Fay Block

The Fay Block, or Fay's Block, is located at 1 Congress Street, on the northwest corner of Congress and High Streets.

Domenick Peduzzi, a native of Italy who emigrated to Portsmouth, had a confectionary shop on this spot in the early 1800s. Later, as shown in the photograph below, Joseph Pettigrew ran a leather goods store. The Roman Catholic Church held its first religious service in Portsmouth in the wooden building, which was torn down in 1890.

Soon after the current brick structure was constructed, it once again housed a confectioner's shop, as advertised in the 1905 Portsmouth Directory.

Today the building looks very similar to the way it did in 1902, the year the picture on the left below appeared in C. S. Gurney's book, Portsmouth . . . Historic and Picturesque.