Massachusetts

James H. Small House // c.1898

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After the completion of the Wayland Railroad Depot in 1881, suburban development in Wayland Center increased, where the village saw dozens of large homes built in the late 19th and early 20th century. On Bow Road, the James H. Small House was built around 1898 by and for its namesake, who worked as a carpenter and builder in town. James Henry Small (1847-1913), while not a trained architect, built this home as a late example of the Queen Anne style, as the Colonial Revival style began to proliferate in the village, showing a changing of architectural taste. The James Small House consists of a main gable-front block with a side wing that includes a square tower. The use of clapboards, differing shingles, and diagonal sticks provide variety and texture to the house and serves as a unique contribution to the village which is largely dominated by rigid symmetry and vernacular of Colonial-era homes.

Elisha Rice House // c.1800

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Elisha Rice (1784-1841) moved to Wayland, Massachusetts in 1800 and built this charming house on Bow Road for himself and his family. Elisha worked as a wheelwright, a craftsman who builds and repairs wooden wheels, and was able to build this home near the village. While built and later occupied by later artisans, the community has become an exclusive and wealthy Boston area suburb, which has subsequently made it so many “working class” citizens can no longer afford such a house, but has also allowed many of these great old homes to be lovingly preserved and maintained for future generations.

Reeves-Goodell House // c.1816

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Built on a hill on Concord Road in Wayland, Massachusetts, the Reeves-Goodell House is a beautiful vernacular Federal period residence owned and occupied by a local builder and architect. The house was constructed by Henry Reeves (1789-1878), a local carpenter and descendant of Jacob Reeves (1720-1794) a tavern-keeper in town. In the 1920s, this property became the home of Edwin B. Goodell, Jr. (1893-1971), a prominent local architect who designed area houses before becoming a partner in the firm Andrews, Jones, Biscoe and Goodell of Boston. It was Goodell who added on the rear, three-bay addition to the residence, which blends in with the 1810s aesthetic. Interestingly, Edwin Goodell lived in this historic, vernacular house but designed some of the earliest International style modernist homes in New England.

Wayland Railroad Depot // 1881

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The Wayland Railroad depot in Wayland, Massachusetts, was built in 1881 by the Massachusetts Central Railroad, which was later absorbed as part of the Boston and Maine Railroad. The line operated both passenger and freight service, with this structure serving as the passenger station and freight at the nearby structure, also built in 1881. Regular train service helped develop Wayland Center into a more prosperous Boston suburb, but industry and larger developments did not occur like in other communities. In its heyday, the Wayland station was manned by an agent with a small office in the building. The station agent was responsible for nearly all aspects of the operations from selling tickets; handling mail, baggage, and freight; keeping financial and operating records; and even maintaining the grounds. After WWII, car ownership and highway expansion harmed the rail industry and trains ceased to run in Wayland. To save the building from eventual demolition, the Town of Wayland purchased the old depots, which since the 1980s, has been leased to “The Wayland Depot“, a charitable women’s consignment craft shop with retail space in the station. The former rail line has largely been converted to a rail trail for pedestrians and bicyclists to traverse the old railroad right-of-way.

White-Dickey Cottage // c.1844

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Located in the Wayland Center village, this c.1844 Greek Revival style cottage stands out not for flourish or scale, but for its excellent design, proportions, and state of preservation. The three-bay facade has a recessed first story set under the pediment extending over the open porch. The pediment is carried by squared, tapered columns with dentils and the facade retains its unique flush-board siding and triple-hung first-story window sash. The house was built by 1844 for Warren Hunt, who operated a small dry goods store near the town common. Not long after he had the house built, Hunt sold the property and store to Luther B. White (1822-1884), who lived here for at least two decades. In 1888, Mrs. Alice Dickey and her husband, Charles F. Dickey, a carpenter, purchased the house and expanded it at the rear.

