new england architecture

Cummings-Abbott House // c.1735

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Samuel Cummings (1709-1772) married Prudence Lawrence (1715-1796) and moved to Hollis, NH from Groton, MA. The couple had a home built in town and raised at least four children, Samuel Jr., Mary, Sibbel, and Prudence. The original house built by Cummings was a single-story, four room, center chimney type. After his death in 1772, the property passed to Cummings’ son, Samuel Cummings, Jr., an acknowledged Tory. Interestingly, Samuel’s sister Prudence was an ardent patriot, who moved to Pepperell, MA and married a militia man, David Wright. While the Revolutionary War was raging, Prudence visited her brother in the old family home, when she overheard her brother Samuel talk to his friend, a British army officer about passing information to the British. Prudence returned to Pepperell and gathered the women of the town. Then a 35-year-old mother of five, she organized 30 or 40 of them into a militia called ‘Mrs. David Wright’s Guard.’ The women dressed in their husbands’ clothes and carried whatever they could for weapons. As the men had probably taken muskets with them, the women probably used farm implements such as pitchforks. The women patrolled the roads leading into town. The group eventually captured two British soldiers on horseback and let them go only once they agreed to never come back to the colony. Due to this event, Prudence never spoke to her loyalist brother again.

In the 1850s, the house was owned by Superintendent of Schools, Levi Abbott and his wife, Matilda. It was the Abbotts who reportedly added a second story to the house with a hip roof, cornice and corner pilasters, giving it the appearance we see today.

Hollis Town Hall // 1886

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Constructed in 1886, the Hollis Town Hall in New Hampshire is a distinctive example of Queen Anne civic architecture showcasing an asymmetrical design and a variety of forms, textures and materials. The building was designed from plans by Manchester-based architect William Butterfield. As originally constructed the building was painted in dark tints to harmonize with the roof which was covered with shingles and painted dark red. In 1902, the clocks were added atop the tower with a clock designed by George M. Stevens of Boston. Sadly, the buildings’ original polychromatic paint scheme which highlighted the architectural details was updated with a solid white color.

Strafford Municipal Building // 1883

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Designed and built by Senator Justin Morrill in 1883, this building was donated to the town of Strafford by Morrill in memory of his mentor Jedidiah Harris. It was given to the town as a public library in part to house the Harris Library, which in turn had been created by a bequest from Harris. This structure remained a library until the Morrill Memorial Library building was completed in 1928 and its collection was joined with Morrill’s. It is currently used as the Town Office building providing space for the Town Clerk/Treasurer and Town Records, and town boards. The white clapboarded building has Victorian detailing with the spindled posts at the porch with a prominent gambrel roof covered in slate. Cute!

Strafford Town House // 1799

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Perched atop a hill at the edge of the town common in Strafford, Vermont, the Strafford Town House epitomizes rural New England charm. The town house was constructed in 1799 by local carpenters as a place to do public business and served for a brief period in the early days as a meeting house for various local congregations. The building is one of the oldest meeting houses in Vermont and was one of the first meeting houses to put the entrance at the tower-end and the pulpit at the other end of the building. The change from a side-entrance orientation reflected a time when New Englanders were clearly deciding to separate their political business from their ecclesiastical affairs.

Samuel Allen Nichols House // 1848

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Samuel Allen Nichols (1790-1864) was born in Fairfield, Connecticut to a large family. He began his adult career as a farmer, but shifted towards the merchant trade after seeing how the village of Southport began to see massive wealth accumulating. He ran a store in the town and later became involved in local politics serving as the clerk from 1847-1863. A year after he accepted this position, he had this home built on Harbor Road. The 1848 home was Gothic Revival in style with gabled dormers, lancet windows, and decorative bargeboard. Nichols died in 1864 and the home was likely willed to one of his five living children. The home was renovated around 1871 with a Second Empire style Mansard roof and square belvedere to overlook the Southport Harbor. Since then, much of the detailing has been removed, but the home remains as a gorgeous home, changed over time to keep up with the changing architectural tastes of the 19th century.

Perry House-Trinity Church Rectory // 1832

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I have a thing for temple-front Greek Revival homes, and this is no exception. This marvelous home was built in 1832 for Francis Dimon Perry (1809-1884), who inherited some of his father’s wealth and became President of Southport National Bank in town. He was a devoted member of Trinity Church throughout his life. Upon Mrs. Perry‘s death in 1893, couple left their residence to the Trinity Church to be used as the parish rectory.

Trinity Church, Southport // 1862

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The Trinity Episcopal Church in the Southport section of Fairfield, Connecticut was established in 1725. Twenty families met for worship at its first meeting house in the center of town on Thanksgiving Day, 1725. Since then, the church has constructed five different places of worship in locations around town. Architect Albert C. Nash designed the church which was constructed during the years 1854-56. Sadly, the building’s near total destruction by wind during a tornado on January 1, 1862, required the church to be completely rebuilt as originally planned, with a few structural alterations. Trinity Church is an excellent work of early Gothic Revival church architecture in wood, one of the best I have seen in my trips around the region.

Howard Lee House // c.1928

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Fairfield in the early 20th century began to shift as a suburban town with neighborhoods of large homes in planned districts. The proliferation of the personal automobile led to the “suburbanization” past streetcar suburbs closer to downtowns. Howard Greeley Lee (1893-1965) worked as Vice President of the Lee Brothers Furniture Co. based out of nearby Bridgeport. The company clearly did well as Howard had this large home built in the fairly uncommon (in New England) Spanish Revival style. It features a red tile roof, stuccoed siding, metal casement windows, and arched windows and front door, all commonly found in the style.

