Memorial Hall: Abraham Lincoln Post 11

Memorial Hall is one of Boston’s most historically layered and architecturally distinctive buildings. A 235-year-old structure that has served its community without interruption from the founding era of the American republic to the present day, it was built in 1791 as the Federal-style mansion of Samuel Dexter, Secretary of War and Secretary of the Treasury under President John Adams. The building was transformed in 1888 into the home of the Abraham Lincoln Post 11 of the Grand Army of the Republic, where it has functioned as a veterans’ hall ever since. The result is an architectural hybrid, a Federal meets Second Empire mansard, unique in Charlestown and rare in all of Boston.
 

By the 1990s, decades of deferred maintenance had brought the building on the edge of irreversible decline. Thick paint covered the stone foundation and splitting shingles with peeling paint covered the original clapboard siding. The cupola, one of the building’s most distinctive Federal-era features, was in serious distress. The original iron railings that had once framed the property had long since been replaced with chain-link fencing. Inside, decades of deferred maintenance had taken their toll on finishes, millwork, and structure alike.
 

A small group of veterans, backed by the organizational vision of the Charlestown Preservation Society, raised more than $850,000, and established a dedicated nonprofit to execute a decades-long, museum-quality restoration. They worked with Spencer Preservation Group, Inc. among assessors Brian Pfeiffer and Preservation Collaborative, and craftsmen. The North Bennet Street School undertook the building’s carpentry: restoring most and replacing some original clapboards, repairing shingles, and fabricating new single-lite windows to match the 1888 facade configuration. Finch & Rose used microscopy to pinpoint the 1888 renovation as the period of significance, and determined the authentic two-tone color scheme to which the exterior would be returned. A.M. Design & Fabrication studied 19th-century photographs of Memorial Hall to develop a historically sensitive replica of the original decorative iron railings that had once surrounded the property. Murray Masonry & More completed the picture with site and accessibility improvements: re-grading the grounds, replacing deteriorated entry steps, installing a new exterior wheelchair lift, and repairing the retaining wall — ensuring that the restored Memorial Hall is as accessible and welcoming as it is historically authentic.
 

This work culminated in a ribbon-cutting with Mayor Michelle Wu in May 2025 and a unanimous landmark designation by the Boston Landmarks Commission in April 2026.
 

Owner/Project Lead
Friends of Memorial Hall / Abraham Lincoln Post 11
 

Preservation Architect
Spencer Preservation Group, Inc.
 

Conditions Assessment
Brian Pfeiffer and Preservation Collaborative
 

Carpentry
North Bennet Street School (Boston, MA)
 

Site Work & Masonry
Murray Masonry & More (Peabody, MA)
 

Paint Analysis
Finch & Rose (Beverly, MA)
 

Painting
O’Byrne Painting & Contracting (Wayland, MA)
 

Ironwork
A.M. Design & Fabrication (Providence, RI)
 

Landmark Petition Prepared By:
Charlestown Preservation Society
 

Study Report Consultant:
Carter Jackson

Photographers
Amanda Zettel, Charlestown Preservation Society
Shawn Willett, Spencer Preservation Group