federal Architecture

Charles Wheaton Jr. House // c.1815

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Charles Wheaton (1761-1863) enlisted in the his local militia at just 14 years old and served in Colonel Robert Elliott’s Regiment of Artillery to protect Narragansett Bay. After the war, Charles settled in Warren, Rhode Island, and married Abigail Miller. They would have at least nine children, with one of their children, Charles Wheaton, Jr., (1791-1863) marrying Abiah Goodwin Turner in 1815, the daughter of a wealthy sea captain. Around the time of their marriage, they built this house on Liberty Street in Warren in the Federal style with a three bay facade, monitor on hip roof, and portico at the entrance with Ionic columns. By the end of the 19th century, the house was enlarged and a bay window was added over the entry portico.

Salisbury-Johnson House // 1823

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One of the great Federal style homes in the charming downtown of Warren, Rhode Island, the Salisbury-Johnson House at 43 Miller Street features many of the hallmarks of the prominent architectural style. The main body of the house was constructed by 1823 after Theophilus Salisbury (1781-1835) purchased the house lot at the corner of Union Street, possibly being moved from another site to the present location at this time. The two-story, five-bay façade is detailed by quoined corners and an exceptional center entrance with sidelights and large, elliptical blind fan carved from a single piece of wood. After later owners, the property was purchased by Rodolphus B. Johnson (1816-1884), a wealthy shipping agent who owned whaling ships and ran a wharf at the foot of Johnson Street nearby.

Maxwell-Barton House // 1803

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Built in 1803 for Captain Level Maxwell (1754-1828), this five-bay, Federal style house built of brick, is located on Main Street in Warren, Rhode Island, and has ties to the community’s maritime past. The original owner, Level Maxwell, was a member of the wealthy Maxwell Family who built their wealth in shipbuilding and the triangle trade. Level Maxwell was a captain and invested in ships, including the schooner Abigail, which would become Warren’s first slave ship in 1789, two years after slave trading had been declared illegal for Rhode Island residents. The Abigail was designed with a middle deck less than five feet high, where the kidnapped Africans would be imprisoned, with sources stating that 64 African men, women and children were forced onto the ship and then imprisoned for two months on the journey across the Atlantic. Eleven enslaved people died on the journey and were likely thrown overboard into the open sea, with the surviving 53 people sold into slavery in the Caribbean, with the Abigail returning home with the profits. It is unclear if Level Maxwell lived in this house or built it for sale, but the property was owned in the mid-19th century by George A. Barton, a merchant. The property was owned in the late 20th century by Mary King, who restored the old house and operated her antique store from the residence. Architecturally, the home exhibits many features of the Hazard-Gempp House nearby on Liberty Street, and was likely constructed by the same builder.

Hazard-Gempp House // c.1800

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This elegant brick Federal style residence in Warren, Rhode Island, was built around the turn of the 19th century, sometime after Liberty Street was laid out in the mid-1790s. An excellent example of the Federal style finished in brick, the three-bay residence features a projecting belt course between the first and second stories, corbels and flared lintels at the windows, a hipped roof surmounted by a small, centered platform, and an elaborate entry with pediment and elliptical fanlight transom. The builder is not known at this time, but the house was owned by George C. Hazard and later inherited by his son, George G. Hazard and later by Mary Jane Hazard, who remarried to Lucius Warner. In the early 20th century, the property was purchased by Gottlieb and Louise Gempp, proprietors of the local American-German Club. Despite having its brick painted, the Hazard-Gempp House remains as one of the town’s great and well-preserved Federal period homes built of brick.

