48A Bradford Street

48A Bradford Street. [2012, Dunlap]

[2014, Town Assessor]

[2012, Dunlap]

Although it seemed to have been tucked behind 48½ Bradford Street, 48A Bradford was the older and principal house on this site. Where No. 48½ now stands there was — until the 1920s — a large lawn that ran down to the street from the house.

Vergine P. Souza sold the property in 1926 to James Jason Perry (1889-1941), a building contractor who was born in the Azores and brought to Provincetown as a 14-year-old. “He was identified with much of the construction work in town,” the Advocate said in reporting his death. Among the projects in which Perry played some role, the newspaper said, were the Pilgrim Monument, Provincetown Inn, Seamen’s Savings Bank, First National Bank, Center Methodist Church, Universalist Meeting House, Town Hall, and Star Theater. The Advocate called Perry one of Provincetown’s “best known and liked citizens.”¹

Perry’s wife was Mary Christine (Crawley) Perry (1893-1975). Their children included James Howard Perry (1914-1955), who was shown living here in the 1940 Census with his wife, Florence Virginia Perry (McCarthy) (Jarl) (1911-1984); and their daughters, Jeanette Florence Perry (Behrens) (1936-2008) and Mary.

Perry operated the James J. Perry & Son plumbing business from this house.

In 1961, Florence Perry sold the house to the Days family. They turned around and sold it two years later to Robert A. Ferreira (1930-2013) and his wife, Raquel (Rivera) Ferreira (1930-2011). Their children were Bianca Ferreira and Robert D. “Bobby” Ferreira, now of Newport, R.I.

The elder Robert Ferreira was a graduate of Provincetown High School and served in the Air Force from 1951 to 1955, according to his obituary. He married Raquel in 1958. He worked many years for the Massachusetts Highway Department (now known as the MassDOT Highway Division), and belonged to the Church of St. Peter the Apostle and the Lewis A. Young Post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He also loved to listen to good jazz. He died at Cape Cod Hospital in 2013, at age 83.

Two years after his death, the Ferreira family sold the property for $520,000 to Robert E. Walker of Fort Lauderdale.

The Historic District Commission met at 48A Bradford Street on 8 September 2015 to consider whether or not to declare the house a “significant building,” thereby triggering a demolition delay. “The commissioners walked around the house, looking at the structure and its architectural features,” according to the minutes of the meeting.² “The commissioners discussed apparent additions and alterations to the original structure, and asked [Bianca] Ferreira about some of the changes over the years.”

On a motion by Thomas Biggert, the commissioners first voted to designate 48A Bradford significant. “There is a general feeling that Provincetown is losing too many of its historic structures,” the minutes said. But Martin Risteen, another commission member, asked for a reconsideration. Except for Biggert, the panel finally concluded that the building’s original character had been so substantively modified that it could no longer be regarded as architecturally significant.

It was demolished in 2016, to be replaced by the three-unit 48A Bradford Street Condominium.

Robert D. “Bobby” Ferreira wrote on 5 March 2017: Thanks for putting my family’s old home on your site. Miss them and the house very much. By the way: I love what you’re doing and think it is a wonderful tribute to remember how our town has developed over the years! Bravo!

¶ Last updated 26 March 2017. In progress.