Victorian House

Samuel & Susan Gaut House // c.1855

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Built in the 1850s, the Samuel and Susan Gaut House on Highland Avenue in Somerville, Massachusetts, is one of the finest examples of a symmetrical, three-bay, Italianate style house in the city. Samuel Norton Gaut (1816-1891) worked as a baker with shops in downtown Boston, and married Susan Dutton (1824-1892), the daughter of a wealthy shipbuilder in Newburyport. The Gaut House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its architectural significance as an intact example of a gabled Italianate style home. Special details include the brackets in the gable, trefoil window in the peak, and the octagonal cupola at the roof. Early 20th century alterations include the shingle siding, replacement windows, and enclosed portico, but neither truly detract from the beautiful home.

Richmond J. Lane House // c.1860

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Located next door to his brother’s house on Union Street in Rockland, Massachusetts, Richmond J. Lane, a shoe manufacturer, built this charming cottage for his family. Built around 1860 in the Second Empire style, this residence includes a concave mansard roof, dentilled cornice with brackets, and arched windows and dormers, and a stable at the rear. Richmond J. Lane (1826-1905) worked in shoe manufacturing and was said to have been instrumental in establishing the Hanover Branch Railroad, and served as president of local banks. The Richmond J. Lane house is an important, and well-preserved example of the Second Empire style in Rockland.

Zenas Lane House // c.1860

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The Zenas Lane House on Union Street in Rockland, Massachusetts, was built circa 1860 for its namesake, a shoe manufacturer who later engaged in real estate and local politics. Zenas Meriet Lane married Emeline Morse and had this handsome Italianate style residence built on the town’s main street. The two-story house is capped with a shallow hip roof with eyebrow window heads breaking the eaves. At the rear of the site, there is a preserved carriage house which echoes design details from the main structure.

Joseph and Fanny Turner House & Stable // 1872

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Joseph Stanley Turner (1841-1893) married Fannie Pratt (1849-1930) in 1871 and within a year, had this large, Second Empire style house built on Webster Street in Rockland, Massachusetts, for his family. Joseph Turner was a Civil War veteran and owned a shoe factory in town, making his fortune manufacturing shoes and boots which were sold all over the country. The main house is two-stories with a symmetrical plan with central entrance and projecting portico. An equally significant mansard-roofed stable sits behind and to the side of the main house, and can be classified as an example in the Stick style with applied stickwork at the siding and in the hay door, as well as the pedimented dormer with decorative truss.

John Wales House // c.1885

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In the mid-1880s, John Wales, a wealthy hardware dealer with offices in Downtown Boston, purchased house lots in the Cottage Farm area of Brookline from Amos A. Lawrence, and set out develop the site with two stately Victorian homes. This lovely home was first occupied by John’s son, George Wales and his wife, Mabel, the year of their marriage in 1885. While the architect is unclear, it is probable that the design can be attributed to architect William Whitney Lewis, who was hired by John Wales the year prior to design a stable near his home in an adjacent neighborhood. The house was rented by Wales and subsequent owners for years. The elaborate Queen Anne style house exhibits an asymmetrical plan with recessed entrance set within an arched opening, shinged and brick walls with a prominent chimney at the facade containing a decorative terra cotta panel, and the most unique stucco gables containing what appear to be terracotta balls in geometric forms. This house is a perfect example of what is so special about the Queen Anne style!

Wells-Bullard House // c.1868

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One of the finest Second Empire style houses in Brookline can be found on Prescott Street in the fashionable Cottage Farm neighborhood of the city. Built around 1868 by Amos A. Lawrence, who lived in a house nearby, this “cottage” was rented out to John Wells (1819-1875), a Judge on the Massachusetts State Supreme Court until his death. The property remained in the Lawrence family into the 20th century and was later rented to George E. Bullard, a banker. The brick house is notable for its siting at the center of the lot, corner quoins, brick corbelled cornice, arched door and windows, and slate mansard roof.

Almy-Palfrey House // c.1858

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The area was developed thanks to Amos A. Lawrence (1814-1886), a wealthy second-generation Bostonian, who provided much of the capital and enthusiasm for the growth of the cotton industry in New England prior to the Civil War. Lawrence’s involvement in the industry aided the development of the Massachusetts mill towns of Lowell and Lawrence, whom the city was named after. In 1851, Amos Lawrence purchased 200 acres of land from David Sears, who himself developed the equally beautiful Longwood neighborhood of Brookline on the other side of Beacon Street. Amos began to subdivide the land, working with the architect George Minot Dexter and landscape architect and surveyor, Alexander Wadsworth, who designed Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, to create an early picturesque residential suburb. With houses designed in the newly popular Gothic Revival and Mansard styles and several small parks, the area became known as Cottage Farm. This house was built for Amos Lawrence as an early, brick Mansard home, and rented out to Frederick Almy, a wealthy Boston attorney. The property was sold out of the Lawrence Family and later purchased by John Gorham Palfrey (1875-1945) a lawyer, who modified the house by removing the mansard roof and replacing it with a full third story with a brick veneer to match the walls below to give it a more Colonial Revival design.

