Historic Buildings of Massachusetts

Hosmer House (1793)

by Dan/July 19, 2009September 17, 2016/Federal, Houses, Sudbury

The Hosmer House, at the intersection of Concord and Old Sudbury Roads in Sudbury Center, is a 1793 Federal-style house with a brick end facing Concord Road. It was built by Elisha Wheeler and Asher Goodnow as a commercial venture and was purchased by Ella and James Willis, who ran a general store and post office out of the building, with a ballroom above and a cobbler’s shop attached on the side. A retired Congregational minister, the Rev. Edwin Barrett Hosmer, bought the house in 1897 and lived there with his wife, Abbie Louisa Ames. Their daughter, Florence Ames Hosmer, was an artist and lived in the house until her death in 1978. The historic building had already been deeded to the town as a memorial to her father, along with nearly 500 of her paintings. The house, which displays many of the paintings, is now the headquarters of the Sudbury Historical Commission and is opened to the public on many holidays and special occasions. There is a pdf brochure for the house.

Stephen Colton House (1850)

by Dan/July 18, 2009September 17, 2016/Gothic, Houses, Longmeadow

Built off Longmeadow Green in the 1850s, the home of Stephen Colton is an excellent example of a Gothic Revival cottage. It was based on the ideas of Andrew Jackson Downing, specifically the plan for a “symmetrical cottage,” from his book, The Architecture of Country Houses (1850). A Stephen T. Colton is listed as having served as selectman in Longmeadow in the 1850s and during the Civil War.

Lyman Estate (1793)

by Dan/July 17, 2009September 17, 2016/Federal, Houses, Waltham

The Lyman Estate, formerly known as “The Vale,” is a country estate in Waltham, originally established in 1793 by Boston merchant Theodore Lyman. The Estate’s grand Federal-style mansion was completed in 1798 and was designed by the Salem architect, Samuel McIntire. The mansion remained in the Lyman family as a summer home for the next century-and-a-half. Lydia Lyman Paine, daughter of nineteenth century owner George Lyman, married Robert Treat Paine, who built Stonehurst on a neighboring estate. The Lyman family added an upper story to their house in 1882. The estate, now owned by Historic New England, is known for its greenhouses (the earliest of which dates to 1800), which are open to the public.

Stonehurst, the Robert Treat Paine Estate (1886)

by Dan/July 16, 2009December 30, 2012/Houses, Romanesque Revival, Second Empire, Shingle Style, Victorian Eclectic, Waltham

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.

Samuel Colton Booth House (1821)

by Dan/July 15, 2009September 17, 2016/Federal, Houses, Longmeadow

The 1821 brick Federal style home of Samuel Colton Booth is at 577 Longmeadow Street in Longmeadow. Booth was married twice, first to Mary Ann Alvord and then to Rhoda Colton. He was a farmer who had a strong interest in mineralogy and archeology, collecting many specimens, which were later donated to the Springfield Science Museum. His daughter, Mary Ann Booth, also pursued an interest in natural science. Samuel Colton Booth was also a member of the Massachusetts Militia in the early nineteenth century.

Peter Rice Homestead (1688)

by Dan/July 14, 2009September 17, 2016/Colonial, Houses, Marlborough

The home of the Marlborough Historical Society is the Peter Rice Homestead at 337 Elm Street. The Homestead was built in 1688, on the half of his father’s original house lot which Peter Rice inherited. That year, he had married Rebecca Howe and their descendants would occupy the house into the mid-nineteenth century. The house was added to over the years and subdivided in the 1940s. It was donated to the Historical Society in 1967 and is now a museum.

Golden Ball Tavern (1768)

by Dan/July 13, 2009September 17, 2016/Colonial, Houses, Taverns, Weston

The Golden Ball Tavern was constructed by Captain Isaac Jones in 1768 on the Boston Post Road in Weston. Jones was a Tory and, during the agitation leading up to the Revolution, he continued to serve Dutch tea, in spite of local protest. In March 1774, Patriots raided the Tavern in what is known as the “Weston Tea Party.” Jones was prominent in the community, so the Tavern remained open, but in 1775, he is known to have entertained two British spies! Later becoming a supporter of the Revolutionary army, Jones continued as a prosperous citizen after the war and his descendants continued to live in his house until 1963. The following year, the house was established as a Trust and opened as the Golden Ball Tavern Museum.