Sibley-Bennett House // c.1818

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One of the many great old houses in Wayland, Massachusetts, is this well-proportioned Federal style residence at 30 Cochituate Road. The house was built sometime between 1818 and 1821 when owner Mark C. Sibley (1792-1876) married his first wife, Nancy Rice. Mark Sibley was the innkeeper at the Pequod Inn (no longer extant) that had served as an inn and stagecoach stop from when it was built in 1771. Mark Sibley remarried after Nancy died in 1839 and relocated to Weston. The Sibley House was acquired numerous times by real estate speculators. From 1886 until 1922, the property was owned by Anna Bennett, a widow. The five-bay, two-story Federal style house has a center entrance and six-over-six double-hung windows, all with a historically appropriate color scheme.

Old Wayland Town House – Lovell’s Market // 1841

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The Old Wayland Town House on Cochituate Road is an imposing Greek Revival temple-front building that has served various uses for the community. The structure was built in 1841 to serve as Wayland’s first municipal building and it was referred to as the Town House, with a large classroom and a small entry space on the first floor and a town meeting hall on the second. In 1850, the Wayland Free Public Library was opened in the building, in a small room in the front of the building. The small building was quickly outgrown for its civic uses, and in 1878, Wayland built a new, large Stick style town hall (demolished in 1958). The old Town House was sold to Lorenzo Knight Lovell (1837-1909), who soon after converted the Town House into a dry goods and grocery store known as Lovell’s Market. Following Lorenzo Lovell’s death, his son William S. Lovell ran the store until about 1922 when he leased the building to Lawrence Collins, who remained here for nearly 60 years operating his own store. Collins Market was eventually purchased in the late 1980s and converted to office space, which remains today.

Pousland House // c.1865

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Built around 1865, this stately residence in Wayland, Massachusetts, was originally owned by sea captain, Edward Pousland who came to Wayland with his family around 1859. Interestingly, Mr. Pousland continued working as a sea captain, travelling to Salem and Beverly, where he would be at sea for months at a time. Likely due to his profession, the house features a ‘widow’s walk’, a common feature of houses by the sea where folklore holds that the wives of ships’ captains looked out for the return of their husbands. Edward, his wife Hannah W. (Langmaid) Pousland lived in this house at least until Edward’s death. After successive ownership, the property was purchased by Jonathan Maynard Parmenter (1831-1921), who gifted the house to the First Parish Church across the street, for use as a parsonage a use that continued until 1984 when the church sold the house back into private ownership. The house, designed in the Italianate style, was “modernized” in the early 20th century with Colonial Revival alterations, which added the portico and likely removed the brackets at the eaves.

First Parish Church, Wayland // 1814

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The First Parish Church of Wayland, Massachusetts, is an iconic church that displays the typical early 19th-century meetinghouse form with Federal-style elaboration. Built in 1814, the church is two-stories with a five-bay gabled-front structure with a projecting enclosed portico of three entrance bays, and a four-stage bell tower that rises above the façade. Today known as Wayland, the town was originally called East Sudbury, after it split away from the western parish in 1780. In 1835, members of town meeting voted to rename East Sudbury “Wayland” in honor of Dr. Francis Wayland, a temperance advocate, abolitionist, and then president of Brown University. The First Parish Church of Wayland was built by Andrews Palmer of Newburyport, who used an Asher Benjamin design. The bell was cast by Paul Revere and Sons and first lifted into the bell tower in 1814. The property also includes the historic, twelve-bay horse/carriage sheds where parishioners would “park” their horses and carriages while attending services.

Upland Farmhouse // 1929

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The Nashoba Valley Winery in Bolton, Massachusetts, is one of Bolton’s most successful examples of the adaptation of an old agricultural property in the state. The land here was first developed as a farm in the early 19th century by Captain Martin Houghton (1779-1833). The farmland here, which has always had a scenic view, was called “Valley View Farm” later owner, William N. Felton (1835-1920). Sadly, the old farmhouse burned down in 1928, and the property was sold that year to Roy Clemens, an osteopathic doctor, who had this charming shingled cottage built in 1929. Roy and his wife, Laura, planted an apple orchard on the hills and named the property “Upland Farm”. Roy died in 1969 and Laura followed in 1981. With suburban development likely, the property was ultimately saved when it was purchased by Jack Partridge as the new home of the Nashoba Valley Winery, which was founded in Somerville in 1978. The winery specializes in fruit wines, and grows most of the fruits and berries for them on the property. The business expanded, adding a distillery, brewery and restaurant, and the beautiful grounds are often host to weddings and events.