Lowell's Gallagher & Cavanaugh LLP
A historic renovation appears to have yielded some unexpected
dividends for Gallagher & Cavanaugh LLP, a Lowell law firm with
deep city roots.
The firm's purchase and renovation of a two-story brick building
at 22 Shattuck St., formerly owned by the Lowell Gas Light Co., has
created a living legacy space that has quickly become an attractive
meeting venue for outsiders.
"I do think that the setting matters," says firm principal and
co-founder Michael Gallagher. "We hoped to create attractive,
functional spaces that are respectful of the building's and
company's history, but we also wanted an office that clients and
others would feel warm and welcoming."
While those with local ties seem to appreciate the effort to
preserve the building's structural history, he notes that the
responses of visitors new to the city have been especially
interesting. In the spring of 2012, he recalls, he conducted about
30 interviews of applicants for a senior lawyer's position in
Lowell. Most of the applicants were from out of town.
"To a person, they commented on how much they liked the feel and
visuals of the cobblestoned streets and 19th century
brick facades as they walked to our building and also how much they
enjoyed the reinforcement and celebration of that history through
the images on our walls," as well as the interior appointments and
fixtures.
While it's difficult to quantify how much of the firm's client
base has a Lowell connection, he says, "we're fortunate to have
client relationships with many of the major local businesses and
non-profits, as well as lots of involved and active members of this
community, but we also have longstanding business contacts from
outside the area. Whenever we can, we seek to get those
out-of-the-area contacts to Lowell so that we can show them how
much this city has to offer."
Context and memory
Gallagher & Cavanaugh bought the Italianate building in the
summer of 2011, when the law firm's lease on rented space in the
renovated Boott Mills building nearby was due to expire. The firm,
seeing good prospects for downtown, wanted to create its own
stakehold.
Gallagher says he had always thought of the building as the home
of the Revolving Museum, a nonprofit artist venue, the most recent
previous occupant, which had formerly taken up the first floor for
many years. But the real story turned out to be the building's
first owner, the Lowell Gas Light Co., which built it in 1859 and
owned it until 1948 (see sidebar). Thousands of Lowell
families have parents and grandparents who worked for the gas
company.
After the purchase, a round-the-clock, top to bottom renovation
took two months, and included a complete revamp of the electrical
and HVAC systems and the from-scratch installation of a sprinkler
system, all while adhering to historic-preservation-sensitive
renovation measures.
Partnering with architect Jay Mason, principal of Architectural
Consulting Services, and designer Cathleen Stewart, principal of
the Stewart Design Group, the team transformed the space to strict
specifications. The interior paint color is consistent with the
mid-1800s Victorian Italianate style, and the walls and arches hold
replicas of authentic gas light sconces, now powered by
electricity.
Once the law firm had finished and decorated the space,
including vintage panoramic photographs of gas company work crews,
clients and visitors would relate to the photos. Some would recall
how they, as children, would visit the front office with their
parents to pay the gas bill. And they remembered the space.
The past is prologue
The setting communicates that "people have been here before,"
says Gallagher, who believes that history should not be confined to
museums, but should breathe life and context into today's
activities.
Officers of the firm have taken on the mantle of tour guide for
prospective visitors and meeting holders. Michael Gallagher clearly
takes pleasure in bringing visitors through. But the tour is not
just about architecture. It's about people and economics.
On the walls in the front hall are newspaper ads, one of which
seeks $500,000 in investment in the nascent gas light company -
serious money back then. A blazing war-headline proclamation, "We
have COKE!" refers to the carbonized coal product that produced gas
for local use, before the advent of natural gas, pipelined in from
around the country.
A chance to make a difference
Lowell has a strong academic and nonprofit presence. But the
nonprofit community does not have the resources to support
renovation of historic buildings. Gallagher expresses the hope that
more investors will follow his firm's lead and make thoughtful,
informed investments in downtown buildings, now that a recovering
market is creating a new wave of buying opportunities.
If you and/or your colleagues underwent an extensive office
space renovation or practice law in a historic or otherwise
interesting structure, Lawyers Journal staff would like to
learn more.
Christina O'Neill is editor of custom publications for
The Warren Group, publisher of Mass. Lawyers
Journal.
A testament to industrial
heritage
The Lowell Gas Light building was deemed garish when it was built,
because its curved walls and dormers were a departure from the
conventionally-square building design then prevalent. The Lowell
Gas Light Company was one of the first municipal gas-production
companies to be chartered in the United States, in 1847, along with
Chicago and Detroit. It introduced commercial gas lighting in 1850
and residential gas lighting in 1852. Its fortunes took off after
the Civil War, when growing industries needed a continuous lighting
supply that obviated the need for candles or kerosene.
The low owner turnover ensured that most of the historic elements
were still intact when the law firm purchased the building.Firm
Principal Michael Gallagher credits Ann Cavanaugh, Richard
Cavanaugh's wife, as being the catalyst for the effort. General
contractor Delphi Construction Inc., architect Jay R. Mason, AIA,
LEED AP and Stewart Design Group played a part, as did Murray
Plumbing and Heating and R&R Electrical Services Ltd., Inc.
The walkable
city
Lowell's downtown was built with an eye to plan. The 19th century
commercial architecture is of classical design and proportion. Red
brick and cobblestones are its signature materials. The streets are
wide enough to give a sense of space but human-scale enough to give
pedestrians a sense of proximity and comfort. The canal system that
powered 19th century textile mills is still intact,
complemented by a network of trolley tracks which come into
frequent use during the many cultural events to which Lowell is
host.
The city has capitalized on downtown's walkability with such
events as the annual Lowell Folk Festival, a free performance venue
which captures and holds an audience of 200,000 for three days on
the last weekend of July. Its national park, canal-boat tours and
museums, as well as the 3,200-seat Lowell Auditorium, enhance a
planned urban community which has encouraged a specific outreach to
artists to relocate to Lowell. Commuter rail provides a 40-minute
ride to Boston's North Station, and for those who must drive, the
intersections of Interstates 495 and 93 and Route 3 are close
by.
The city has long been an ethnic melting pot, beginning with Irish
and French-Canadian immigrants who worked in the textile mills. The
most recent ethnic group to arrive is Cambodian; the city's website
provides a list of supporting community organizations, including a
Community Development Corporation specifically serving Cambodians.
Long-time visitors have "discovered" Asian-owned businesses, which
have grown and evolved from hole-in-the-wall operations to
established enterprises -- without having to move out of town. They
exist cheek by jowl with classic Lowell landmarks such as the Owl
Diner, proof positive that Lowell has successfully avoided the
fern-bar syndrome and kept its diversity.