Architecture

Conant-Cushing House // c.1890

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

Atop the Great Hill on Point Allerton in Hull, Massachusetts, this large summer “cottage” stands out for its unique architecture and siting overlooking the bluffs and Atlantic Ocean. The Shingle style house was built around 1890 by Edward D. Conant, a real estate agent and developer of Newton as his family summer home. The architect is not clear, but the house exhibits a unique four-story crenellated tower, giving the appearance of a castle from a distance. The house was later owned by Cardinal Richard Cushing (1895-1970) as his own summer residence. Cardinal Cushing served as Archbishop of Boston from 1944 to 1970 and was made a cardinal in 1958. Cushing’s main role was as fundraiser and builder of new churches, schools, and institutions, and he helped then-presidential candidate John F. Kennedy deflect fears of papal interference in American government if a Catholic became president. Kennedy grew up spending summers at his grandfather’s home in Hull (featured previously). The Conant-Cushing House remains significant even with 20th century renovations.

Former Allerton Point Post Office // c.1890

Buildings of New England1 Comment

By the end of the 19th century, various coastal developments on the elongated coastal town of Hull, Massachusetts, developed into established neighborhoods of cottages. As a result, new stores, schools, and post offices were built to accommodate the increase in population. William Henry Sylvester (1840-1923) a local resident, built this structure to serve as a store, professional offices, and post office. Like other buildings in the area constructed in the 1890s, the structure blends Queen Anne and Craftsman elements in a great composition. Sadly, the building has not been maintained and the windows are now boarded up, with the entire waterfront parcel selling in 2018. Plans to demolish the buildings on the site, including this charming structure were proposed to erect new townhomes, but they have not materialized. I’d love to see the site redeveloped with much-needed housing, but this structure should be incorporated in the development.

Winfield S. Richards Cottage // c.1890

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

Summer cottages of the late 19th century are always a treat to come across! While most cottages I feature on here are more high-style and were built for the wealthy, Hull, Massachusetts, has some of the best middle-class summer cottages in New England! Steamships and rail service from Boston and other cities opened up Hull and Nantasket Beach to summer residents and day visitors alike, creating a massive increase in building in the latter decades of the 19th and early 20th centuries. This cottage was owned by Winfield S. Richards and his wife Myra of Newton, Massachusetts. The cottage blends Queen Anne and Craftsman styles with complex Queen Anne massing, turned posts, and recessed second story porch, and sloping roof extension to create the Craftsman-esque front porch. The cottage is one of the better-preserved in town and an excellent blending of architectural styles.

John Smith House // c.1895

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

Hull, Massachusetts is an often overlooked town (besides Nantasket Beach Reservation), but there are some really great old houses and buildings to be found in the seaside town. This is the John Smith House on Meade Avenue in the Atlantic Hill neighborhood inland from the peninsular part of town. Development here was fairly slow, but took-off in the late 19th century when cottagers began to develop some house lots here. They were soon joined by year-round residents like John Smith, an ice merchant who built this home around 1895. Craftsman in style, the house exhibits a mix of building materials with a rough fieldstone porch and two matching stone chimneys together with wood shingle siding. The stunning stonework extends from the foundation, uniting the house to its terraced, rocky site. It is one of a handful of homes here that have not yet been altered or covered up by vinyl siding.

Old Nantasket Beach Police Station // c.1930

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

The area of Nantasket Beach in Hull in the late 19th century was a hotbed of taverns, thievery, and brothels. To counter this trend of unsavory uses, the Metropolitan Park Commission (MPC) of Greater Boston acquired about 25 acres of land at Nantasket, which included roughly one mile of shoreline extending north from Atlantic Hill in 1900. The initial appropriations provided for only minimal facilities, such as a bathhouse and a few incidental buildings, one of which was a waiting room for those arriving or departing from the new railroad station (since demolished) at the beach. The MPC hired the Olmsted Brothers landscape architects to design the paths and landscaping for the new park, and they worked with architects Stickney & Austin who designed many of the early buildings here. This stucco structure was built around 1930 and served as MPC offices and a police station until 1992. The building has been vacant since 1992, but a recent push to convert the nearly 100 year old structure into the Nantasket Center for the Arts is slowly materializing. Fingers crossed to see this building preserved and used for the arts!

