In January 2005, a three-alarm fire ravaged the 1834 John Howland Jr. House located at 38 South Sixth Street in New Bedford, just south of downtown. For five years, the house had been exposed to the elements causing severe deterioration and in 2009 it was slated for demolition. Recognizing the architectural and historical significance of the Howland House, on April 2010 WHALE, in partnership with the City of New Bedford, saved the 1834 John Howland Jr. house by purchasing the structurally unsound building from its previous owners.
The rare, brick mansion has strong ties to the Howland family, a prominent New Bedford family, and our whaling history. The property was stabilized, including constructing a new roof, putting back the original roofline seen in historic photos.
Since that time, the development team of WHALE, the non-profit developer The Resource, Inc. (TRI), and architect Christopher “Kit” Wise have been working hard over the last five years to develop the plans and assemble the financing for the $2.9 million restoration of the building into 7 units of affordable and market rate apartments. We are very happy to announce that the project is finally under construction with General Contractor D. F. Pray at the helm. WHALE has sold the property to Howland LLC, of which TRI is the General Partner, with WHALE as a co-developer.
There have been many project partners on this long awaited and extremely important project. TRI and WHALE would like to thank the following funders; the City of New Bedford, the 1772 Foundation, Bristol County Savings Bank, the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation, the MA Department of Housing and Community Development, the MA Historic Commission, the MA Housing Investment Corporation, and the National Park Service Historic Tax Credit Division.
