Historic Buildings of Massachusetts

Funding for the Bacon Free Library, which overlooks the Charles River in South Natick, came from the estate of Oliver Bacon, who died in 1878, in memory of his wife. She had been the first librarian of the Bacon Library’s predecessor, which was initially located in her own home and then in a small brick building built in 1870. The Bacon Free Library, built in 1880-1881, also houses the Natick Historical Society Museum on the building’s lower level.

Grays Hall is a Harvard dormitory, built on the spot where Harvard’s earliest building, Old College, once stood. According to the Official guide to Harvard University of 1907:

Grays Hall, built in 1863 by the College, at a cost of nearly $40,000, is named for Francis Calley Gray, of the Class of 1809, a Fellow of the College from 1826 until 1836, John Chipman Gray, of the Class of 1811, a member of the Board of Overseers from 1847 until 1854, and William Gray, of the Class of 1829, a member of the Board of Overseers from 1866 until 1872, all three benefactors of the University.

This dorm was Harvard’s first building with water taps in the basement, freeing the residents from having to haul water in from pumps in Harvard Yard. Notable residents of Grays Hall have included: Norman Mailer, Frank Rich, Mo Rocca and Natalie Portman.

The Nathaniel Ely House (called “New” to distinguish it from the earlier “Old” Nathaniel Ely House nearby) was built in 1856 off Longmeadow Green. The Thomas Bliss House originally stood where the Ely House was later conbstructed, but was moved across the street to make way for the new structure. The Ely House has elements from a variety of architectural styles, including the Federal, Italianate and Gothic styles–truly a Victorian Eclectic building!

In 1871, an old schoolhouse on Lexington Street was converted to become Waltham’s Police Station. A new station was built adjacent to the earlier structure in 1892 and remained in service as a police station for seventy-two years. Afterward, it housed other city offices, but is now home to the Waltham Museum. Founded in 1971 by Al Arena, the Museum was housed for a time in the 1871 James Baker House, but from 2005 to 2007, the old Police Station was renovated to become the Museum’s new home.

The earliest Methodist meetings in Sudbury were held in the schoolhouse of the town’s north-west district until 1835, when the town decided to no longer allow the use of school buildings for religious meetings. That year, a Methodist meeting house was constructed between Sudbury Green and the Old Revolutionary Cemetery. The church was expanded in 1896, but it now serves as the Presbyterian Church in Sudbury.

In 1819, the First Congregational Society of Lexington became Unitarian. The minority of Trinitarian Congregationalists attended the local Baptist church for a time, but in 1868 formed the Hancock Congregational Society. The Congregation occupied the old Lexington Academy building until 1893, when the current Hancock Congregational Church was built. The church, designed by Paine and Lewis, features both Shingle Style siding and fieldstone walls. Many additions have been made over the years, including a new stuccoed wing in 1951.

Stonehurst was the country house of Robert Treat Paine, Jr., a lawyer, housing reformer and great grandson of a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Located in Waltham, the earliest part of the house was a Second Empire building, designed by Gridley James Fox Bryant and constructed in 1866 for Paine and his wife, Lydia Lyman Paine. This house was moved to a new site atop a ridge and a large addition in the Shingle style was designed by the architect H.H. Richardson. Begun in 1884, the project was almost complete when Richardson died in 1886. In collaboration with Richardson was the great landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted. The organic relationship of the completed house and the landscape is a notable feature of what is considered to be an architectural masterpiece. The estate was given to the City of Waltham and is open to the public.