Colonial Revival

Richmond Congregational Church // 1903

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The Richmond Congregational Church is a stellar example of an early 20th century, wood-frame church building in the small town of Richmond, Vermont. Designed by prominent Burlington architect, Walter R. B. Wilcox in 1903, the building blends many styles that were popular at the time, namely the Shingle, Queen Anne, and Colonial Revival styles, into a single composition. The parish hall addition was built in 1984, and is in a sympathetic Colonial Revival style, designed by Burlington architect Donald Albertson. The congregation remains active and maintains the church building, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.

The Larches // 1910

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George Otis Draper (1867-1923) was born in Hopedale and attended MIT to prepare to help run the extremely successful family business, the Draper Corporation in town, which was experiencing a period of rapid growth and expansion of factories. With his position at the company, his wealth afforded him the ability to build a massive country estate known as The Larches. The shingled Colonial Revival style home featured a massive crenelated tower and appeared like a castle in the countryside. George O. Draper sold this home to his aunt Hannah Thwing Draper Osgood in 1909, and within a month, the home burned to the ground. She began construction on the “new Larches“, a shingled mansion with a stunning blending of Colonial Revival and Craftsman styles. The home was likely designed by Robert Allen Cook, who was based out of nearby Milford, MA. The property today is run by Crossroads Clubhouse, an employment and recovery center that offers people with mental health conditions opportunities to achieve their full potential.

General Draper High School // 1927

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The General Draper Memorial High School is one of the many civic and institutional buildings in Hopedale Village that were donated to the small industrial community by members of the wealthy Draper Family, who operated the Draper Corporation Factory in town. The school was built in 1927 on land donated to the Town by Princess Margaret Bonocompagni, the youngest child of the late William F. Draper, who married Prince Andrea Boncompagni of Italy in 1916. The marriage ended in divorce by 1924 and years later, she had no need for the family home in Hopedale, and bequeathed the site to the community for a new high school in memory of her late father. General William Franklin Draper (1842-1910) was a Civil War veteran who became a politician and managed the Draper company in Hopedale, where he built a massive mansion for his family. The mansion was demolished and replaced by this Colonial Revival style High School, designed by New Hampshire-based architect, Chase R. Whitcher, the handsome structure has since been expanded at the rear to service the growing student population in town.

Hopedale Community House // 1923

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Hopedale in the 1920s saw a civic building campaign led by George A. Draper (1855-1923), then treasurer of the Draper Corporation. Draper often talked about the need for a community center in Hopedale for his workers, and in 1919 decided to build one at his own expense. He commissioned architect Edwin J. Lewis, Jr. of Boston to design the Hopedale Community House which was intended to serve as a social and civic center for all Hopedale residents, as well as Draper Corporation employees residing in other towns. The building was opened in 1923, but sadly George Draper died before he could see it used. Colonial Revival in style, the building’s facade is dominated by a portico along the entire elevation with double-height Ionic columns. The slate hipped roof is capped by a square clock tower at the crest. The Community House included an assembly hall, a banquet hall that doubled as a gymnasium, a kitchen, rooms for smoking and cards and billiards, a ladies’ social room, the Knights of Pythias club room, and candlepin bowling lanes in the basement, all of which exist to this day.

Dr. Byron Brown House // c.1930

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Dr. Byron Freeman Brown (1902-1962) was born in Maine and was educated at Bowdoin College before moving to Boston for medical school. After he graduated, he married and accepted a position as a doctor at Milford Hospital, not far from Hopedale, Massachusetts. Dr. Brown and his wife, Veronica, had this cottage on Adin Street built around 1930. Distinguished by its stone veneer walls and steeply pitched red clay tile roof punctuated by dormers and symmetrical facade, the Dr. Brown House is a great example of a Colonial Revival style house with Arts and Crafts flair built in the inter-war period.

