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Home My Public Portal AboutMainSt_2680, BRE.433Follow 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 89-24 Dennis BRE.433 Town/City: BREWSTER Place:(neighborhood or village): East Brewster Address: 2680 Main Street Historic Name: Ellis, Lydia and Gilbert Everett, Sr. House Uses:Present: Office building Original: Residential Date of Construction: 1914 Source:Barnstable Patriot Style/Form: No Style Architect/Builder: Unknown/ George T. Foster Exterior Material: Foundation: Not visible Wall/Trim: Wood shingles/ Wood Roof: Asphalt shingles Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Garage Major Alterations (with dates): Change in use from residence to offices (2008) Condition: Good Moved: no yes Date: Acreage: 0.86 acres Setting: This house is located in East Brewster on the north side of Main Street. The surrounding area is developed with a mix of historic and contemporary residential and commercial buildings. The house is set relatively close to the street on its level parcel. A gravel driveway leads to a barn/garage west of the house. The parcel is informally landscaped with lawn, mature deciduous trees and shrubbery, and a split rail fence runs along the street. The house is surrounded by foundation plantings. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 2680 MAIN STREET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 BRE.433 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 a modest 1½-story gable-front house with a series of ells, additions and alterations. In addition to the gable-front maim block, there is an ell to the west with a high stud wall. On the east side, the roof slopes down farther and connects to a lower one-story ell. What may have begun as an open porch that is now enclosed wraps around the front and left (east) elevations of the main block. The foundation material is not visible. The walls are clad in painted wood shingles with plain cornerboards. The roof is clad in asphalt shingles and has a narrow cornice. A narrow corbelled brick chimney rises from the main roof ridge. Some windows appear to have been replaced, but some 2/2 wood windows are visible; they may indicate the original muntin pattern. 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. According to Faythe Ellis, current member of the Brewster Historical Commission, this house was built in 1914 for her great- grandfather, Gilbert Everett Ellis, Sr. (1868-1944). It was built by George T. Foster, and was intended as a dwelling for one of Gilbert Ellis’ hired men. Gilbert Everett Ellis, Sr. and his wife Lydia (Cahoon), whom he 1887, lived in the house now located at 1 Ellis Landing Road (BRE.162) but was then located next to this house at 2696 Main Street. Gilbert Everett Ellis, Sr. 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. 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 this house, which Faythe Akers Ellis referred to as “the workman’s house.” They had 4 children - Catherine (Kay), Robert, Theodore (Faythe Ellis’ father), and Richard. Everett and Faythe divorced sometime around 1930. Faythe remained in this home with her daughter’s family and died in 1982. Kay (Ellis) Hart became owner of the house. She sold the property to a buyer who ended up transferring it to Ocean Edge, the current owner. Everett and his second wife Clara lived in his father’s house next door at 2696 Main Street. They had three children – Nancy, Carolyn and Gilbert E. Ellis, III. Gilbert III moved that house from Main Street to the corner of Ellis Landing and Main Street. This parcel is located within the Old King’s Highway Regional Historic District adopted in 1973. BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES Barnstable Patriot, April 6, 1915 Family history - Faythe Ellis, 10.18.17 www.ancestry.com - Vital records, US Census (1860, 1870, 1880, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940) Brewster Assessor sketch.