(September 2009.)
Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies.
This lovely and consequential house from around 1875-1885 has been in the foreground of thousands of pictures taken from the Pilgrim Monument. The decorative truss and vergeboard (pictured) are unmistakable. Walter Chrysler Jr. made his home here while running the Chrysler Art Museum. Roslyn Garfield, lawyer, real estate broker, and civic leader, had her office here. Staying here as a renter, Urvashi Vaid wrote Virtual Equality. This was once the office of the Provincetown Business Guild, founded in 1978 as a group of gay-run and gay-friendly establishments. Since 2001, it has been the headquarters of the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, an organization devoted to research, public education, and conservation — best known for its work with marine mammals. It was founded in 1975 by Charles “Stormy” Mayo, Barbara Mayo, and Graham Giese. — From Building Provincetown (2015).
Denise Avallon wrote on 15 August 2013: I found something in the July 15, 1880, Advocate that reveals the early history of this house. It makes mention of Joseph A. West (who was a furniture dealer and then a postmaster): “… Mr. West is also to erect a dwelling house on his lot on Bradford Street, near Ryder.” The 1880 and 1905 atlases put his name with this property. Also, the census lists the West family at this address. The house stayed in the West family until the death of Mr. West’s daughter Josephine in 1962.