(2008)
West End Inn.
The West End Inn, an unusually large Greek Revival-style house, looks — appealingly — as if it’s almost all windows. The Provincetown Historic Survey dates it to 1855. From 1978 to 1983, the property was owned by Joy McNulty, the proprietor of the Lobster Pot restaurant, who lived here with her family. Richard B. Knudson, one of the proprietors of the Galley at 63 Commercial in the 1950s, and William F. Gilbert Jr., a retired technician at Bell Laboratories, bought the building in 1983 and opened it as the Bed ‘n B’fast guest house. They gradually reclaimed space from what had been a warren of small apartments. They were succeeded in 1992 by John A. “Jack” Kosko, a former partner in Pat Shultz’s real estate brokerage, and John P. Fitzgerald, a former town treasurer. Warren Lefkowich — whose family background included real estate, theater management, and retailing in the Cleveland area — bought the house in 1995 and renamed it the West End Inn, under which banner it continues to operate. There are seven guest rooms, one of which is composed of the entire third floor, with its own private deck.
¶ Last updated on 18 June 2018.
Valda Winsloe wrote on 22 February 2013: My family owned this house from approximately 1953 to 1978. It was sold after the Blizzard of ’78 and the subsequent death of my father. There was a huge mulberry tree in the front yard for most of the time, but it was taken down after parking meters were put in the West End lot. It was a wonderful place to grow up as a child, and I have very fond memories.
Jackson Gregory wrote on 5 October 2017: My grandparents Bert and Minnie (Williams) Gibbs owned 44 Commercial and lived there from the early 1900s until Minnie’s death in 1950. They raised three daughters and a son, Adelaide (my mother), Marion, and Mildred and their son Roy, a Coast Guardsman, who died at age 18 in the flu pandemic of 1918. Bert had a thriving business as a house painter and paper hanger. His real love though was the violin. Often during the summer he and Adelaide would join together for impromptu concerts; Bert on the violin and Adelaide on the piano. Many neighbors and passersby would gather around outside the house to listen, as any form of entertainment was scarce in those days (1910s and ’20s). Adelaide went on to become a beloved Provincetown piano teacher for about four decades into the ’70s. Her teaching mostly took place just up the street in the “Oldest House” (72 Commercial), as she had married my father John W. Gregory, the lithographer and photographer in 1934 and they had bought the “Oldest House” in 1944. An interesting tidbit: Minnie rented rooms for a time and one of her guests was Sinclair Lewis.
For further reading online
West End Inn website.