Mostly Gone But Not Forgotten
ONE OF THE FINEST HOMES IN FAIRHAVEN once stood in one of the most prominent
locations in town. Known as the Levasseur or Eldridge house, the
Spanish-influence home with it distinctive red tile roof was a showplace for
nearly three quarters of a century.
In
1910, it was announced that Miss Caroline Levasseur had purchased the former
Miller property at the east end of Huttleston Avenue, which in those days only
ran from the bridge to Adams Street. Miss Levasseur was a well known New
Bedford merchant in the dry goods trade with her sisters and a brother David.
Architect Louis E. Destremps was engaged to design the two-story, fourteen-room
home. (Destremps designed St. Anthony’s Church and the Orpheum Theater in New
Bedford and the original Fort Phoenix pavilion among other things. He had also
worked with his father on Notre Dame Church in Fall River.) It was estimated
the house and gardens would cost about $25,000.
Unfortunately, Miss Levasseur died
at her Mt. Pleasant Street home in December 1910 before the house was
completed.
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| The Levasseur house in its original location at the east end of Huttleston Avenue. |
David Levasseur inherited the house
from his sister. A French-Canadian immigrant who began working in a New Bedford
mill as a boy, Levasseur had not only started a thriving dry goods business
with his sisters but had invested in a great deal of real estate. His house
was moved 200 feet to the south to make way for U.S. Route 6 in 1934. The move
cost $10,000.
David Levasseur died without a will
in 1938, leaving 60 properties in New Bedford, Fairhaven, Acushnet and
Dartmouth besides his home in Fairhaven. Twenty-five heirs, most of whom were
from Canada, drew straws to split the properties, but the Levasseur house was
sold to a Thomas H. Kearns.
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| The Levasseur house about to be moved in the 1930s. |
Kearns died shortly thereafter,
leaving the house to his “faithful servant” Juliet Marie Lord. She apparently
fell behind on mortgage payments and taxes. The bank sold the place at auction
in 1941 to William D. Eldridge, a prominent seafood merchant. Eldridge paid
$6,900 for the house.
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| Part of the remains of the house on Bridge Street in 2003. |
In 1976, the house was owned by
former Fairhaven selectman Victor N. Fleurent when it was heavily damaged by
fire. The house was renovated with substantial changes making what remains on
Bridge Street today hardly identifiable as the old Spanish style house it once
was.
There are no longer any red roofing tiles and new siding has been installed. The property is located just east of St. Anne's Credit Union.
