Massachusetts Architecture

Parker-Maynard Homestead // 1777

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Hidden away on a quiet country road in Westborough, Massachusetts, the Parker-Maynard Homestead sits as one of the best-preserved and significant properties in town. Revolutionary War veteran Isaac Parker (1750-1798), after the war, acquired land in town and built a farmhouse here around 1777. Upon the time of his death in 1798, his property listed in his will included: a homestead farm, grist mill, saw mill, a small dwelling house, a horse stable, and a pew at the town meetinghouse. The property was acquired by brothers Ebenezer and Ephraim Maynard, who lived in the house together with their respective families. The Maynard brothers worked as wheelwrights and had their shop on the property for years. Ephraim Maynard’s eldest son, Horace Maynard (1814-1882) was born here and after graduating from Amherst College, moved to Tennessee to teach law at East Tennessee University before getting into politics. Horace served in Congress between 1858-1873 as a representative from Knoxville. He spent much of his first two terms in Congress fighting to preserve the Union, and during the Civil War, he consistently urged President Abraham Lincoln to send Union forces to free East Tennessee from its Confederate occupiers. After the war, he was appointed minister to Constantinople by President Grant in 1875. In 1880 he returned to the United States and was appointed Postmaster General by President Rutherford B. Hayes. Horace owned the family homestead following the death of his father and uncle, and often returned to Westborough to see family and get away from politics.

Gilman Morse House // c.1850

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As the town of Westborough emerged from rural agricultural community to commercial center, connections to Worcester and Boston via rail service opened the town to prosperity. As businessmen accumulated wealth, these merchants built stately homes to showcase their position in the community. Before the Civil War, the Greek Revival style was ever-popular in Westborough, even though the style was already waning in popularity in larger cities. This is the Gilman Morse House, built around 1850 for Mr. Gilman Wood Morse (1810-1899) on East Main Street. Morse was a merchant in town and clearly did well for himself, building this stately house for his family. The residence is Greek Revival in style with its facade bays broken up by pilasters capped with Corinthian capitals adorned by acanthus leaves. The house also features ornate window and door hoods, showcasing the emerging Italianate style influence.

Gilmore-Mason House // c.1850

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As the town of Westborough emerged from rural agricultural community to commercial center, connections to Worcester and Boston via rail service opened the town to prosperity. As businessmen accumulated wealth, these merchants built stately homes to showcase their position in the community. Before the Civil War, the Greek Revival style was ever-popular in Westborough, even though the style was already waning in popularity in larger cities. The Gilmore-Mason House on Church Street, is an excellent example of the Greek Revival style in a temple form. The form is seen in this house at the facade, with a portico of four two-story Corinthian columns supporting the pediment above. The house was built for George A. Gilmore and later sold to Alonzo W. Porter, an inventor, who would later move to New York. By the early 20th century, the residence was the home to Joseph S. Mason, a manufacturer who operated a weaving mill in Westborough.

Henry Block // 1873

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Mid-late 19th century commercial blocks provide human-scaled density, high quality design, and often contain intimate storefronts providing reasonable rent to local businesses. The Henry Block in Westborough, Massachusetts, is one great example of a historic commercial building that checks all of these boxes. The brick building was constructed in 1873 by its namesake, Samuel Gates Henry (1813-1877), a pharmacist and dentist who rented space in an earlier building on the site. When a fire destroyed the old structure, Samuel Henry had this block erected on the site and leased out spaces in the building to other businesses and tenants in the floors above. The block is Italianate/Italian Renaissance Revival in style with the typical round arched windows and bracketed cornice. The granite storefronts even retain some of the original cast-iron supports.

Sibley House – Westborough Historical Society Building // 1844

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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. 