Kramer-Duane House // 1895

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One of five houses built by developer Albert Jewell along Powell Street in the Cottage Farm neighborhood of Brookline, this residence stands out for its materiality and stately design. The house was designed by J. Williams Beal, an architect who trained at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and then worked for McKim, Mead & White before opening his own business. The house was first purchased from Mr. Jewell by Grace and Edwin Kramer, who worked as superintendent for R. H. White & Co., the large dry goods store in Boston. The next long-term owner was Harry B. Duane, a wealthy grocer. The Kramer-Duane House is unique for the stone veneer at its facade, gambrel roof covered in slate, and varied window styles including: bay windows, dormer windows, and an eyebrow dormer window at the roof.

Dana-Jewell House // 1872

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This house at the corner of Freeman and Powell streets in the Cottage Farm area of Brookline, Massachusetts, was one of the first to be built on Sears family land in the years following the death of the family patriarch, David Sears. In 1871, Dennison Dean Dana (1827-1899) purchased land here from the Sears heirs and constructed this Italianate house with three-story square tower. Dana owned the house through the 1880s, and by 1893 it had been acquired by Albert L. Jewell, a real estate developer who added the large veranda and a two-story addition to the house, and would subdivide the property, developing fashionable houses along Powell Street to the south. The house (while clad in asbestos shingles since the 1960s) is an important early residence in the neighborhood which is today, dominated by late 19th and 20th century architecture.

George Washington Smith House // c.1886

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This house on Westminster Road in Canterbury, Connecticut, is architecturally distinguished by its extensive and imaginative detailing, which reflects the widespread availability of manufactured architectural ornament in the Victorian period. The porch columns, archways, bay window, and round-arched windows all reflect an Italianate influence and the work of its original owner, Mr. George Washington Smith (1857-1937). The house dates to about 1886 when George W. Smith, built it from his workshop formerly located across the street. Smith manufactured mast-hoops, the wooden fixtures for attaching sails to the masts of sailing ships, and utilized his woodworking skills to build and decorate the exterior of his family home.


George M. Thornton House // c.1870

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One of the finest homes in Central Falls, Rhode Island, is this eclectic Victorian residence on Clay Street. The home was seemingly built around 1870 and modified by the end of the 19th century by later owner, George Mumford Thornton (1850-1916). Mr. Thornton was an industrialist who was elected as one of the first aldermen when Central Falls incorporated in 1895. The well-preserved house features varied siding, a rounded corner tower with spiral-columned porch and conical roof, and original multi-light sash windows. What a spectacular home.

Benjamin F. Greene House // 1868

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Built for Benjamin Franklin Greene, a second-generation mill owner of the Greene and Daniels Thread Company in Central Falls, Rhode Island, this large, Second Empire style house is one of the finest of its style in the entire state. The house is one of only a few high-style residences left from the mid-nineteenth century in Central Falls, when industrialization’s full expansion provided manufacturers such as Greene with fortunes to be expended on their houses. Designed by Providence architect Clifton A. Hall, the ornamentation of the Greene House is extraordinary for its elaboration, relieving the severity of the simple, block-like shape of the house. The central door is set under a flat-roofed porch which is supported by trios of Corinthian columns. Above the porch a trio of round-head windows is set under a “sunbonnet” gabled dormer which caps the central pavilion, is supported by brackets, and encloses a round-head window with a small balcony. What a spectacular home!

David G. Fales House // c.1858

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The David G. Fales House of Central Falls, Rhode Island, is an excellent example of the Second Empire architecture style in a high-end residence. The home was built around 1858 and belonged to David Gilmore Fales (1806-1875), one of the partners of the nearby Fales and Jenks machine works. Mr. Fales either built or purchased the home which was then a flat-roofed Italianate style home, and hired architect Clifton A. Hall, to modernize the residence, adding trim and the mansard roof. Its broad eaves are supported by brackets with pendants; segmental-head dormers are set in the mansard and a square belvedere with round-head windows tops the roof. A major fire gutted much of the house in the 1960s, and its future was uncertain. It was preserved and is now a multi-family apartment building.

Edward Johnson House // c.1886

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Central Falls, Rhode Island, is not necessarily known for its residential architecture, but like any good industrial city, there are some excellent examples of Victorian houses from the mid-late 19th century to be discovered! This is the Edward L. Johnson House on Cross Street in Central Falls. The house was built around 1886 for Mr. Johnson, a manufacturer, who resided here for some years with his wife, who founded the Pawtucket Women’s Club in 1899 and was an active member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The house is an excellent example of the Queen Anne architecture style, from the various siding types including clapboard and patterned shingling; its steep cross-gable roof; and its variety of windows, including a shallow bay on the first floor and oval and half-round windows in the 2nd-floor porch. 

Parsons-Zielinski House // 1897

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Bounded by three streets and overlooking the town Common, this stately house in Salem, Massachusetts, showcases a blending of Queen Anne and Colonial revival styles. Built in 1897 from plans by Boston architect, Alfred Fernald, the house was constructed by and for its first owner, Joseph Parsons, a Civil War veteran and house builder. The Parsons family continued to live in the house until Joseph’s death in 1915, after which his widow, Minnie, sold the property and moved to Florida. Dr. Ignatius Zielinski purchased the property in the 1920s and divided the house into a physician’s office and several residential units. Tragically, Dr. Zielinski died while serving his country during WWII, and the family would retain the property until 1987. The house is unique for its materiality with the first floor consisting of ashlar, rough-faced stonework with a wood-shingled second story, stained glass windows and a wrap-around porch.