massachusetts homes

Eben Phillips Cottage // c.1877

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In the mid-1800s, Rockport, Massachusetts was best-known as one of the main ports for the quarrying and shipping of fine granite up and down the east coast of the United States. While the rocky coastline made granite a prime industry, the natural scenery also made the coastal areas desirable for residential development. While many of the coastal developments here never took-off as they did in nearby Gloucester, Magnolia, and Beverly, there are some notable summer colonies that sprouted up! In 1855, Eben B. Phillips an oil dealer in Boston, purchased undeveloped wooded lots and pastures, and slowly began to lay out roads and survey for developable lots for summer cottages on a peninsula near Pigeon Cove. The development was named “Oceanview” and it was marketed as the extreme point of Cape Ann. Development was very slow to materialize, and started in earnest in the 1870s. Eben Phillips built this summer cottage before 1877 (possibly as early as 1850), where he would spend summers until his death in 1879. The cottage retains much of its original character and is a rare survivor of the rustic style cottages which were built before the phase of larger Shingle and Queen Anne residences were built in later decades.

Norwood-Babson Farmhouse // 1799

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Located in northern Rockport, Massachusetts, you will find this charming Colonial-era farmhouse set amongst the backdrop of ocean cliffs and granite quarries. At the tip of Pigeon Cove, adjacent to the present-day Halibut Point State Park, James Norwood purchased land and would erect this house by 1799 for his family (possibly built from an older dwelling formerly on the site). After James’ death, the property was willed to his daughter and son-in-law and sold a few times until 1820, when it was purchased by David Wallis Babson who raised his family here. As granite-quarrying became a lucrative trade in Rockport by the early-mid 19th century, David’s son Joseph bought twelve of the Babson Farm acres from other family members to organize a stone cutting business here. The property would leave the Babson Family decades later, but retained the family name until today. Edwin Canney would purchase the remaining 70-acre Babson Farm, selling it to the Rockport Granite Company. For the next thirty years, industrial-scale mining and shipping would redefine Halibut Point over the next thirty years. The quarries are now a State Park, and the former Norwood-Babson farmhouse remains intact as a significant piece of the town’s earlier history.

Mansfield DAR Lodge // c.1830

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Tucked away on a side street in Mansfield, I was pleasantly surprised to stumble upon this charming example of a Craftsman bungalow, a style and form not too common in New England. The style, synonymous with the western United States’ population growth in the early 20th century, never took off the same way here as Yankee homeowners and builders often stayed true to the Colonial Revival style (even today). This building is said to date from the early 1800s and was built as a Federal style cape. It was owned by a Margaret Lane in the late 19th century. By the 1930s, the house was significantly altered with a full-length porch supported by tapered shingled columns atop fieldstone bases and new dormers at the roof with flared eaves. The building has been home to a local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). What a charmer!

George Cobb House // c.1865

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While most of the early homes in Newton Centre were built by a few landowners and rented to tenants, this charming Mansard cottage was owner-occupied from the start. Tucked away on the quiet (and appropriately named) Pleasant Street, the George Cobb House is one of the most beautiful old Victorians in the neighborhood. An early resident was George Washington Cobb (1840-1925) was a druggist who ran an apothecary in East Boston, and he made the long commute there every day from this house. The property has a mansard roof with pedimented dormer and three-story tower capped by a bell-cast mansard roof. Paneled pilasters and brackets add a lot of detail to the primary facade.

Mount Pleasant Estate // c.1856

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One of the surviving old estates in Newton is Mount Pleasant, one of the oldest in Newton Centre. The home was originally built in the 1850s by Roswell Willard Turner, who acquired large land holdings in Newton Centre. The large property was eventually purchased by Charles S. Davis, an associate of the Boston piano manufacturing firm of Hallett & Davis. As Newton Centre developed, he enlarged his own home in the 1860s, and sold off his holdings, developing the surrounding area with charming Gothic Revival cottages on Mount Pleasant, the hill upon which his property gained its name. His own home was enlarged and includes elongated additions, a tower with hipped roof, and arched windows.

Sullivan Three-Deckers // 1895

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The three-decker is a commonly found housing type in New England’s urban industrial cities. These buildings are typically of light-framed, wood construction, where each floor usually consists of a single apartment, and frequently, originally, extended families lived in two, or all three floors. These were affordable housing, largely built by and for first- or second-generation immigrant families who could build a home and rent the other two units to family or friends to offset the steep cost of a mortgage. These three buildings were constructed around 1895 by David Sullivan, a cabinet-maker in North Adams, Massachusetts. They are all Queen Anne in style with applied stickwork, gabled roofs, and multi-story porches. Housing like this is what keeps so many New England towns and cities (relatively) affordable with increased density without sacrificing character or charm.

Arthur Jones Double House // 1896

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As Brookline Village developed in the mid-late 19th century, house lots were scarce. Demand for housing saw the demolition of a number of older 1840s Greek and Gothic Revival style cottages for multi-unit dwellings as duplexes and three-deckers which surged in popularity in the Village from the late 1890s to the 1910s when three-deckers were effectively banned in Brookline. In 1896-1897, Arthur R. Jones had large double houses built here and nextdoor, which were rented out to families. Newton architect Henry McLean designed these double houses as pairs of attached single-family dwellings separated by a brick party wall blending both Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styles under one roof. The homes show what housing was available to middle-class residents of the Boston area, a price-point that is unattainable to most in the area today. Though, it is great to see these old homes lovingly preserved so well by their owners!

Clement Fay House // c.1871

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The oldest residential subdivision in Brookline, Massachusetts is Linden Place, an area in Brookline Village encompassed by Linden Street, Linden Place, Linden Park, and Linden Square, with the earliest development dating to the mid-1840s. Many early Greek Revival dwellings were built there in preparation for the new Boston and Worcester Railroad‘s Brookline branch, connecting the village to Boston. After the 1840s, the second wave of development here occured after the American Civil War, when the remaining open lots were developed. This mini Mansard house of brick was constructed in 1871 by Solomon Eaton of Roxbury, seemingly to be leased. After numerous purchases, the first long-term owner was Clement K. Fay, who acquired the property from the Franklin Savings Bank at auction in 1884. Clement Kelsey Fay grew up across the street and was educated at Harvard College, later working as an attorney with a law practice in Boston. The cottage exhibits classic Second Empire features, including a mansard roof, polygonal bay windows, and brownstone window arches. The home was converted to a duplex in the 1920s and has been well-maintained and preserved over the years.

Samuel Jones House // 1806

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This home in Acton Center was built in 1806 by Samuel Jones, shortly after he and other esteemed residents laid out house lots just south of the Town Green. Samuel Jones worked as an attorney and he lived here with his family and widowed mother, who operated a dame school, where she taught local children out of the house. The Federal style farmhouse sits upon a brick and stone foundation and is five-bays at the facade. The entry features a panel front door with sidelights flanking it. The entry is surrounded by a traditional Federal style frame with pilasters and entablature. There is something so beautiful about the simplicity and proportions of old Federal style houses.