Cotting-Russell Mansion // 1812

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Walnut Street in Boston’s Beacon Hill is one of the finest short streets that showcases some of the best examples of 19th century residential architecture in Massachusetts. Built in 1812, the house at 8 Walnut Street, is an excellent example of a Federal style mansion updated after the Civil War with new window sashes and projecting oriel window. The recessed off-center entrance consists of a front door which is flanked by multi-pane sidelights and surmounted by an elliptical fan light. On either side, columns support the cornice-headed entablature which disrupts the painted stone beltcourse between the first and second floors. The mansion was built by Uriah Cotting (1766-1819) a prominent real estate developer. When this house was completed, Cotting the property to Nathaniel Pope Russell, an insurance man who rented the property. Dr. George Parkman rented this house at the time of his tragic death at the hands of a Harvard Medical School professor in 1849. Mrs. Parkman and their son, John E. Parkman resided here until after the trial, when they moved to a larger residence on Beacon Street.

Motley-Davis Mansion // 1811

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This stately Federal style mansion at 10 Walnut Street in Beacon Hill, was built in 1811 for Ebenezer Francis as an investment property on land he had purchased from Uriah Cotting, one of the premier real estate developers of 19th century Boston. By 1823, Thomas Motley, the father of historian John Lothrop Motley, lived here, and hosted impromptu melodramas enacted by a young John Motley and two of his friends,
Wendell Phillips and Thomas Gold Appleton, both of whom lived close by on Beacon Street. After the Civil War, the property was owned by James Davis (1806-1881), a wealthy coppersmith who co-founded The Revere Copper Company with Joseph Warren Revere, grandson of Paul Revere. James Davis remodelled the Federal style house with Second Empire detailing including a brownstone-faced first story and quoins, with an oriel window at the second story, and a slate mansard above a bracketed cornice. During the 1920s, 10 Walnut Street’s Victorian facade was removed and a Federal Revival facade was constructed in its place, closer to original conditions. Today, the Motley-Davis Mansion rises four stories from a low granite basement to a flat roof enclosed by a low parapet. The off-center entrance is marked by columns supporting a cornice-headed entablature. This entablature interrupts the continuous stone belt course separating the first and second stories. What a beauty.

Lyman-Paine Mansion // 1824

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The Lyman-Paine Mansion at the corner of Joy and Mount Vernon streets in Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood is an architecturally significant Federal style house designed by a skilled architect and was owned by members of prominent local families. This four-story mansion was designed in 1824 by architect Alexander Parris for George Williams Lyman (1786-1880), a shipping merchant who became one of the Boston Associates, a group of wealthy Bostonians who funded the expansion of New England textile mills, which helped grow many industrial communities all over the region in the 19th century. This house served as Lyman’s winter estate, his summer mansion was the the Lyman Estate, “The Vale”, in Waltham, which he had inherited from his father. Upon George Lyman’s death in 1880, Lydia Lyman Paine, George’s youngest daughter, inherited this Beacon Hill mansion. Lydia’s husband, Robert Treat Paine, was a graduate of Harvard and a successful local attorney. Mr. Paine retired from law in 1872 to become the treasurer for the new Trinity Church building committee, where he averted a fiscal crisis during the mid-1870s when Henry Hobson Richardson’s cost overruns in designing the new Copley Square church threatened its completion. In addition to his pro bono work with Trinity’s finances, Paine was deeply interested in improving the quality of life of the working class, founding building and loan associations and institutes to allow immigrants to buy homes in the Boston area. In addition to their Joy Street mansion, the Paines had a country estate called Stonehurst, which is adjacent to the Vale in Waltham; it was renovated by Richardson. The mansion was converted to apartments (now condos) in the mid-20th century, and maintains its unique, vernacular Federal character, with asymmetrical facade and oddly placed and shaped windows.

Jonathan Warner House // 1798

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The Jonathan Warner House in Chester, Connecticut, is one of the finest Federal style houses in the state and has been meticulously preserved for over two centuries. The house was built in 1798 by Jonathan Warner (1756-1828), a wealthy farmer who invested in merchant shipping ventures and also operated the nearby Chester–Hadlyme ferry transporting people across the Connecticut River for a fee. When he built his house Jonathan Warner used local workmen and timber, importing glass and paint from New York, wallpaper from Hartford, and stone and hardware were brought from Connecticut and New York. The farmhouse remained in the Warner family until 1922 when it was purchased by Malcolm Brooks, who retained all of the receipts and correspondence on the house’s construction and maintenance. Architecturally, the house stands out for its proportions and detailing, specifically at the front door with fanlight and sidelights, which are framed by fluted pilasters, pediment and dentil molding. There is a Palladian-esque window above the entry which is framed by two free standing Ionic columns on brownstone pedestals. What is your favorite detail of this house?

