Bousquet, Henry, Three-Decker

Built around 1928, this double three-decker at 8/10 Fairmont Avenue in Worcester's Bloomingdale neighborhood housed working-class families in a suburban area of multi-family homes. It has a hip roof, wood clapboard siding with shingle bands between stories, and a symmetrical front with a central entry. A three-tier porch with a pedimented gable, square columns, arched openings and open balustrades projects from the facade, and enclosed rear side entries carry matching gables. Windows use 4/1 and 6/1 sash, often in pairs and triples. The first known owner and probable builder was Henry Bousquet, a carpenter. By 1930 the tenants included Irish, French-Canadian and Swedish residents working as a monotype operator, a grinder, a salesman, a railroad yard foreman, a carpenter and a collector. The house was one of the last three-deckers built in the area and is notable as a well-preserved example of late Colonial Revival three-decker design. It was recognized for both its neighborhood history and its architecture at the local level.