Paul Carnahan
The French Second Empire style was popular in Montpelier in the 1860s through the 1890s and was used for some of the city’s fancier homes. The attractive building at 132 Main Street was built around 1865 by James French, a wealthy Montpelier businessman. French owned a clothing store at the northeast corner of State and Main (see The Bridge, Nov. 2, 2022), served as postmaster, and built the brick French block on the west side of Main Street after the 1875 fires downtown destroyed three of his wooden buildings (see The Bridge, Jan. 22, 2020). His well-preserved home features a bell-cast mansard roof similar to the one he added to his small post office building after moving it to Main Street around 1870 (now located at 3 Pitkin Court) and a large carriage house.
—Historic photo courtesy of the Vermont Historical Society; text and contemporary photo by Paul Carnahan
