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.
In 1849, the Town of Bolton, Massachusetts, built its first high school, the Houghton School at 697 Main Street in the town center. Blending Greek Revival and Italianate styles, similar to Bolton’s 1853 Town Hall, the Houghton School is a large, two-story, pedimented building of wood-frame construction. Interestingly, the school was largely funded privately by a local resident, Joseph Houghton (1772-1847), who in his will, bequeathed land and $12,000 for a public high school for the town. By the terms of the donation, nine men (all of whom had at one time served as a Bolton tax assessor) and their descendants, were barred from attending the school for a hundred years. Questions about the bequest were put before the Massachusetts Supreme Court, which disallowed this clause. An additional requirement, stipulated that no teacher could serve there longer than two years. That restriction was eventually put aside in the early 20th century. In 1917, the high school was discontinued. The fenestration was likely altered around this time. Bolton began sending its high-school students out of town to a school of their choice, and the Houghton School became the Bolton junior high school. In 1970-71, the building was converted to town offices, with the Town Clerk and Assessor on the first floor and the Police Department on the second. Since 2012, the building houses Bolton Access TV, as well as The Conservation Trust and Friends of the Bolton Library.
The South Lancaster Engine House is located in the village of South Lancaster, Massachusetts, and is one of the town’s three remaining historic fire stations and the oldest that remains in use by the local fire department. At the Town Meeting of June 18, 1887, it was decided that $3, 500 would be expended to build a station for the Fire Department in South Lancaster. Construction began in 1887, and was completed in March of 1888 from plans by architect, C.A. Woodruff. The station housed horse-drawn wagons, including one sleigh, and featured a bell in the belfry to call attention to the public. The station appears much like it did when built in 1888, besides the bright white paint color and the modification of the engine doors for the new, larger fire trucks.
John Eliot Thayer (1862–1933) was an amateur ornithologist and member of the wealthy Thayer Family in Lancaster, Massachusetts. Due to his family’s business dealings, John Thayer was able to turn his passion, studying birds, into one of the largest collections of stuffed birds, eggs and nests for professionals all over the country to study. John began collecting and housed his collections were in several wooden buildings close to his home in Lancaster, but when these became unsafe and crowded he built this beautiful brick building in 1903 in South Lancaster opening it to the public as a museum a year later. The Boston architectural firm of Winslow & Bigelowdesigned the Colonial Revival style building, with the Guastavino Fireproof Construction Company providing plans for interior spaces and likely engineering inside. Many of the leading ornithologists of the time visited the Thayer Museum and it was estimated that more than ten thousand visitors came to the museum in the first six years. In 1974, the building was sold to the now defunct Atlantic Union College and reopened as the Mabel Bartlett Art Gallery. Much of the Thayer collection was donated to the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Mr. Thayer’s alma mater, Harvard University. Since the Atlantic Union College closed in 2018, this important building has been closed, hopefully to see reuse in the eventual redevelopment of the campus.
The Kingston Powder House is located at 16 Green Street adjacent to the historic Faunce Schoolhouse in Kingston, Massachusetts. The astylistic, 10-foot-square wooden building may seem like a generic structure, but it is significant as a rare, intact example of wooden powder house, and one of only four extant in New England (there are more numerous examples of brick or stone powder houses). The Kingston Powder House was constructed in 1806 to store gunpowder and shot for the town militia. It was likely constructed on footings or directly on the ground, making it relatively easy to move, possibly to keep it away from the growing town in case of explosion. The Powder House has been moved several times in its lifetime and has been settled here in the town center and is awaiting a restoration using Community Preservation Act grants. I can’t wait to see this building preserved!
