Background
Lester S. Couch was born in 1866.
Lester S. Couch was born in 1866.
He began his career in the late nineteenth century as head draftsman in the office of Little & Browne in Boston, subsequently became business manager in charge of the planning and execution of the firm's work. After the death of Arthur Little in 1925, Mr. Couch was taken into partnership by Herbert W. C. Browne and continued that association until shortly before his own decease.
In Danvers his first important work was the Peabody Institute (Public Library) built after the original building was destroyed by fire in 1890. Later he was architect of the Danvers Savings Bank, Masonic Temple, 1925-26, and the restoration of the historic pre-Revolutionary Page house for occupation by the Danvers Historical Association. In association with Little and Browne, Mr. Couch was particularly identified with the design of the Merchants National Bank at Salem, Mass., the Masonic Temple at Salem, c. 1910; the Salem Trust Company Building, 1919-20; the Edward Weld Estate at Warrenton, Virginia, 1916-20; the First Congregational Church at Salem, 1927-28, and the Charles Walker residence at Manchester, Mass., built in 1927 and later remodeled and enlarged.
Active in town affairs for many years, he served as Danvers Park Commissioner over a long period; was a Director of the Historical Society, and had been on the Board of Directors of the Peabody Institute for more than two decades. During the first World War he was called to Washington, and with the rank of Captain, later commissioned Lieutenant-Commander, was assigned in charge of constructional activities for the War Department.