“What’s behind the sheet metal covering a piece of the wall on the building next to the Santander Bank at 287 Hanover Street?” asks resident Bob Skole. From working at the Italian News in the early 1950’s, Skole thinks it is a multi-lingual sign identifying the Seaman’s House. (There were a lot of Norwegian merchant seaman in those days.)
Attached is a photo, by Monika Skole, of the panel over the space, next to the condo building entrance. And below is photo of the old Seaman’s House, dated 1962. You can see a sign next to the entrance. The first floor front of the building has been rebuilt since then. Also, take note of Mike’s Pastry’s former location.
“If the sign still exists beneath the sheet metal, I wish it could be uncovered and restored somehow, giving the history of the building,” Skole adds.
The present Mariner’s House, of course, is a few doors from the Paul Revere House on North Street.
