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Home My Public Portal AboutMainSt_2705, BRE.33Follow 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 90-64 Dennis A, G BRE.33 Town/City: BREWSTER Place:(neighborhood or village): East Brewster Address: 2705 Main Street Historic Name: Hopkins House Uses:Present: Residential Original: Residential Date of Construction: Late-18th c. Source:Deed research Style/Form: Georgian/ Half Cape Architect/Builder: Unknown Exterior Material: Foundation: Fieldstone Wall/Trim: Wood shingles, wood clapboard/ Wood Roof: Asphalt shingles Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Side-gable barn (see Photo 4) Major Alterations (with dates): Kitchen ell (early-20th c.) Two-story rear addition (1977) Condition: Good Moved: no yes Date: Acreage: 1.57 acres Setting: This property 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. This main house is set relatively close to the street on its level parcel. A circles through the property connecting to the three outbuildings set to the rear. The main house and outbuildings are partially obscured by mature trees and plantings. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 2705 MAIN STREET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 A, G BRE.33 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. The oldest portion of this house is the Half Cape. A rear two-story ell/addition was built in a series of phases beginning with the rear kitchen ell in the early-20th century and the two-story addition in 1977. The Half Cape portion rests on a fieldstone foundation. The walls are clad in a combination of wood clapboard on the front elevation of the Half Cape and wood shingles on the remainder of the house. The roof is clad in asphalt shingles (likely wood shingles originally) and has a modest molded cornice. A parged brick chimney rises off-centered from the main roof ridge. The three-bay front elevation has the characteristic form of a Half Cape with off-centered entrance. The front entrance is the most decorative element of the house. It has a six-bay wood panel door set in a surround with flat pilasters, three narrow transom lights above the door and a heavy molded lintel with unusually sized dentils – a Georgian-style detail. According to the 1980 version of this Form B, the only original windows are the two wood 9/6 double-hung windows set in projecting frames on the front elevation. Other fenestration includes replacement wood 6/6, 2/2 and 2/1 windows. A large barn is located behind the house (see Photo 4). This barn appears to have an “English” form, meaning the barn doors are on a side elevation rather than a gable end. 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. In 1833, land that included this parcel was conveyed by Edmund (Edmond) and Martha Hopkins to Warren Nickerson, all of Brewster (Book 24/ Page 534). It is unknown if the house was in place by this time, the deed does not reference a dwelling. No prior deeds were discovered in which Edmund purchased land. The 1980 version of this Form B provides a building date of ca. 1775, and the Georgian elements described above could indicate a late-18th century construction date. A house is shown in this location on the 1880 Barnstable Atlas map with the name “W. Nickerson.” This property was part of five parcels that were conveyed in 1898 when one of the surviving heirs of Warren Nickerson, Henry H. Nickerson of Chicago, sold his interest in his father’s estate to the other surviving heirs, Franklin and Sarah E. Nickerson of Wakefield (Book 234/ Page 165). That deed describes five parcels of land, the first of which is this parcel, and references a dwelling house and other outbuildings. Warren Nickerson (1802-1872) was described as a mariner on one of the above-mentioned deeds. He married Esther Maker in 1823. By the mid-19th century, he was described as a farmer in Census records. His son Henry Nickerson (1841-1915) married Emma Cole in Brewster in 1873. He was a seaman (1870 US Census) but following his marriage to Emma, they moved to Chicago where his business was listed as brokerage in the 1900 US Census. Franklin (1832-1911) was the other son of Warren and Esther. He and his wife Sarah lived in Wakefield where he worked as a fish dealer (1880 US Census). In 1902, Franklin Nickerson conveyed the five parcels which he had purchased from his brother to Augusta F. Nelson of Brewster (Book 254/ Page 389). This property, originally 3½ acres, was individually conveyed by Augusta Nelson in 1927 to William T. and Minerva L. Halliday of Newton (Book 445/ Page 416). According to the 1980 version of this Form B, they created Halliday Acres, a group of rental cottages behind the house. They recorded a subdivision of the property in 1932 with many small lots extending to the bay (see attached plan, Plan Book 48, Page 107). They had taken out a number of mortgages and then took out a mortgage in 1934 with the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) (Book 502/ Page 505). The HOLC was created during the New Deal to refinance loans that were in default to prevent foreclosure. Unfortunately, the Hallidays lost the property to the HOLC in 1937 (Book 526/ Page 132). Four years later, the HOLC conveyed the property to Henry F. Daley and Dorothea Rowse of Brewster (Book 575/ Page 42). They recorded a subdivision of the parcel in 1965 (Plan Book 194/ Page 107) and sold this property, now its current size, to John Ventola of Chatham (Book 1892/ Page 132). This property is located within the Old King’s Highway Regional Historic District. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 2705 MAIN STREET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 2 A, G BRE.33 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 www.ancestry.com - Vital records, US Census … Brewster Assessor sketch. Photo 2. 1969 Form B photograph. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 2705 MAIN STREET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 3 A, G BRE.33 Photo 3. 1980 Form B photograph. Photo 4. View of barn, looking north. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 2705 MAIN STREET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 4 A, G BRE.33 1932 plan, Halliday Acres (Plan Book 48, Page 107).