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Hoar House // 1891

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This house in West Acton is the last in this batch of Queen Anne style Victorian houses I’ll feature in the village. The dwelling was built in 1891 for a 31-year-old John Sherman Hoar, Jr. (1860-1954) and his new wife Minnie R. Hart. John was a master carpenter and built many of the Queen Anne style homes on Windsor Street and later Colonial Revival and Craftsman homes in the 1890s and 1900s himself. This was his own property which once included a workshop where he cut and manufactured many homes on the street. Today, the Hoar House has a cheery pink color scheme (which while not historically appropriate) brought a smile to my face when strolling by!

Arthur Blanchard House // 1892

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I do not feature enough Queen Anne style buildings on my account, as penance, I present this beautiful example of the style with a painted lady color scheme! Located on Windsor Avenue in West Acton, Massachusetts, this house was built in 1892 and has all the hallmarks of the Queen Anne style. The use of varied siding materials and forms, asymmetrical form, applied ornament, and large five-sided tower capped by a conical slate roof with weathervane. The home was built for Arthur F. Blanchard, a local businessman who operated an apple farm and marketing business opened by his father. Mr. Blanchard was a philanthropist in town and used his wealth to enhance his hometown by funding the Blanchard Auditorium at the Acton High School (1925) and was a benefactor of the West Acton Women’s Club in 1925. He and his son, Webster, also founded the Blanchard Foundation in town in 1946, an organization which funded and sponsored educational projects for the community.

George and Effie Mead House // 1911

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Prominently sited upon a hill on a dead-end street in West Acton, Massachusetts, this Craftsman Bungalow is a very elaborate and well-preserved example of the style. The house was built in 1911 for George Varnum Mead (1861-1940) and his wife Effie Wright Mead (1860-1926) as their summer home when they weren’t living in Somerville. Mr. Mead was born in West Acton to Varnum Balfour Mead, who operated the A. O. W. Mead Company, a produce marketing business in Acton and Boston. Varnum’s brother built an elaborate Second Empire style mansion in town which was featured on here yesterday. George Mead followed his father’s footsteps and worked in the family business, which was in operation starting in the 1840s. The A. O. W. Mead Company gathered produce from farmers all over West Acton, kept the produce in cold storage facilities erected by the family, and sent it to Boston for sale at Quincy Market until George’s death in 1940. The Craftsman style house has a fieldstone base, low, overhanging flared gable roof, and is sheathed in shingle siding. Characteristic features include the multiple dormers, exposed rafter tails, grouped windows, and the large fieldstone chimney.

Wheeler-Jillson Store // c.1905

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To me, Vermont is synonymous with Vernacular architecture. The state obviously has high-style and architect-designed buildings all over, but the character of the state (to me) is based around local builders, local materials, and local traditions. The patchwork of towns and villages in Vermont all have one thing in common, at least one general store. These buildings serve as an informal meeting place or community center where residents and visitors alike can hear the local gossip and events taking place. The general store in Whitingham, Vermont is located in the middle of the village, perfect for stopping in. The building was constructed in the first decade of the 20th century, replacing a former hotel/tavern on the site. The late-folk Victorian style store exhibits some decorative columns and storefronts, likely produced at one of the working lumber mills in town at the time. The store was originally built by Arthur and Carl Wheeler as the “Wheeler Brothers Store” but after 15 years changed hands and became the “F.W. Jillson & Son Store”. Since then, the Jillson’s opened up an antique store in the building which serves as a multi-use facility (collectively as a country store). Keep it local Vermont!

Garden Building // 1911

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The only building that survived the wrecking ball of Urban Renewal on the stretch of Boston’s Boylston Street, south of the Public Garden was this six-story commercial building, known as the Garden Building. In 1911, architect Julius Adolphe Schweinfurth furnished plans for the new commercial building which was in the Beaux Arts style. The first floor was originally planned for three stores, with the upper five floors containing offices. A recessed penthouse floor served as studio space for artists and photographers with the large windows and skylights, the unobstructed views of the Public Garden didn’t hurt either! When the bulldozers of urban renewal came in the 1970s and 1980s to the area, this building surprisingly survived, and was reincorporated into the larger Heritage on the Garden condo development.