Captain John Maltbie House // 1766

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On July 7-8, 1779, the Red Coats marched through Fairfield torching houses to punish the locals for seeking independence. They killed locals, destroying anything they could find on their way out, setting fires to homes and civic buildings around the Green. This home was built by Isaac Tucker, later sold to Jonathan Maltbie, sea captain involved with East Indies trade. He later would fight against the British during the Revolution, and after the war, was hired as captain on one of the first cutter ships built, the Argus. During the British invasion of Fairfield, they attempted to set fire to this home three times, but it seemed to never go up in flames when they returned. The tradition holds that an elderly servant, hiding upstairs, put out the flames and saved the house from destruction, after the British Troops torched it. Burn marks apparently remain inside to this day. Since the home was built, the front door facing the street was relocated to the side, and a large multi-pane bay window was installed in its place.

North Easton Railroad Station // 1884

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Frederick Lothrop Ames (1835-1893) was born in Easton, MA, the son of Oliver Ames Jr. who ran the Ames Shovel Works in town. On the death of his father in 1877, Frederick became head of the Ames & Sons Corporation also inheriting upwards of six million dollars, which he invested in railroads. From this, he eventually became Vice President of the Old Colony Railroad and director of the Union Pacific railroad. At the time of his death, Ames was reported to be the wealthiest person in Massachusetts! Due to his role for the Old Colony Railroad, Ames had a rail station built in his hometown, adjacent to his family’s factory. Henry Hobson Richardson, who designed many other buildings in town for the Ames Family, designed this station in his signature Richardsonian Romanesque style with its large arches, varied rustication of stone, and brownstone trimming. The building was completed two years before Richardson’s death. Rail service here was cut in the 1950s, allowing the Ames family in 1969 to buy the station back from the consolidated New York Central Railroad, gifting it to the Easton Historical Society.

Ames Memorial Hall // 1881

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There are few buildings that make you stop and stare in marvel at their perfect architectural proportions, detailing and design, the Ames Memorial Hall in Easton, Massachusetts is one of them for me! In the late 1870s, the children of Oakes Ames commissioned the great American architect Henry Hobson Richardson to design the Memorial Hall as a tribute to their father. Richardson, the architect of Boston’s beloved Trinity Church in Copley Square, responded with a picturesque masterpiece using his signature architectural elements of rounded arches, dramatic roof lines, and heavy masonry adorned with carvings. The building was provided to the inhabitants of Easton “for all the ordinary purposes of a town hall”. Oakes Ames (1804-1873) was partner in the family business, O. Ames & Sons, a U. S. congressman, an early investor in the Central Pacific Railroad, and, at the urging of President Abraham Lincoln, a prominent force in the building of the first transcontinental railroad. The Richardsonian Romanesque building stands on the solid foundation of a natural ledge, from the northeast corner of which rises the beautiful octagonal tower, on whose frieze are carved the twelve signs of the zodiac.

Pomfret Congregational Church // 1847

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Located in North Pomfret, Vermont, the North Pomfret Congregational Church is one of many white clapboard church buildings constructed in the mid 19th century. Built in 1847 by the Church of Christian Brothers and the Congregationalists, the church was used by the two religious societies as a joint meeting house, each society holding services in the church on alternating Sundays. The Greek Revival style church features a prominent tiered, boxed bell tower with louvered lancet openings and a slender octagonal spire.

Woodshed // 2017

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“Woodshed”. Image by Jim Westphalen.

In researching historic buildings in the tiny Vermont town of Pomfret, I was stunned to find images of this stunning Modern design in the town. Designed by the Birdseye Design Firm based out of Richmond, VT, “Woodshed” was completed by 2017 and serves as both a guest house and entertainment space for the main residence down the road. From the firm’s website, “The project is conceptually inspired by the vernacular woodshed, a familiar and iconic element in the Vermont landscape. The residence is composed of two asymmetric gable roof forms, akin to the traditional woodshed, connected by a central entryway”. The common thought on new construction is typically bland and “cookie-cutter” McMansions or boxy apartments, but this project is a testament to thoughtful Modern design found in even the smallest towns in the region!

Pomfret Methodist Church // c.1850

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Located across the street from the Congregationalist Church (now Town Hall) in Pomfret Center, the Methodists in Pomfret Vermont built this church building just a couple years after their neighbor was completed. Replicating the Greek Revival style seen across the street, the building showcases a templed form with projecting portico, as an excellent vernacular example of the style. Similar to its neighbor, this church was sold to the Town of Pomfret in the 1880s, modernized in the early 20th century, and converted to a district schoolhouse.

Stone Machine Shop // 1849

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Located across the street from the main collection of remaining Shaker buildings in the Enfield Shaker Museum campus, this historic stone structure stands as a lasting remnant of the workspaces built for the active Shaker community there. Once part of a larger group of structures that once stood here (the machine shop being the only extant), including a tannery, blacksmith shop, animal sheds, and broom shop, this stone structure shows the significance of rural industry in Enfield. This structure was built in 1849 and was water powered. Stone Machine Shop was powered by a nearby stream and mill pond. Water flowing through the stream would enter into the mill’s head race, move across several water wheels, and exit through the tail race before being dumped back into the stream