This house has a lot of history! Originally built around 1717 by Ephraim Sanders, this house on Franklin Street in Marblehead was later purchased by Thomas Gerry (1702-1774), a merchant who operated ships out of Marblehead, and father to Elbridge Gerry, the fifth Vice President of the United States. The home was likely a three-bay, side hall Georgian house and expanded to the current five-bay configuration by Thomas Gerry around 1750. Thomas Gerry was born in Derbyshire, England, but came to Marblehead by around 1730 and was active in local politics and had a leading role in the local militia, later speaking out against the Crown and sought independence. Thomas Gerry died in 1774, and did not get to see the Revolution nor his son become a Founding Father. The property was later the home of one of his granddaughters, Sarah Gerry Conklin, and her husband, Frederick Conklin, an infantry captain, who housed officers in command of nearby Fort Sewall during the War of 1812. In the 1940s, historical novelist Anya Seton after researching her genealogy, led her to base her 1948 novel, The Hearth and Eagle, on the history of the seaside town. She set the novel in the Hearth and Eagle Inn, based on the Gerry House here.
The former Lyman School for Boys was established in Westborough as the Massachusetts State Reform School in 1847, the first state-operated reform school in the country. Initially located on the eastern shore of Lake Chauncy and dominated by a single massive building, but its early history was plagued by conflict between inmates and administration. In 1885, legislative action authorized the Trustees to purchase and prepare a new site, the first in the state system to be developed on the dispersed cottage plan, the school thrived throughout the 19th century and into the 20th century until its eventual closure in about 1974. Much of the campus was designed by architect, William G. Preston, likely including this industrial building, which was used as a Manual Arts training building. Here, young men would learn trades, where upon graduation, they would be able to enter the workforce. The building appears to have been extended decades later with the addition of a powerplant wing, in a more Arts and Crafts style. The handsome building has been vacant for over 50 years and is literally a shell of its former self. With much of the old Lyman School campus razed for uninspiring replacement buildings, it would be a shame to see this building not restored and adaptively reused.
The former Lyman School for Boys was established in Westborough as the Massachusetts State Reform School in 1847, the first state-operated reform school in the country. Initially located on the eastern shore of Lake Chauncy and dominated by a single massive building, but its early history was plagued by conflict between inmates and administration. In 1885, legislative action authorized the Trustees to purchase and prepare a new site, the first in the state system to be developed on the dispersed cottage plan, the school thrived throughout the 19th century and into the 20th century until its eventual closure in about 1974. This cottage, known as Elms Cottage, provided rooms for the young men at the school, providing sanitary and well-appointed lodging as they were “reformed” to graduate and enter society. Each cottage was ruled by a cottage master and usually a cottage matron. This husband-and-wife team lived in a cottage apartment and was on duty 24 hours a day, often overseeing the young boys and strictly disciplining them, without much oversight. Many of the cottages and other buildings on the campus were demolished after the school closed, but the Elms Cottage, designed in the Arts and Crafts style, was restored.
The Sibley House is a historic house museum as well as the headquarters of the Westborough Historical Society. Located on Parkman Street in the center of Westborough, Massachusetts, the transitional Greek Revival/Italianate style house was built in 1844, by William Sibley, who was a blacksmith and wheelwright. Soon after the house was built, William married Jane Caroline Gibson, and the couple raised five children here. William joined Westborough’s Company K, 13th Massachusetts Regiment during the Civil War and was wounded at Antietam. After the war, William returned home and he and his brother Frank began to manufacture sleighs. At one point, they produced as many as 300 a year! The Sibley House was purchased by the Westborough Historical Society in 1990, nearly 100 years after the society was established in 1889. The house is open to visitors and provides a glimpse into daily life for Westborough citizens at the time.
The Westborough Public Library is a handsome, two-story, masonry building with additions to showcase the growth and importance of the library to the community. This building was constructed in 1908, replacing a small space in the first floor of the old Town Hall (since demolished) as the community’s first purpose-built library. The structure was designed by architect Penn Varney, who specialized in civic buildings in New England. The Classical Revival style building is constructed of buff brick with stone trimmings. Of particular note, the quoined arched entry and pediment with central wreath motif, add much to the design. The library was eventually outgrown, and in 1980, an addition was added to the rear, in a style taking cues from the main building, but clearly of its time. The Town of Westborough about to undergo a restoration and renovation to the library, including a new roof, HVAC systems, interior renovations and the restoration of the 1908 windows.
Buildings of New England 
