Historic Home

Woods-Gerry House // 1860

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There are always those houses that just stop you in your tracks… For my last post (for the time being) on Providence, I wanted to share this significant property, known as the Woods-Gerry House, perched atop College Hill. Owner Marshall Woods, who married into the Brown family and was active in the affairs of Brown University. Locally he was also involved on the building committee for St. Stephen’s Church where he was a factor in selecting renowned architect Richard Upjohn to design the church. He must have liked Upjohn so much (or got a good deal) that he hired Richard Upjohn to design his new home on Prospect Street. The exterior of the three-story brick building stands out amongst the other Italianate mansions built in the same decade nearby, but is elevated design-wise with a bowed centerpiece on its east elevation with the handsome new front entrance renovated in 1931 by then-owner, Senator Peter Gerry, who was a great-grandson of Elbridge Gerry, the fifth Vice President of the United States (who had given his name to the term gerrymandering). Today, this significant building is owned by the Rhode Island School of Design and houses the Woods Gerry Gallery. The grounds are also very well designed.

Dutton Farmhouse // c.1840

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Another one of the Landmark Trust USA properties in Dummerston, Vermont is the Dutton Farmhouse, a meticulously restored Greek Revival farmhouse from around 1840. The gable-roof farmhouse was possibly an addition to an earlier dwelling built decades earlier as a one-and-a-half-story center-chimney home, seen at the rear today. The first known owner of the farmhouse was Asa Dutton who farmed off the large orchards. Generations later, the farmhouse served as a dormitory for migrant laborers who worked nearby, with the interior being altered. The property was eventually gifted to the Landmark Trust USA, who began a massive restoration project on the home, uncovering original detailing and even historic wallpaper! The house has since been meticulously restored and preserved and is available for short-term rentals! The charming interiors and near silence outside is a perfect getaway from city life.

King Mansion // 1894

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After the American Revolution, Lt. Joshua King settled in Ridgefield and built the King Mansion in 1801, a Federal style home that commanded the Main Street lot. King was born in Bridgewater, Massachusetts and fought in the Revolutionary War near the border of Connecticut and New York. After the war, he settled in Ridgefield and married one of the most eligible bachelorettes in town Anne Ingersoll. Anne was the daughter of the Rev. Jonathan Ingersoll, pastor of the Congregational Church of Ridgefield. After a long life running a store and raising a family, Joshua died in 1839, a year after his wife. The mansion was inherited by their son Joshua Jr. until his death in 1887. In 1889, a fire destroyed much of the house. When it burned down, The New York Times described it as “the grandest old mansion in the village.” It was quickly replaced by the current house, modeled after the original but larger, which was placed much farther back from the road in the Colonial Revival style. Fire damaged the house again in the 1990s, and the present structure was restored and enlarged from 2002-2004, its HUGE!

Cudworth House // c.1790

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This house in Assonet Village in Massachusetts has SOOOO much potential, I just want to save her! The Cudworth House was built at the end of the 18th century, possibly for John Cudworth a mariner who owned a wharf just across the street. By the mid-late 19th century, the home was renovated, given the steep gable, bracketed details, and projecting entry. The house has seen better days, and needs some serious TLC to bring it back to livable conditions.

Update: A fire in August 2022 damaged the property. It is unclear at this time as to the condition and future of the home.

H.H. Richardson House // c.1803

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SAVE THIS HOUSE!

Built c.1803 by Samuel Gardner Perkins, a Boston merchant and avid horticulturist as a summer escape from the city, this house with its two-story columned porch and a natural ravine at the rear, was one of a handful of so-called “Jamaica Planter” style houses unique to Brookline. After a subsequent owner, the home was purchased in 1864 by Edward W. Hooper as a summer estate. In May 1874, the renowned Henry Hobson Richardson moved to Brookline, Mass., to supervise construction of Trinity Church. He rented this home from his Harvard classmate and fellow Harvard Porcellian Club member, Edward Hooper. The house, it is said, reminded Richardson of the plantation houses of his native Louisiana. Richardson established his office in the home, adding wings at the rear and sides for drafting rooms and a library (demolished after his death in 1886). In the home, dozens of fledgling young architects worked under one of the greats, including: George Shepley, Charles Rutan, and Charles Coolidge, who later would grow out of Richardson’s practice after his death. Just down the street, world-renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, best known for designing Central Park in Manhattan, lived and worked in his own office/home setting, with the two often collaborating on important projects. Richardson died in 1886 at the age of 47, with substantial debts even being one of the premier architects of the country; his widow stayed in the house at a nominal rent until she acquired it in 1891. The Richardson family owned the home until 2000, following the 1998 death of his grandson, H. H. Richardson III. Presently, the home, and two other significant homes sit on a single, 4.5+acre lot currently being eyed for redevelopment. The current owner is petitioning to have all three homes on the lot demolished for a single family home. A demolition delay is almost guaranteed, but all three homes’ future is very uncertain.

Charles Loomis House // 1862

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This home was built for Charles Loomis of the Loomis Family, who made their fortune in the tobacco farming and rolling industry in Suffield, Connecticut. Charles F. Loomis used his tobacco money to have this asymmetrical Italianate Villa constructed in 1862. The home features a prominent three-story tower capped with iron cresting, broad overhanging eaves with brackets and some stickwork, and a gorgeous door with arched transom and sidelights. There are almost too many architectural details to list. What is your favorite?

Dana Mansion // c.1808

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Sadly, many towns and cities in New England do not have provisions to stop historic homes and buildings to suffer from demolition by neglect. The common ordinance to prevent this from happening is a minimum maintenance bylaw, which requires owners to maintain their home within reason. This historic home in Chelsea Vermont was built around 1808 for Josiah Dana was a descendant of Richard Dana who settled in Cambridge, Mass., in 1640. Josiah was born in Barre, Mass., and was a son of a Congregational clergyman, and first appeared in Vermont records as representative of Chelsea in the General Assembly of 1803 which office he had also in 1806, 1808, and 1809; he was a Delegate in the Constitutional Convention of 1814; and Orange County Judge from 1812 to 1820. His home in Chelsea is a great example of the Federal style and features a unique detached Palladian window capped by a louvered fan. According to Assessing information, the home is owned by the next door neighbor and they do not appear to have the means or desire to restore the clearly significant home back to its former glory.

Frederick C. Bowditch House // 1896

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The Frederick C. Bowditch House, on Rawson Road in Brookline, is associated with the family of attorney and abolitionist William Ingersoll Bowditch and his wife, Sarah R. H. Bowditch. Built for their third son, Frederick Channing Bowditch (1854-1925), this house was built behind his parents’ house on Tappan Street, which was demolished in 1939. Frederick C. Bowditch was a conveyancer and active in the settlement of estates held by individuals in greater Boston. He hired the esteemed architectural firm of Hartwell, Richardson & Driver to design this massive transitional home which blends three late 18th century styles: Queen Anne, Shingle, and Colonial Revival. Of particular note are two large cross-gambrel bays that enliven the massing of the huge façade.

The property transferred by 1945 a manufacturer until, Harold Tovish and his wife, Marianna Pineda, both Expressionist sculptors, moved here in 1970. Tovish shortly after moving in, was named a fellow at the newly established Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT. A New York native who relocated to the Boston area in the late 1950s, Harold Tovish (1921-2008) worked in bronze, polished aluminum, and mixed media.