards, which were used on many buildings due to their lower cost and the lack of a lime source in New England. Please see Roughcast.