Bread Loaf Campus – Treman Cottage // c.1890

Buildings of New England3 Comments

This is the last building to be featured on the Bread Loaf Campus! For more early history and context of the complex, check out the post on the Bread Loaf Inn. By 1900, owner Joseph Battell’s enterprise exceeded the capacity of the original inn, and cottages were added to accommodate more guests visiting his new permanent home in the mountains of Ripton, Vermont. Special friends who summered regularly at Bread Loaf purchased lots with water and sewage rights, and with Battell’s assistance, built their own family cottages to spend their summers. This is Treman Cottage, a shingled beauty which appears to have been built for a friend (though I am not sure who), and has since become the faculty cottage on the campus. As we wrap up this series, here is an interesting fact about the mountain campus: All buildings here that are painted the ochre color were built during Mr. Battell’s lifetime (by 1915), with later buildings painted white.

Bread Loaf Campus – Bridgman & Cornwall Cottages // 1881

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

Welcome back to the Bread Loaf Campus! For more early history and context of the complex, check out the post on the Bread Loaf Inn. By 1900, owner Joseph Battell’s enterprise exceeded the capacity of the original inn, and cottages were added to accommodate more guests visiting his new permanent home in the mountains of Ripton, Vermont. Special friends who summered regularly at Bread Loaf purchased lots with water and sewage rights, and with Battell’s assistance, built their own family cottages to spend their summers. The first two, Bridgman and Cornwall, were constructed across the street from the Inn around 1881 and are near-identical, modest vernacular cape houses with full-length front porches. The original owners were Charles William and Ellen Campbell Bridgman and Henry Bedinger Cornwall respectively. Both cottages have since been donated to Middlebury College and are important preserved pieces of its Bread Loaf campus.

Bread Loaf Campus – Maple Cottage // c.1900

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

Welcome back to the Bread Loaf Campus! For more early history and context of the complex, check out the post on the Bread Loaf Inn. By 1900, owner Joseph Battell’s enterprise exceeded the capacity of the original inn, and cottages were added to accommodate more guests visiting his new permanent home in the mountains of Ripton, Vermont. Located adjacent to the Mansard-roofed Birch Cottage, one of the most visually striking buildings in the campus is Maple Cottage, which reads more porch than cottage, but it’s 100% perfect. It was the last cottage built by Battell for his family and friends to stay at when visiting. They must have loved evenings on the three-floors of porches looking out over the Green Mountains.

Bread Loaf Campus – Birch Cottage // c.1900

Buildings of New England1 Comment

Welcome back to the Bread Loaf Campus! For more early history and context of the complex, check out the post on the Bread Loaf Inn. By 1900, owner Joseph Battell’s enterprise exceeded the capacity of the original inn, and cottages were added to accommodate more guests visiting his new permanent home in the mountains of Ripton, Vermont. An early cottage built by Battell is this late-Mansard structure, named Birch Cottage. The structure clearly took cues from the Bread Loaf Inn, built over a decade earlier, and originally had two floors of porches wrapping around the entire structure.

Bread Loaf Inn // 1882

Buildings of New England4 Comments

The Breadloaf Inn is a rare intact example of Vermont’s Victorian resort architecture that also has important associations with the environmental movement and for American literature. Located in the quiet town of Ripton, Vermont, this impressive structure was built in 1882 by eccentric philanthropist Joseph Battell. Mr. Battell attended Middlebury College in the early 1860s but he was forced to abandon his studies due to ill health. On the advice of his doctor, Battell spent a weekend at a farmhouse in nearby Ripton where the clear mountain air would help cure his ailing lungs. He so loved the beauty of the surrounding hills that he decided to buy the old farmhouse, which became known as the Bread Loaf Inn, named for Bread Loaf Mountain not far away. Over the years, numerous new buildings, porches, and barns were added in order to accommodate Battell’s many friends and guests. The Inn, which was remodelled from the farmhouse in 1882, and the surrounding mountains served as Battell’s home and sanctuary for the rest of his long life. He amassed land holdings of over 30,000 acres of forest, preserving it in perpetuity until his death in 1915, becoming the state’s largest landowner when he died. Battell’s vast mountain estate was left to Middlebury College, who brought the seasonal inn back to life as the summer Breadloaf School of English. In 1926 the college added the Breadloaf Writers’ Conference, drawing such luminaries as poet Robert Frost, who spent summers at a cabin nearby. The complex is maintained by Middlebury College to this day, who do a great job at preserving the original buildings.