Middlesex County

Old Ashby Academy – Ashby Grange Hall // 1820

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In 1819, less than a decade after the First Parish Church in Ashby, Massachusetts was built, a group of parishioners split to form their own congregation, erecting this Federal style building as its new house of worship a year later. The congregation grew and eventually would build a new church, the Ashby Congregational Church, in 1835. The building was soon after, sold to a group of citizens interested in starting an academy. In 1836 they opened Ashby Academy, which offered education beyond the eighth grade for those who could afford it. Ashby Academy closed in 1860 and the Town of Ashby purchased the building in 1864 for a high school and town offices, a use that remained until a new school was built in 1902. Since the 1970s, the building has been occupied as a local grange hall, and maintained by a local group, the Friends of the Ashby Grange Hall. The building is a significant, transitional Federal/Greek Revival style building in town with its pediment and elliptical windows.

Wyman Tavern // c.1780

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This large Colonial house sits on the Ashby town common adjacent to the town’s meetinghouse. The structure was built by Abijah Wyman, a Captain in the American Revolution, in about 1780 as a family home. In 1803 a turnpike was established and was well travelled by heavy wagons and stagecoaches travelling between Boston, NH, and VT. Taking advantage of the location, Abijah’s son John expanded the building and began operating a tavern from the house. It would become a drinking establishment, post office, and inn during the 19th century. Later owners modified and expanded the building further, adding a porch and connecting the tavern to the barn. The building is now occupied by commercial uses including the local post office!

Asa Kendall House // c.1790

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The Asa Kendall House is a significant Federal period house from the late 18th century on Richardson Road in Ashby, Massachusetts. The house here is actually believed to be the second built on this location, the first being the John Fitch House and Garrison. John Fitch was one of the earliest settlers in present-day Ashby, which in the mid-1700s, was sparsely developed and threats of attack by Native peoples limited development for decades. Due to raising tensions in the years leading up to the French and Indian War, Fitch petitioned the government for a garrison manned by three soldiers, which was approved. In 1745, the garrison was attacked and Fitch with his family, were kidnapped by Native Americans, held hostage for six months and brought up to Canada. The homestead and garrison were burned. He and his family were ransomed and would later return settling elsewhere in town. The former location of the garrison was purchased by Asa Kendall and this house was built around 1790 for him. The brick house with sloping wings was extensively documented as part of the Historic American Building Survey in 1936 and has been preserved by later owners ever-since!

First Parish Church of Ashby // 1809

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Welcome to Ashby, Massachusetts; a rural and historic town that was first settled in 1676 but due to the continued threat of native hostilities, permanent European settlement in the town did not occur until about 1750. The town incorporated in 1767 and was reputedly named for the abundance and quality of white ash trees found in the area by early settlers. Today, the town has just over 3,000 residents. At the center of the town village, the First Parish Church of Ashby stands as a significant Federal-period meetinghouse, and an integral piece of the town’s history. The present building was constructed in 1809, replacing an earlier structure from 1771. Carpenters for the building were Joseph Kendall and Darius Wellington of Ashby, who utilized plans from Asher Benjamin’s American architectural pattern book of 1797. Facing the town common, the church is a two-story gable front building with a three-stage tower including an octagonal open belfry rising from the pedimented front pavilion.

Leatherbee House // c.1870

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Andrew F. Leatherbee (1842-1920), a wealthy lumber dealer in Boston, built this large Stick style victorian house in Newton Center around 1870, likely using his own lumber products! The large frame house is prominently sited on a corner lot on Beacon Street, a short walk to Crystal Lake, a natural pond in the center of town. I could not find information as to who the architect was, but it was likely a notable local firm. As Andrew got older, he downsized and relocated to a smaller apartment in Cambridge. Upon his death in 1920, the property was sold by his heirs to Mae Van Dusen. The house is a high-style example of the Stick style of architecture, with large half-timbers, heavy porch bracing, and a central tower with pyramidal roof. Swoon!!!

George Cobb House // c.1865

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While most of the early homes in Newton Centre were built by a few landowners and rented to tenants, this charming Mansard cottage was owner-occupied from the start. Tucked away on the quiet (and appropriately named) Pleasant Street, the George Cobb House is one of the most beautiful old Victorians in the neighborhood. An early resident was George Washington Cobb (1840-1925) was a druggist who ran an apothecary in East Boston, and he made the long commute there every day from this house. The property has a mansard roof with pedimented dormer and three-story tower capped by a bell-cast mansard roof. Paneled pilasters and brackets add a lot of detail to the primary facade.

First Baptist Church in Newton // 1888

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The Boston area has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to Richardsonian Romanesque style buildings, due in part to its namesake, Henry Hobson Richardson lived and worked locally. One of my all-time favorites is the First Baptist Church in Newton Centre. The church was designed by architect John Lyman Faxon, who was clearly influenced by Richardson. The First Baptist Church in Newton is among the oldest Baptist congregations in the state. Baptists were recorded as living in Newton as early as the 1720’s, but growth was slow and marked by persecution. In 1780, a congregation was assembled and the next year a rough, unplastered barn like meeting house was begun alongside Baptist Pond (now Crystal Lake). Fifteen years later, the congregation was finally able to afford a stove; twenty one years later, in 1802, the structure was enlarged. In 1836, the congregation constructed a larger meeting house in a more convenient location, the corner of Beacon and Center Streets. The second building was remodelled in 1856 and 1869 and finally was moved from the site to make way for the present church, the third meeting house, dedicated in November 1888. The First Baptist Church is undergoing some work at the exterior at the time of the photo, but the amazing brownstone trim and the winged creatures on four sides of the octagonal tower still shine!