Westborough Rail Station // 1899

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The Boston-Worcester Railroad roared into Westborough Square in 1834 and opened the once rural community to commerce and trade from its larger neighbors. The depot was in the center of the village and facilitated a development boom of commercial buildings. By the later 19th century, the Boston and Albany Railroad controlled the railway service and had built up an extensive passenger and freight service. The company sought to straighten out the track, thus increasing its speed and efficiency, so the B&A relocated the track in 1899 from the center of Westborough to its present elevated site on East Main Street, outside the commercial core of the town. The new station was built in 1899 and is a late example of the region’s many Richardsonian Romanesque stations, constructed of rusticated pale granite with contrasting brownstone trim; copper ornament; and a simple rectangular-plan structure topped by a low, overhanging hipped roof. Decades before this station was built, the Boston & Albany Railroad in 1881, hired renowned architect Henry Hobson Richardson to design a series of passenger stations. Over the next five years, Richardson was responsible for nine B&A stations, primarily closer to Boston and the nearer suburbs. After Richardson’s death in 1886, the B&A commissioned his successors, Shepley Rutan & Coolidge, to design 23 additional stations between 1886 and 1894. The unofficial style of B&A stations remained after 1894 and was employed in Westborough to a lesser ornate scale. Train service to town ceased here, but the tracks remain active. The former station was converted to office use. 

Former Eli Whitney School // 1907

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Built a few decades after and located behind the Harvey School in Westborough, Massachusetts, the former Eli Whitney School is a landmark example of an educational building designed in the Neo-Classical style. Built between 1906-7, the school building replaced an earlier school on the site that was outgrown and outdated. Designed by architects Cooper & Bailey, the building stands two-stories tall with a central pedimented pavillion containing the entry that is framed by monumental fluted columns. The school was named after Eli Whitney, the famous American inventor, born in Westborough, who is widely known for inventing the cotton gin in 1793, one of the key inventions of the Industrial Revolution, and later moving to New Haven and manufacturing weapons. When Westborough schools consolidated into modern facilities in the second half of the 20th century, this building was then occupied by the YWCA, and have rented the facilities from the town until it was purchased in 2000.

John A. Turner Cottage // c.1875 

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One of the most charming houses in Westborough, Massachusetts, can be found on Central Street, in the commercial village of town. The house was built around 1875 as a Mansard cottage, a style that was beginning to wane out of style by this point. The cottage was built for John Addison Turner (1833-1900) and his wife, Mary Ann Fiske. John worked as a superintendent at the National Straw Works factory, a local manufacturer of straw hats and other goods. The Turner House remains one of the best-preserved Victorian-era homes in Westborough and is even painted to highlight the many intricate details. 

Westborough Arcade // 1890

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 The Second Meeting House of Westborough, Massachusetts, was built on this important site in the center of the village in 1749. It was a plain, wooden building and was used for both church services and town meetings, since church and state were essentially inseparable at the time. When a new church was built in 1837, this building was purchased and converted to commercial use. The first floor of the building was raised, and another floor was added underneath. The steeple was also removed. The building then became known as “The Arcade Building,” a kind of mall with small shops opening onto the porch. By the end of the 19th century, the old wooden building was nearing 150 years old and owners decided to demolish the structure, and replace it with a more permanent and stately block. The New Arcade was built in 1890 and is more Romanesque in style. The handsome brick block has retail spaces on the ground floor with residences above, a great example of mixed-use.

Westborough Savings Bank // 1928

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The Westborough Savings Bank was incorporated in 1869 and shared space in a building with another bank and the post office. As the population and prosperity grew in the suburban community, so did the Westborough Savings Bank, who would move into a larger space. Just before the Great Depression, the bank sought to build its first purpose-built structure, and they hired the firm J. Williams Beal & Sons to furnish plans for this handsome masonry bank, designed to showcase the strength and stability of the institution. Renaissance Revival in style, the 1928 building is constructed of buff brick with limestone trim. The facade is dominated by large, round arched windows and is framed by pilasters with an off-center entrance. The Westborough Savings Bank would eventually merge into Avidia Bank and the West Main Street building was sold. The handsome building is well-preserved and home to Westborough TV, which makes broadcast media programming that is by, about, and for the entire Westborough community.