Thomas D. Hamson House // c.1895

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Marblehead, Massachusetts is better known for its Colonial-era homes, but there are definitely some amazing old Victorians interspersed in the warren of narrow streets and alleys. This Queen Anne style house was built in the 1890s for Thomas D. Hamson, who was listed in directories as a shoe manufacturer. Queen Anne style Victorians typically exhibit asymmetrical plans, varied projecting and receding planes, varied siding materials and forms, turned posts and porches, and towers and turrets. This house has it all!

Grader Block // 1885

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Commercial districts and Main Streets in historic New England towns are full of amazing architecture that is meant for pedestrians. Strolling through these areas, the varied styles, materials, storefronts, and signage provides a sense of artistry and community that is impossible to achieve in suburban strip-malls and shopping centers. Historic buildings serve not only as visible anchors to communities, but are more often occupied by local, women, and/or minority-owned businesses compared to modern buildings and districts. Marblehead has many historic (sometimes Revolutionary-era) buildings that are commercial and contribute so much to the town’s vibrancy. This building was constructed in 1885 as a high-style Italian Renaissance Revival style commercial block, replacing a late 18th or early 19th century building. The Grader Block features a rounded corner, scored siding to resemble ashlar masonry construction, and Classically inspired design features like pilasters and pediments. Today, the storefronts are occupied by local small businesses.

Reverend Whitwell House // c.1756

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Another of the stunning gambrel-roofed Georgian homes in Marblehead is this beauty located on High Street in the village. This house was built around 1756 but is best known for its resident from 1766-1779, as the home of the Reverend William Whitwell (1737-1781), who was the fourth minister of the Old North Church, located just a stone’s throw away. Although this Georgian dwelling looks like a single-family house from the outside, it is actually divided into two houses with separate owners, likely since its construction. Later dormers crowd the roof, but its still a pretty amazing Pre-Revolution home in one of the most charming towns in New England!

Simon Bradstreet House // 1723

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Walking the warren of tight streets and hidden alleys of Marblehead, Massachusetts, you are taken back centuries to a simple time, and of a town that has largely maintained its pre-automobile urban fabric. Many pre-Revolution homes still stand in town and have survived cycles of the coastal town’s prosperity and economic hardship, and the increased pressure of gentrification in more recent years! The Simon Bradstreet House sits right in the village and is a well-preserved Georgian-period home. The house was built in 1723 (earlier reports said in 1738) and it was later owned by Rev. Simon Bradstreet (1709-1771), who arrived to Marblehead to serve as the second minister of the Second Congregational Church a year prior. Reverend Bradstreet was the great-grandson of the last Bay Colony Governor of the same name. Chance Bradstreet, an enslaved African that was a subject of the “within these walls” exhibit at the National Museum of American History was born in this home in 1762. He was later sold to Abraham Dodge of Ipswich by Isaac Story, the third minister of the Second Congregational Church. Stories like this are necessary for us to remember that slavery was a huge part of New England’s economy historically.

Enoch Fuller Octagon // c.1850

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Oh the Octagon! The very rare Octagon house was a unique house style briefly popular in the 1850s in the United States and Canada. The style can generally be traced to the influence of one man, amateur architect and phrenologist Orson Squire Fowler. In his book, The Octagon House: A Home for All of 1848 (and reprinted with more photos in 1853), Fowler advocated for the shape’s benefits for buildings in that the octagon allowed for additional living space, received more natural light, was easier to heat, and remained cooler in the summer. These benefits all derive from the geometry of an octagon: the shape encloses space efficiently, minimizing external surface area and consequently heat loss and gain, building costs etc. Some were convinced and built Octagon houses, but the style and its brief period of popularity, died by the 1860s. This example in Stoneham, Massachusetts was built around 1850 for and by Enoch Fuller, a close personal friend of P. T. Barnum, founder of the Barnum & Bailey Circus. Fuller visited Barnum’s octagonal home in Bridgeport, Connecticut and he decided to construct an octagon house in Stoneham. The home was owned by Col. Gerrry Trowbridge not long after completion. The home was built with a fireplace in every room, a spiral, “flying” staircase, and a sweeping veranda.