Otis A. Merrill

Also recorded as: Merrill & Cutler.

The Lowell architects of the estate’s stable (1883) — and possibly, but not demonstrably, of the house.[sources]

On 16 June 1883 the American Architect and Building News published a heliotype plate titled "Stable for Mr A. T. Atherton, Fairmount St, Lowell — Merrill & Cutler, Architects": a stone stable with a round tower under a conical roof, recognisably the carriage house that still stands at 222 Fairmount Street. That is the only 1883 publication connected with the estate found so far.

Wikipedia lists this plate as the "Abel T. Atherton house", and that is how the house came to be attributed to Merrill. The plate does not show the house, the 1981 survey left the architect blank, and the owner’s own notes in 2022 called the architect unknown. A firm that designed the stable may well have designed the house; until a record says so, this site does not.

Connected events

June 1883

The estate’s stable is published — Merrill & Cutler, architects

The American Architect and Building News prints a heliotype plate: "Stable for Mr A. T. Atherton, Fairmount St, Lowell — Merrill & Cutler, Architects". A stone stable with a conical-roofed round tower, it is today’s carriage house at 222 Fairmount Street. No published design for the house itself has been found, so the architect of the house remains unrecorded.[sources]

DocumentedOtis A. Merrill Abel T. Atherton

What is uncertain: Whether Merrill & Cutler also designed the house is plausible but undocumented; the 1981 survey left the architect blank.

What remains uncertain

The architect of the house. Next places to look: the MACRIS record LOW.623, the 1882–1885 indexes of the architectural journals, and any surviving Merrill & Cutler office records.

Sources

Research notes for this profile: C-005, C-028. See Sources for the records behind each note.

Have a photograph, letter or memory connected to Otis? Please get in touch — nothing is published without permission.