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Home My Public Portal AboutStonyBrookRd_157, BRE.428Follow 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 15-32-0 Dennis BRE.428 Town/City: BREWSTER Place:(neighborhood or village): West Brewster Address: 157 Stony Brook Road Historic Name: Sprague House Uses:Present: Residential Original: Residential Date of Construction: 1926 Source:Deed research, historic Atlas maps, physical evidence Style/Form: Colonial Revival/ Full Cape Architect/Builder: Unknown Exterior Material: Foundation: Concrete block Wall/Trim: Wood shingle/ Wood Roof: Asphalt shingles Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: None Major Alterations (with dates): Window replacement (2012) Rear addition (date unknown) Condition: Good Moved: no yes Date: Acreage: 0.93 acres Setting: This house is located on the north side of Stony Brook Road. The surrounding area has a rural character with early and later 20th century houses set on large lots, and the entrance to a mid-century subdivision across the street. The house is set well back from the street at a slight angle, and is partially obscured by a rise of land in front of the house and mature trees and plantings. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 157 STONY BROOK ROAD MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 BRE.428 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 an early-20th century, Colonial Revival-style, Full Cape. “Full Cape” is a form, not a style. The form consists of 1 ½-story, five-bay, side-gable massing with a centered entrance flanked by two evenly ranked windows on either side. This form has been employed from early Colonial settlement to the present day. This example is referred to as Colonial Revival in style not just because it was built during the period when the Colonial Revival style was popular, but because some details, most notably the entrance surround and window casings, are adapted from 19th century examples. It appears that this house rests on a slightly raised concrete block foundation. The walls are clad in wood shingles with plain cornerboards. The roof is clad in asphalt shingles and has a heavy, brick chimney centered on the roof ridge, and modern skylights on the front roof slope. The roof has a modest cornice, largely obscured by rain gutters. The lack of a more pronounced cornice is a likely indication that this house was, indeed, built in 1926 and not a 19th century example moved to this site. The centered front entrance is flanked by pilasters and a broad lintel with “1926” carved into the center (another clue). The visible windows all appear to be replacement 1/1 double-hung sash. The window surrounds on the front elevation are more elaborately designed than visible surrounds on the side elevations. The flat window casings appear to have additional molded, flared lintels which connect to the roof entablature. 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 house is located in West Brewster, on a road that was originally part of Old King’s Highway. Laid out in 1665, Old King’s Highway, also historically referred to as King’s Highway and County Road, was the region’s major east/west corridor. In Brewster, the original route followed Stony Brook Road, avoiding the wetlands and marshes associated with Quivett Creek and Stony Brook. By the mid-19th century, causeways and bridges were built across tidal and wetland areas allowing for the straightening of Old King’s Highway, including northwest of this house near the Dennis town border. Mill sites on Stony Brook became an important economic engine and led to early development in West Brewster, including extant residential resources from the 18th and 19th century along Stony Brook Road. The name “Stony Brook Road” was in use by the early-20th century. This Full Cape has an Assessor date of 1800, but it was likely built in 1926. There is no house shown in this location on the 1910 Barnstable County Atlas. It is possible that it was moved to this location; the refined door surround does suggest that it might be earlier. However, that same surround has the date “1926” carved into the lintel. This property was originally part of much larger triangular parcel of land that extended north to Rt. 6A and west along Stony Brook Road until the intersection with Rt. 6A, including Samuel R. Sears’ house at 47 Stony Brook Road (BRE.301), and land north of Rt. 6A. In 1920, Samuel R. Sears’ daughter and son-in-law, Mary and John Robbins, living in Dennis, and John’s son, Samuel Robbins, who was living in Brooklyn, NY, sold the entire parcel to Marvin and Edith B. Sprague of Wellesley, MA (Book 375/Page 208). This deed referenced one “Dwelling House, Barn and all other buildings standing thereon” – referring to the house at 47 Stony Brook Road. This is further evidence that the house at 157 Stony Brook Road had not yet been built. In 1921, the Spragues registered the land, shown as Lot A (north of Rt. 6A) and B (south of Rt. 6A) on Land Court Plan 7760-B (see attached plan). Marvin Sprague (1862-1934) married Edith Batchelor (1868-1942) in 1889 and they had two daughters, Priscilla and Sarah. Marvin Sprague worked as a trust officer. The Sprague’s sold Lot B1 (47 Stony Brook Road) in 1921, which might explain why they built this house five years later. Both daughters were living in Boston when they inherited the Brewster property, and they recorded a subdivision in 1943, with this house on Lot B2 (see attached Land Court Plan 7760-D). In 1944, Priscilla conveyed INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 157 STONY BROOK ROAD MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 2 BRE.428 Lots A1 and B2 on that plan to Sarah (Cert. of Title 7103). In 1948, Sarah was still living in Boston when she sold the two parcels to Selden F. and Gladys Wheeler of Stratford, CT (Cert. of Title 10158). In 1951, the Wheelers conveyed the property to Russell and Dorothy Smith of Brewster (Cert. of Title 13460), and in 1957, the Smiths sold the property to Thomas and Sylvia Toman, and Peter Toman (unmarried), all of Passaic, NJ (Cert. of Title 20996). In 1981, the Tomans recorded a subdivision of the land which created the current parcel (see attached Land Court Plan 7760-O). This parcel was conveyed in 1985 to Paul Berkowitz and Janet Detlefsen of Brewster, and it remains in their family. What was likely a later addition spans the rear elevation and forms an ell on the right side of the main block. BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES 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 (1920) Brewster Assessor sketch. Assessor photo (2016). 1921 Land Court Plan 7760-B. 1943 Land Court Plan 7760-D. 1981 Land Court Plan 7760-O.