#56 5 Campo Seco Street, Lawrence

Murder, arson and concrete part of this house's legend

I saw this house before I heard the legend, and as you can see from the photograph the house is a surprise in itself. It is built in a grand manner with quoins on the corners, courses of blocks clearly indicated on the walls, oversized hoods above the windows, bas relief sculptured panels below. And that front porch with those columns and balconies!

The texture of the walls and handling of the columns is called "rustification". The style, the very height of sophistication in Renaissance England in 1630, was just the right thing to copy in 1911 in order to make a dramatic statement to the Lawrence community. Although startling here in gray concrete, the same details formed from wood and painted white look quite straightforward when seen on houses in Newburyport. The builder, Jack Katz, came from South America, planning to convince the Valley to build with concrete. This house was his showcase.

In 1916, the house burned: the loss was listed at $48,000, a tremendous amount for the time. Only the outside shell remained. Legend on Prospect Hill says Jack Katz set the fire himself trying to kill someone, maybe not Mrs. Aaron Currier and her daughter, Ella, who died in the blaze. The house stood empty for several years. Finally a new roof was added and the inside rebuilt.

The neighborhood children nicknamed this the "Tootsie Roll House" in the 1950's in honor of those columns.