Buck-L’Hommedieu House // c.1755

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This beautiful Federal style side-hall house is located on Maple Street in Chester, Connecticut, and (at least a part of it) was built by 1755 by Isaac Buck, who deeded half of the property to his son, Justus, during his lifetime. In the early 1800s, the property was purchased by Joshua L’Hommedieu (1787-1880), a manufacturer, who had the property redeveloped or redesigned in the Federal style giving it the appearance we see today. The house has its gable end oriented to the street with an elliptical fan and dentil block detailing.

Leet-Ely House // c.1787

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One of the finest homes in Chester, Connecticut, can be found on Liberty Street, a short distance to the village green. The Federal style house dates to about 1787 and was built by Gideon Leet, a Revolutionary War veteran and joiner as his own residence. After Gideon’s death, the property was purchased by Dr. Richard Ely (1765-1816), who may have expanded the residence, and worked locally as a town doctor. The property remained in the Ely familyfor generations and minimal changes have occured to the exterior as a result of this. The modillon cornice, corner quoins, and fanlight transom sheltered under a columned portico add to the charm of this great house. 

James Baldwin House // c.1785

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James Baldwin (1742-1818) lived in present-day Chester, Connecticut, and upon the outbreak of the Revolution, joined the forces of Capt. Richard Douglass’ company as a private and fought for liberty. Upon the conclusion of the war, Baldwin returned to Chester and had this house built facing the village green. The transitional late-Georgian and Federal style house has a center chimney and very simple trim with an elliptical fanlight transom over the central door. The house has a wood shingle roof, typical of the early houses of the time. Pvt. Baldwin died in 1818 and his property was inherited by his daughter, Lydia Baldwin Sawyer and her husband, David Sawyer, and later in the 19th century by their eldest daughter, Lucina Morgan, and her husband, Jonathan. The home has been meticulously preserved by the later owners, important as one of the early surviving homes near the village green.

Gleason-Patterson House // 1803

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Another stately old home on Glezen Lane in Wayland is this brick, Federal style country mansion located across from the town Training Field. This residence is said to have been built by a Nathaniel Gleason (Glezen) and later inherited by a family member, Abel Glezen (1803-1890) who farmed the 55 acres of land and was a local politician. In 1900, as Wayland shifted from rural community to a desirable Boston suburb for summer residences, the Gleason House was purchased by Henry W. Patterson, who was in his late 20s when he bought this country house. Henry inherited his father’s estate and married Jane Harrington Adams from Massachusetts. The couple spent only a couple years here until Henry died in 1907 at just 35 years old. Jane, his widow, remained here until her death in 1950. The estate was subsequently subdivided and remains one of the finest homes in the community.

Mellen Law Office // c.1829

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Samuel H. Mann (1801-1838), a lawyer, acquired the Dr. Ebenezer Ames House on Cochituate Road in 1829, only a month before his marriage to Isabella Ross. At about that time, Mann built this small law office across the road from his home, where he would practice law. It is not clear why, but within a year, Mann sold the house and this law office to Judge Edward Mellen (1802-1875), who was appointed Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Court of Common Pleas in 1855 and practiced law in Wayland until his death in 1875. After his death, the law office sat largely vacant until during World War II, when a newsletter to soldiers, The Village Bugle, was published here. After this, a couple of businesses used the former law office in the 1950s and 1960s until the owner donated the lot to the Town of Wayland in 1971. The diminutive building is a charming, and well-preserved example of a vernacular, Federal period professional office building that mimics the form and materials of the Ames House to which it was long affiliated with.

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.

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.