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HomeMy Public PortalAboutLowerRd_393, BRE.93Follow 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): June 2017 Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number 49-102-0 Dennis C,G BRE.93 Town/City: BREWSTER Place:(neighborhood or village): Address: 393 Lower Road Historic Name: Baker, Franklin and Sophia House Uses:Present: Residential Original: Residential Date of Construction: ca. 1826 Source:Deed research, vital records Style/Form: Federal Architect/Builder: Unknown Exterior Material: Foundation: Granite, fieldstone Wall/Trim: Wood clapboard/ Wood Roof: Wood shingles Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Two one-story cottages, see Photos 3 and 4, built in the 1940s and late 1800s respectively. Major Alterations (with dates): 1850: Alteration, expansion 1989-1990: Main house and outbuildings renovated, original 6/6 windows moved to front and left (west) elevations where 2/1 sash were installed in 1850. Condition: Good Moved: no yes Date: Acreage: 1.53 acres Setting: This property is located on the north side of Lower Road and is bordered by Robbins Hill Road to the west. This stretch of Lower Road is sparsely developed, but there is a late-20th century subdivision to the north. The property is greatly obscured from both streets by mature privet hedges and evergreen trees. The house is set back from the street on a rise. There are two mid-20th c., one-story cottages behind the main house. There is a short driveway off of Robbins Hill Road and a long wondering drive off Lower Road. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 393 LOWER ROAD MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 C,G BRE.93 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 Federal-style house consists of a two-story, five-bay by three-bay main block with a shed roof, and a series of rear ells/additions that are not visible from the street. The house is clad in wood clapboard siding with narrow cornerboards. The shed roof of the main block is clad in wood shingles and has a projecting molded box cornice with full return across the gable ends (forming pediments). This detail is more typical of the subsequent Greek Revival-style houses and suggests that this might be a late example of the Federal style. Two tall, evenly-spaced chimneys rise from each end of the roof. The front elevation has the symmetrical array of windows and centered entrance typical of this form of Federal-style house. Fenestration consists of wood 6/6 double-hung sash set in surrounds with molded lintels and projecting sills. At least some of these windows are replacements. The 1979 Form B photo shows 2/1 windows on the first story (see Photo 2). The windows on the second story abut the roof entablature. Fenestration is also evenly-ranked on the side elevations and includes a single window set in the gable peak that is segmentally arched. This window type is another indication that this is late example of the Federal style. The front entrance has a six-panel door flanked by partial sidelights with a segmentally-arched fanlight above. Brewster Historical Commission member Jeffrey Hayes, who was involved in the 1989-1990 restoration of all three buildings, provided the following information that he learned about the buildings as a result of the restoration work: “The house was originally 1 room deep with a back kitchen addition. The house originally had a hip roof which was changed to a pitch roof when the main house was expanded. The chimneys slant diagonally aft from attic floor to emerge from the roof directly above the gable end windows in the middle of the new pitch roof. Interestingly, the older mortar on the chimneys going up the one room deep house to the attic floor did not have to be replaced during the restoration, but the newer mortar on the diagonal, from 1850, was turning to powder. I eventually had to rebuild from the attic floor to the top. 1850 appears to be the year all these changes were made.” The property includes two large, one-story buildings set next to each other behind the main house. They have an Assessor date of 1850, but the Old King’s Highway National Register District nomination dates them to the mid-20th century. One cottage has a gable-roofed form and was built in the 1940s (see Photo 3). The second cottage (see Photo 4) has a salt box roof form and was, according to Jeffrey Hayes, originally a three-bay carriage house built in the late 1800s. It should be noted that two outbuildings are shown on the 1910 Barnstable County Atlas, but the footprints are considerably smaller than the current cottages and may have been other outbuildings. 