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Home My Public Portal AboutEllisLandingRd_1, BRE.162Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.12/12 FORM B  BUILDING MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Photograph Locus Map N Recorded by: Eric Dray, Preservation Consultant, for Organization: Brewster Historical Commission Date (month / year): November, 2017 Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number 90-100 Dennis A, G BRE.162 Town/City: BREWSTER Place:(neighborhood or village): East Brewster Address: 1 Ellis Landing Road (formerly 2696 Main Street) Historic Name: Crosby, Capt. James and Sally House Uses:Present: Commercial (real estate office) Original: Residential Date of Construction: ca. 1770 Source:Deed research Style/Form: Georgian/ Full Cape Architect/Builder: Unknown Exterior Material: Foundation: Concrete and/or concrete block Wall/Trim: Wood clapboard/ Wood Roof: Asphalt shingles Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Outbuildings referred to in the 1979 Form B were not relocated when the house was moved to its current site. Major Alterations (with dates): Side ells, front dormers (dates unknown) Later entrance porch removed (post-1979, see Photo 3) Condition: Good Moved: no yes Date: post-1984 Acreage: 0.65 acres Setting: This property is located in East Brewster on the north side of Main Street and is bounded on the west by Ellis Landing Road. The surrounding area is developed with a mix of historic and contemporary residential and commercial buildings. The house is set at an angle to Main Street on its level triangular parcel. The parcel is largely open with lawn, a few mature deciduous trees, and foundation plantings. A driveway leads from Ellis Landing Road to a parking area behind the building. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 1 ELLIS LANDING ROAD MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 A, G BRE.162 Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked, you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form. Use as much space as necessary to complete the following entries, allowing text to flow onto additional continuation sheets. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION: Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community. This is an example of a Colonial-era Full Cape, with two ells. The house rests on a foundation that appears to be concrete or concrete block. The walls are clad in wood clapboard with plain cornerboards. The roof is clad in asphalt shingles and has a molded box cornice with dentil molding. A large corbelled brick chimney is centered on the main roof ridge. The front roof slope has two gable dormers with paired 6/6 double-hung windows. The first story fenestration consists primarily of 12/12 wood windows set in projecting molded surrounds. These windows are also seen on the ells. A small square window is seen on the west side elevation of the main block set close to the eave – the house may originally have had pairs of such windows on both side elevations. The small projecting entrance porch seen on the 1979 version of this Form B (see Photo 3), was later removed. The entrance now consists of a six-panel wood door flanked by full sidelights and pilasters. The windows and door on the front elevation of the main block abut the roof cornice – a detail found on Colonial-era Capes. According to the 1979 version of this Form B, “the central chimney opens into 3 fireplaces on the first floor and the kitchen hearth has a beehive oven built to its right. In each front room there is a fireplace with more elaborate moulding and wainscoting than is often found…. A walk up the steep front stairways leads to the left or right, while in the middle is the exposed brickwork of the chimney flue….” HISTORICAL NARRATIVE Discuss the history of the building. Explain its associations with local (or state) history. Include uses of the building, and the role(s) the owners/occupants played within the community. (This Historical Narrative is adapted and expanded from the 1979 version of this Form B) Research on the property in its former location suggests that this Colonial-era Cape was built by Capt. James Crosby (1767- 1829). He married Sally Foster in 1769. Assuming the house was built shortly after his marriage, it was built ca. 1770. The house passed to his son Capt. James Crosby (b. 1796) who married Emily Snow in 1832 and died at sea two years later. Through two transactions in 1839, the minor heirs of James Crosby sold their shares in “the homestead of said minors grandfather James Crosby” to Washington Baker (Book 14/Page 133 and Book 26/Page 384). Less than ten years later, Baker sold 6/7th interest in the dwelling to Ezekiel Cahoon, Jr. (Book 42/ Page 554) (The fate of the remaining1/7th interest is unknown). Ezekiel Cahoon, Jr. (1824-1880) married Catherine Foster (b. 1824) in 1847 and they raised their family in this house. Cahoon was listed as a mariner and then fisherman in the 1860 and 1870 US Census. One of their daughters, Lydia Foster Cahoon married Gilbert E. Ellis, Sr. in 1887. According to tax records, Gilbert Ellis took over tax payments from the Estate of Ezekiel Cahoon, which suggests that he and Lydia inherited this property from her father. Gilbert Everett Ellis, Sr. (1868-1944) appeared to be industrious from the start. In the 1880 US Census, at the age of 14, he was listed as working as a clerk in a store. Subsequent Census listings recorded his work as weir fisherman, real estate and farmer. Over his lifetime he assembled large tracts of land in East Brewster, including land that stretched from Main Street to Ellis Landing, a landing he donated to the town in 1926. This house has remained in the Ellis family since the 1880s. Gilbert Sr. had one child named Gilbert Everett Ellis, Jr. (Everett). Everett (1888-1952) married twice. His first wife was Faythe Akers Ellis. Everett and Faythe were newlyweds living in New Jersey until Everett decided to move his family back to Brewster in approximately 1915. Everett and Faythe moved into the house at 2680 Main Street (then next to his parents’ house). They had 4 children - Catherine (Kay), Robert, Theodore, and Richard. Everett and Faythe divorced sometime around 1930. Faythe remained in 2680 Main Street. Everett and his second wife Clara lived in this house (then located next door at 2696 Main Street). They had three children – Nancy, Carolyn and Gilbert E. Ellis, III. Gilbert III moved this house in the 1980s from Main Street to the corner of Ellis Landing and Main Street. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 1 ELLIS LANDING ROAD MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 2 A, G BRE.162 The building has been used for multiple purposes. The ell to the east was used as an office by Gilbert Ellis Jr. who worked as an electrical contractor, and the ell to the west was used by a woman who operated the Willow Tree Tea Room. This parcel is located within the Old King’s Highway Regional Historic District adopted in 1973. BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES 1858 Map, Map of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, & Nantucket, Walling, Henry. 1880 Map, Atlas of Barnstable County, Boston, MA: George H. Walker & Co., 1880. 1910 Map, Atlas of Barnstable County, Boston, MA: Walker Litho. & Publishing Co., 1910. Barnstable County Registry of Deeds Family history - Faythe Ellis, 10.18.17 www.ancestry.com - Vital records, US Census (1860, 1870, 1880, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940) Brewster Assessor sketch. Photo 2. View looking northeast. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 1 ELLIS LANDING ROAD MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 3 A, G BRE.162 Photo 3. View looking north - 1979 Form B photograph.