Newton Village

LeClear House // c.1915

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Waban in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was a hotbed for architect-designed houses as their own residences. This Colonial Revival/Tudor Revival style estate was designed by Gifford LeClear (1874–1931), a prominent architect in the Boston area. Gifford LeClear was born in Rutherford, New Jersey to Thomas and Cornelia (King) LeClear. He was educated in the private schools in Boston before entering Harvard University. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1895 and Master of Arts in 1896. He then worked for a year in the engineering department of the West End Street Railway before forming his partnership with Densmore in 1897. The partnership of Densmore & LeClear was formed in April 1897, practicing as mechanical and electrical engineers. One of the firm’s major projects in this role was the design of the building systems for the new campus of the Harvard Medical School in Boston.

Benjamin H. Davidson House // 1897

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Benjamin H. Davidson, a wool merchant had this stunning property built in Waban for his family in 1897. Benjamin and his architect envisioned a large, Shingle style mansion, set back off the street. The house obviously exhibits shingle cladding along all surfaces including stone piers coming up from the ground at the porch, giving the house an organic feeling. The design also includes a large stairhall Palladian window, which is obscured from the street by a balustrade.

Oscar and Maud Rice House // 1895

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In 1895, when the Queen Anne style was no longer in vogue among architects and builders in the Boston area, the Allston Real Estate Company took a gamble and built this house in a scarcely developed section of Waban Village in Newton on spec, hoping to find a buyer. They found one in Oscar Raymond Rice and his wife Maud Lois Sargent Rice. Oscar worked as a salesman, and Maud volunteered locally with various causes. The family home is a great example of Queen Anne Victorian architecture with varied siding styles, asymmetry, a tower, rounded bay window, porch with turned posts, and applied decoration in the gables. The house underwent a large renovation about five years ago and it still looks great! The listing from 2017 gives me serious house envy.

Baker-Mason House // 1897

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Eclectic homes that can not be pigeonholed to a single architectural style are among my favorite as they blend features elegantly into a single, unique composition. This house on Windsor Road in the Waban village of Newton, Massachusetts is an example of an “eclectic” late 19th century home. This old house exhibits elements of the Queen Anne and Tudor Revival styles. The house was built in 1897 for Daniel and Ida Baker. After their death, the home was purchased by a James H. Mason, who got it for an estimated $25,000 in 1909. A listing at the time mentions the property included a 14-room house and large stable, the latter still stands at the rear of the lot (since converted to a car garage).

James H. Gardner House // 1923

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My favorite part about the Boston suburbs is the sheer number of well-preserved early 20th century residences. The collection of Colonial Revival, Tudor, and Arts and Crafts style houses found in Waban Village, Newton, are among my favorites. This two-story stucco-clad house enclosed by a slate gable roof with exposed rafter ends was built in 1923 from designs by architect Harry Morton Ramsay. Ramsay was hired to design dozens of middle-upper class houses in Newton during its period of rapid development in the early 20th century. The original owner was James H. Gardner, who lived here with his family and a maid for a couple decades.

Edmund and Ethel Sprague House // 1929

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In the inter-war period, Norman Revival houses took off in popularity (though never at the same level as Tudor or Colonial Revival styles), partially due to returning soldiers who served in Normandy France in WWI. Many plans include a small round tower topped by a cone-shaped roof, resembling the grain silos of the ancient Normandy style. The architecture is characterized by steep, conical roofs or hipped roofs and round stair-towers. The style is much less common in the Boston area, but this notable example in Waban Village, Newton, was too good to pass by without snapping a photo! The home was built around 1929 for Edmund and Ethel Sprague. Edmund is listed in directories as a landscaper for trees and shrubs.

Hovey House // 1897

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In 1897, tailor Charles L. Hovey and his wife Bertha, had this house in Waban built for their family. The architecture really stands out as an eclectic blending of styles, common at the end of the 19th century, when architects and builders would design homes to exhibit architectural details from multiple styles, all under one roof. The shingled house has a steep gable roof and three gabled dormers, which reflects Queen Anne theme. The diamond-pane windows and the technique of cantilevered dormers and the second floor overhanging the first, is First Period-Medieval in style, a unique interpretation of American architecture. What do you think of this home?

Ellis House // 1926

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In the land of storybook Tudor houses, this one might just be the most magical of them all! Located on Chestnut Street in Waban Village of Newton, you’ll find this stone Tudor cottage set behind a circular drive. The house was built in 1926, in the interwar period (between WW1 and WW2), a period of rapid suburban development in this part of Newton. The house was first occupied by a Seymour Ellis, who according to newspapers, had a rabid dog! The house exhibits a strong gable to the street which incorporates a massive chimney inside. The gable also sweeps out to form a catslide roof, that incorporates an arched garden gate.

John Parry House // 1895

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In 1895, Waban Village was in the middle of its massive development period, when half of the homes in the neighborhood were built within 10 years. One of the earliest in this neighborhood was this investment property by John E. Parry, a businessman and major developer. This house appears to have been rented at first, but was listed as vacant for some time in the city directories. Eventually it was purchased and has been lovingly maintained to this day. The design is a regional take on the transitional Shingle and Colonial Revival styles, this one with a really unique cross gambrel roof.

Lawrence Luellen House // c.1908

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Some really interesting history and architecture with this one! Located in Waban Village in Newton, Mass., this gorgeous Mission Revival style house is one of a few in the style in the Boston area. The Mission Revival style was popularized on the West Coast in California in the late 19th century. Rather than continuing to adopt imported East Coast architectural styles, these California architects recognized the value of their own historic surroundings, where the Spanish Colonial mission heritage of California and the Southwest, the beautiful mission chapels, with stucco walls, red tile roofs, and bell towers led to the new revival. The style never took off in New England, which followed its own Georgian and Federal Revival styles, emulating historic Colonial-era homes here. This Newton home was built around 1908 for Lawrence W. Luellen, an attorney and inventor, who made a big invention, disposable paper cups! It is true. Lawrence Luellen wanted to do away with the ubiquitous “tin dippers” he saw in public buildings and railway stations after realizing all that sharing might be transferring disease. In 1907, he took out a patent and create a new, clean and individual drinking cup. After his invention went global, he sold his Newton home and moved to New Jersey, inventing…cup dispensers!