Historic Gloucester Property Transformed into Luxury Waterfront Homes
The Aquarius project brings two spectacular houses and 4 townhomes to Gloucester’s Back Shore.
After lying dormant for seven years, a historic property on Gloucester’s iconic Back Shore is springing back to life with the addition of two luxury waterfront homes. The first phase of the project, dubbed Aquarius, will include a renovated manor house, a new single-family home, and four townhouses, all with stunning views of the rugged shore that lines the east side of Gloucester.
“It’s preservation of historic land here,” says Bryan Melanson, president of Melanson Development, the company that is overhauling the property. “We’re redeveloping something that had fallen into disrepair.”
The property was first developed in the early years of the 20th century, when brothers John and Alexander Bowler built a pair of elegant summer homes, originally called High Cliff Lodge and Twin Light Manor, for their families. In the 1950s, the homes were sold to a new family who turned the private properties into seasonal lodgings, constructing seasonal motels behind the original buildings. In the 1990s, the property changed hands again and became the Ocean View Inn and Resort, a year-round hotel, restaurant, and wedding venue.
In 2013, however, the Ocean View fell on hard times and closed its doors. For five years, paint faded and weeds grew high as the property waited for a buyer…