Warren Industrial Trust Company // 1906

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This monumental Georgian Revival bank building on Main Street in Warren, Rhode Island, and is one of the finest buildings of the style in the entire state. The Warren Industrial Trust in 1906 hired Edmund R. Willson of the Providence architectural firm of Stone, Carpenter & Willson to design the bank for the town after it had absorbed the town’s multiple banks, under one roof. It would be one of his final commissions before his death. On the facade, four Corinthian columns support a dentilled pediment over the entrance with the red brick walls enlivened with arched windows, oversized keystones, and pilasters with contrasting capitals and bases. The building shows that Colonial Revival architecture, while often seen as a refined, classical style, can be festive and ornate.

Nora M. Swift House // c.1902

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One of the few high-style, early 20th century homes in Warren, Rhode Island’s Downtown/Waterfront neighborhood, can be found on Washington Streetjust steps from the community’s vibrant Main Street. The handsome residence was built around 1902 for Dora Martin Swift, a widow of Edward A. Swift (1812-1895) a sea captain and whaler in the mid-19th century. Dora’s home exhibits a blending of Victorian-era and Colonial Revival styles with the varied shingle and clapboard siding, asymmetrical porch, and flared shingles between floors showcasing Queen Anne style influence and the portico, swag and wreath motifs, and symmetrical center-hall plan showcasing the emerging Colonial Revival style influence. The property has been well preserved and appears to have been the work of a successful builder or architect. 

Joyce Street School // 1903

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Built in 1903, the Joyce Street School in Warren, Rhode Island, is an excellent example of an early 20th century public school building constructed in the Colonial Revival style. To keep up with a growing population town officials hired architect, Albert Humes, to furnish plans for a new primary school on a lot behind the Town Hall. The handsome school is constructed of brick with a stone foundation and trim of marble and granite with a projecting entrance pavilion, and segmental-arch windows at the second floor. In 1940, the Joyce Street School became a grammar school to house grades 5 to 8, and the building was completely renovated in 1950. The Building was decommissioned as a school in the mid-1970s and later went through a $2.5 million renovation with an addition at the rear to house the Central Fire Station and the Police Department in the former school, a use that remains today.

Hall Memorial School, South Willington // 1922

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Located in South Willington, Connecticut, this Colonial Revival style school building was built to serve the mill village pupils, many of whom were first- and second-generation Americans who immigrated to the area to work at the local mill. In his will, William Henry Hall (1867-1922), the son of industrialist Gardiner Hall Jr., who established the business under his name, donated funds to the community to erect a new, suitable school building for the village. Beyond his work at his family’s business, William H. Hall served in the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1893–1897 and again in 1905, 1909, and 1911, and he was generous with his money throughout his life and in his will. For the Hall Memorial School, his heirs selected architect, Harry L. Sprague of Springfield, Massachusetts, who designed the one-story school built of brick and limestone trim and a tall, pedimented portico at the entry supported by four tuscan columns. The school has seen additions, but it retains much of its architectural integrity in the over 100 years of use as a public school.

Former Boston Fire Department Engine House No.10 – Hill House // 1949

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This iconic former firehouse at the corner of Mount Vernon and River streets in Beacon Hill, was built in 1949 and despite its relatively young age, has become an iconic landmark in the neighborhood. Since the mid-19th century, this site has been occupied by a fire station, most of which as a Second Empire, brick engine house with a mansard roof. After WWII, the Fire Department struggled to use the 1860s station which was built before the large, vehicular fire trucks replaced horses-drawn apparatus. In 1946, the Victorian station was razed and architect, John Mathew Gray, furnished plans for a new, Colonial Revival style station that could accommodate the larger fire trucks. The new station opened in April 1949 and Engine 10 remained here until 1982, when the company moved to 123 Oliver Street, Downtown. The Fire Department retained ownership of the building until 1995, and around this time, the building served as the filming location for television shows Spenser For Hire, which ran from 1985 to 1988 and the MTV series The Real World, which was broadcast in 1997. Since 1998, the property has been home to Hill House, Inc. a long-standing non-profit providing sports activities for children, adult education classes and programs for senior citizens.