The building at 61 Market Street in Lowell now houses condominiums but has served a number of other purposes since its construction c. 1877. Built for Charles B. Coburn, owner-operator of a business dealing in paints and oils, the load bearing brick edifice with nicely ornamented four story façade was also home to, among many other businesses, a furniture painter named L. M. Andrews, a wholesale provisioner named William B. Carey and, later, the Birke’s Department Store in the 1970s. Mr. Coburn’s business remained viable until at least 1924 according to research on file with the Massachusetts Historical Commission. The building was recently adapted for use as the Birke Building Condominium, a conversion that took place in 2005.
