How Houses

The first of the How houses to be built is the Daniel How House at 23 Danforth Street. Built in 1799, it is a 2+1⁄2-story brick building, trimmed with granite, and featuring a Doric entrance portico. It was built by Daniel How, a native of Methuen, Massachusetts, on land belonging to his father-in-law. The second house, that of Daniel's son John, was built by Daniel as a wedding present for his son in 1817. It stands at 40 Pleasant Street, and has similar Federal styling to the father's house. Its entrance is recessed in an archway, with sidelight and fanlight transom windows. The third house, a double house at 30–32 Pleasant Street, was built in 1818 by Daniel's brother Joseph. It is three stories in height, built of brick with granite trim like the others, and has entrances styled similar to those of John's house.^[2]

At the time Daniel How built his house, it directly overlooked the waterfront and Casco Bay to the northeast, as Commercial Street, which parallels Danforth on the waterfront, did not exist. The properties have in the intervening years been hemmed in by later commercial development, but are a well-preserved reminder of the area's early 19th-century appearance.^[2]

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  30–32 Pleasant St.
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  40 Pleasant St.

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Portland, Maine