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Home My Public Portal AboutGilbertRd_6, BRE.173Follow 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 91-26 Dennis A, G BRE.173 Town/City: BREWSTER Place:(neighborhood or village): East Brewster Address: 10 Gilbert Road (just Gilbert Road in MACRIS) Historic Name: East Brewster Railroad Station Uses:Present: Residential Original: Commercial (Railroad Station) Date of Construction: 1865 Source:MHC Reconnaissance Town Report - Brewster Style/Form: Stick style/ Queen Anne Architect/Builder: Unknown Exterior Material: Foundation: Cement slab Wall/Trim: Wood flushboard, clapboard, fish-scale patterned wood shingles Roof: Asphalt shingles Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Small shed Major Alterations (with dates): Infill under front roof eave, fenestration alterations Condition: Good Moved: no yes Date: Acreage: 0.27 acres Setting: This property is located in East Brewster near Ellis Landing in a subdivision known as Ellis Landing Park. The small rectangular parcel is located on the northeast corner of Gilbert Road and Kingfisher Cartway. The surrounding area has been subdivided into small parcels with modest 20th century houses and cottages. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 6-10 GILBERT ROAD MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 A, G BRE.173 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 former railroad station is a small but charming building that reflects elements of both the Queen Anne and Stick styles. The 1 ½-story side-gable building appears to rest on a cement slab foundation. The walls are clad in a combination of wood vertical flushboard, clapboard, and fish-scale patterned wood shingles. The use of multiple siding materials and/or patterns is typical of the Queen Anne style. The elevations are also articulated with narrow strapping that divides the elevations into sections – this detail is reflective of the Stick style, a style which expressed or suggested the building framing on the outside. The gable roof projects deeply with open eaves but has been partially infilled on the front elevation (compare Photos 2 and 3). The roof is clad in asphalt shingles (likely wood shingles originally). The roof cornice has vergebaords on the side gables that terminate in round cut-outs at the ends. A narrow brick chimney rises off-centered from the roof ridge. The rear elevation roof overhang was enclosed with a screen porch. Fenestration includes a combination of wood 6/6, 4/4 and 2/2 double-hung sash with flat casings that connect to the wood strapping (compare Photos 2 and 3 to see fenestration changes). There are two entrances on the front (south) elevation. Both are set within a shallow recess at each corner of the front elevation. 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. The Ellis family owned large tracts of land between Main Street and Cape Cod Bay. In 1936-37, Gilbert E. Ellis, Sr. (1865-1944) subdivided a tract of land west of Ellis Landing Road, referred to as Ellis Landing Park (Plan Book 57/ Page 59 and Plan Book 93/ Page 49). Gilbert E. Ellis lived in a house formerly located at 2696 Main Street that was relocated to 1 Ellis Landing Road (BRE.162) in the 1980s by his grandson. Ellis married Lydia Foster Cahoon in 1887. 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 the land referenced above. In 1926, he donated Ellis Landing to the town. This parcel was identified as Lot 11 in the first plan, on Gilbert Road, presumably named for Gilbert Ellis. The Ellis family has kept this parcel in the family to the present day. This may be due to the fact that they moved this unusual building, the former East Brewster Train Station, and adapted it for a cottage. The cottage was moved to this location sometime after 1938. The East Brewster Railroad Station was a stop on the Cape Cod Railroad which initiated service through Brewster in 1865. This railroad merged with the Old Colony Railroad in ca. 1872 and became part of a large railroad system in southeastern Massachusetts and parts of Rhode Island that operated until 1893. The railroad was subsequently operated by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad until the mid-20th century. The 1880 Barnstable County Atlas map shows a single railroad station building on the north side of Main Street east of Crosby Lane, but by 1910 the station comprised two buildings that were located on the south side of Main Street (see attached details of the 1880 and 1910 Barnstable County Atlas maps). The Brewster railroad stations were closed when train service stopped in 1938, which is likely how this station became surplus property. This parcel is located within the Old King’s Highway Regional Historic District adopted in 1973. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 6-10 GILBERT ROAD MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 2 A, G BRE.173 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 Boyd, George H. III, Brewster, The Way We Were, George H. Boyd III: Brewster, 2016. Massachusetts Historical Commission Reconnaissance Survey Town Report – Brewster, 1984 Brewster Assessor sketch. Detail of 1880 Barnstable County Atlas. Detail of 1910 Barnstable County Atlas. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 6-10 GILBERT ROAD MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 3 A, G BRE.173 Photo 2. View looking west from Kingfischer Cartway. Photo 3. 1937 view of East Brewster railroad station.