Sudbury Aqueduct Waste Weir Control House // 1878

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The Sudbury Aqueduct was constructed between 1875 and 1878 and runs for 16 miles from Framingham, Massachusetts to the Chestnut Hill Reservoir in Boston, and was in use for almost 100 years. It was designed to carry water from the watershed of the Sudbury River to Boston and its surrounding communities, supplying the ever growing metro area with fresh drinking water. Along the route, meter and control houses were built along with the Echo Bridge, to guide the running water to Boston for distribution all over the city. City architect of Boston, George A. Clough designed many of the structures along the route including this waste weir structure in Newton Centre. The weir was known as “Clarks Waste Weir” as it was built on the edge of land owned by Charles P. Clark. The aqueduct was taken out of regular service in 1978 but remains an emergency backup. Much of the aqueduct’s route is open to the public as an unimproved walking trail.

Charles H. Bennett Cottage // c.1868

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Another of the charming gingerbread cottages in Newton Centre built on Charles Davis’ “Mount Pleasant” estate is this charmer. Like the Charles Davis rental cottage on Pleasant Street nearby, this home was rented by Mr. Davis to tenants briefly before it was purchased by George A. Rollins who later sold the property to its longest owner, Charles H. Bennett, a Boston stockbroker. The house is one of four near-identical gingerbread cottages developed by Davis, all retain their decorative bargeboard trim and porch detailing. This one may be my favorite!

Charles S. Davis Cottage // c.1868

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When wealthy Boston manufacturer Charles S. Davis began subdividing his suburban Newton Centre estate, “Mount Pleasant”(last post) in the 1860s he was extremely particular on the dwellings and residents that would be his new neighbors. He sold off some parcels to friends and affluent members of the community and he also built some small gingerbread cottages – like the house seen here – for rent. This Victorian Gothic gingerbread house was rented to provide Mr. Davis with some additional income. It was eventually sold off to a private owner and has been meticulously preserved ever since.

Mount Pleasant Estate // c.1856

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One of the surviving old estates in Newton is Mount Pleasant, one of the oldest in Newton Centre. The home was originally built in the 1850s by Roswell Willard Turner, who acquired large land holdings in Newton Centre. The large property was eventually purchased by Charles S. Davis, an associate of the Boston piano manufacturing firm of Hallett & Davis. As Newton Centre developed, he enlarged his own home in the 1860s, and sold off his holdings, developing the surrounding area with charming Gothic Revival cottages on Mount Pleasant, the hill upon which his property gained its name. His own home was enlarged and includes elongated additions, a tower with hipped roof, and arched windows.

Sacred Heart Church, Newton // 1899

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Built in the Italian Renaissance Revival style by architects Rand & Taylor, the Sacred Heart Church in Newton Centre of 1899 reflects much of the lesser-known history of the affluent suburb of Boston. As Newton’s population nearly doubled between 1870 (12,800) and 1890 (24,000), many Irish Catholic residents who worked in the mills and factories of the Upper and Lower Falls areas of town began to move to the suburbs, taking jobs at households of the affluent class in Newton Centre, as cooks, maids, gardeners and more. Residents of Newton Centre wanted a Catholic Church closer to their homes and work, so they established their own congregation in 1890. As the congregation grew, it was obvious that a new church in Newton Centre would be needed to provide services there. Ground broke on the church by 1891, but it took nearly 10 years until the building was completed. Architect Bertram Taylor of the firm Rand & Taylor, and resident of Newton Centre, is credited with designing the large edifice, which is dominated by twin hipped-roof bell towers. The interior of the church has some of the most elaborate plaster work in the Boston area and stained glass windows lining the walls. Early Pastors of Sacred Heart included two who went on to important posts: Francis C. Spellman (1933-39) became Archbishop of New York; and Richard J. Cushing (1939-44) became Archbishop of Boston.

Former West Acton Universalist Church // 1868

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This beautiful church in Acton, Massachusetts was built in 1868 by the Universalists of West Acton who sought a house of worship closer to their homes, rather than taking horses to the other part of town every week. The building exemplifies the influence of both Gothic Revival and Italianate styles on rural churches of the time. Gothic elements include the double pointed lancet windows with quatrefoil ornament, buttresses, and pointed lancet panels on the tower and belfry. Italianate elements include the rusticated base and the corbel table at the eaves. Religious services ceased in 1925. At that time, the church building was bought by leading men in the village who gave the building to the West Acton Women’s Club, which began in 1890 by Lucy Mead (the wife of Oliver Mead, who built the Mansard home nearby). In the 1950’s, the church was used as a community center. It is now home to a local performing arts center, Theatre III Box Office.

West Acton Citizens Library // c.1845

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Old houses adapted for other uses always deserves a highlight! The West Acton Citizens Library was originally constructed in 1840 as a small, one-story Greek Revival style cape house either for or purchased by Phineas Wetherbee, a farmer and early landowner in the village. The modest house features little detailing besides the recessed entrance composed of wide, flat pilasters and a lintel decorated with square corner blocks and a central keystone. In 1883, Phineas Wetherbee met with thirty-nine others to form the Citizens Library in West Acton. The organization accessioned the collection of the former Farmers Club Library. When Mr. Wetherbee died in 1895, he bequeathed his house to the library, who later moved into the house by 1900. Today, the house remains a library space for the West Acton village.

Samuel Jones House // 1806

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This home in Acton Center was built in 1806 by Samuel Jones, shortly after he and other esteemed residents laid out house lots just south of the Town Green. Samuel Jones worked as an attorney and he lived here with his family and widowed mother, who operated a dame school, where she taught local children out of the house. The Federal style farmhouse sits upon a brick and stone foundation and is five-bays at the facade. The entry features a panel front door with sidelights flanking it. The entry is surrounded by a traditional Federal style frame with pilasters and entablature. There is something so beautiful about the simplicity and proportions of old Federal style houses.