Then & Now: Do you know where this is?
Like many successful merchants of his time, Benjamin Walker commissioned noted Worcester architect Stephen C. Earle to design a stately home for his family.
Earle was the go-to designer of the late 1800s, with his handiwork yielding the original Worcester County Courthouse, the Providence Street Fire Station and Boynton Hall at WPI.
Walker's wealth came from ice harvesting. His operation was on the western shore of Indian Lake, about where Morgan Park is located. In 1855, he and his partner, Samuel S. Sweetser, created the Walker Ice Co., later adding coal to its offerings.
Earle designed a Queen Anne-style house for Walker — shown in this week's Then photo, from 1964. After Walker's daughter lived in the house with her family, the property became a funeral home. That business moved out in the mid-1960s.
The building remains, still stately, and for many years has been divided into small offices.
See Tuesday's Telegram & Gazette, and telegram.com, for the answer.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Then & Now: Do you know where this is?