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. Lower Road was the site of residential development starting in the 18th century. Interestingly, through the 19th century, residential development occurred exclusively on the north side of the road. Many of the original parcels were quite large, some extending to the bay, and both sides of the road were used for agriculture and cranberry bogs. It was not until the early-20th century that infill residential development began, including both small and large subdivisions, but the road retains its rural character. Deed research traces ownership of this house back to Franklin and Sophia (Crosby) Baker. They married in 1826 and he was a sea captain. It is unclear how they came to own this property, the records may have been lost in the Registry fire in 1827. The house appears to be a late example of the Federal style (see Architectural Description), which indicates that it could have been built in the 1820s. They had a son, John, in 1836. In January of 1839, Sophia had a daughter, Sophia C. Baker. Sophia died INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 393 LOWER ROAD MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 2 C,G BRE.93 three days after giving birth to her daughter (and her daughter died in October). John remarried in July to Susan Crocker, but he died at sea in March of 1840. In 1848, Judah Baker, Master Mariner, serving as guardian to Franklin and Sophia Baker’s minor son, John Baker, sold the property to Thomas Crocker (Book 45/Page 84). The property was described as comprising seven acres with a dwelling house, barn and other buildings. Thomas Crocker (ca. 1812-1870) married Thankful Baker in 1836. They had five children, and Thomas worked as a carpenter (1855 State Census, 1860 US Census). Following Thomas Crocker’s death, the property appears to have passed to his youngest son, Frank B. Crocker. In 1885, he conveyed the property, and other parcels, back to his mother, Thankful Crocker (Book 169/Page 227). Thankful sold the property in 1890 to Andrew J. Rich of Brewster (Book 190/Page 418). As of 1880, Andrew Rich and his family were living in Hyde Park and he owned a restaurant. He became a farmer after moving to Brewster. He died in 1908, and in 1910, the property was conveyed to James H. and Nellie F. Day of Somerville (Book 305/Page 464). At that time, the property consisted of 2.5 acres with additional tillage across the street to the south. The Days only owned the property for two years, selling it in 1912 to Allen and Margaret (Russell) Bragg of Brewster (Book 317/Page 393). Allen Bragg also bought cranberry bogs in multiple transactions in the early-20th century. According to Census records, Allen Bragg was born in North Carolina in 1873, but by 1910 was renting a general farm in Brewster. He was listed as a steamship captain in the 1920 US Census, and then as a cranberry grower in the 1930 US Census. In 1939, Allen Bragg conveyed this property to his daughter and son-in-law, Margaret and James E. Waters, Jr. (Book 550/Page 239). They ran the property as an inn called the Cap’t Bragg House. According to an inn brochure from that time, “there are also two Guest Cottages recently built and thoroughly modern, which conform with the traditional Cape Cod architecture.” However, based on material evidence during the 1989-1990 renovation, the cottage with a salt box form, began as a three-bay carriage house, possibly from the late-1800s. They conveyed the property in 1948 to Katherine and Robert M. Van Sant of Baltimore (Book 700/Page 275). They were living in Dennis in 1958 when they sold the property to Warren R. and Hughette Somerville of Rye, NY (Book 1004/Page 340). According to the 1979 version of this Form B, the house was operated as an inn for 30-40 years and during that time, murals were painted by famed illustrator of children’s books, Maurice Sendak (painted in 1959). The Somervilles owned the property until 1973, when they sold it to Jeffrey and Regina Hayes of New York, NY (Book 1875/Page 307). The house remains in the Hayes family. This property is located within the Old King’s Highway Regional Historic District (adopted 1973) and the house, and not the cottages, is a contributing resource in the Old King’s Highway National Register District (listed 1996). 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 Email from Jeffrey Hayes, July 11, 2017 www.ancestry.com - Vital records, US Census (1860, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930), State Census (1855) Brewster Assessor sketch. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 393 LOWER ROAD MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 3 C,G BRE.93 Photo 2. 1979 Form B photograph. Photo 3. 2007 Assessor photo of west cottage. Photo 4. View of east cottage from Lower Road.