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Home My Public Portal AboutStonyBrookRd_717, BRE.300Follow 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 25-29-0 Dennis BRE.C, G BRE.300 Town/City: BREWSTER Place:(neighborhood or village): West Brewster Address: 717 Stony Brook Road Historic Name: Bouchard House Uses:Present: Residential Original: Agricultural (barn) Date of Construction: 19th c barn, moved and remodeled ca. 1936Source:Deed research , oral history Style/Form: Vernacular barn Architect/Builder: Unknown Exterior Material: Foundation: Fieldstone (some cement) Wall/Trim: Wood shingles/ Wood Roof: Asphalt shingles Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: One-story cottage, Assessor date 1950 (see Photo 3) Major Alterations (with dates): None on record Condition: Good Moved: no yes Date: ca. 1936 Acreage: 4.18 acres Setting: This large parcel is located on the north side of Stony Brook Road. This stretch of Stony Brook Road is sparsely developed, with a large forested parcel across the street and land held in a conservation trust to the east. This parcel is also left largely in its natural forested state. The land slopes down from the street and then back up the former barn which is set back from the street. There is an informal lawn around the house. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 717 STONY BROOK ROAD MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 BRE.C, G BRE.300 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 property began as a barn that was moved to this location (ca. 1936). The building now consists of two gable-roofed blocks; the rear (north) block, which may have been the original barn, has a high stud wall (see Photo 2), and the front (south) block is smaller. An addition with a low-pitched shed roof extends from the west side of this smaller block. All but the west addition appear to rest on a fieldstone foundation. The southern block is located on a steeply sloping portion of the parcel and the foundation becomes fully exposed as a result. This block may be a newer building form that was built on an older foundation. The building is clad in wood shingles with plain cornerboards. The roof is clad in asphalt shingles. A very tall brick chimney rises from the south block and a shorter brick chimney rises from the west addition. Fenestration includes a large grouping of 1/1 windows with fixed sash above on the south elevation of the south block, and three 2/2 windows on the east elevation of the larger block. The main entrance appears to be off-centered on this 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. 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 property is part of the land that was the homestead of Eben F. Ryder (d. 1917). A house is shown on the 1880 and 1910 Barnstable Atlas under the name E. F. Ryder. The fate of the house is unknown. This parcel was one of a number of parcels conveyed in 1936 by Lottie K. Ryder of Brewster, Chares S. F. Ryder of Yarmouth and James F. Ryder of Dennis to Thomas Bouchard of New York, NY (Book 522/Page 55). There is no reference to dwellings or other buildings. This would confirm the statements in the 1986 version of this Form B that the Bouchards renovated this “run down” barn in the 1930s and that the barn may have been moved from across the street (likely referring to 770 Stony Brook Road, BRE.304, where the foundation of a barn still extant). Thomas Bouchard (1985-1984), a photographer of dancers and artists and a documentary film maker, died at his home in Brewster. He was born in in Jerusalem, and became an American citizen in 1942. According to his New York Times obituary, “His well-known photographic studies of Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, Charles Weidman and Hanya Holm were credited with creating a wider audience for modern dance in the 1930s. He also photographed such artists as Joan Miro, Marcel Duchamp and Chaim Soutine. He made a film about Fernand Leger and film sequences of his friend Edgard Varese, the composer.” The property passed to his daughter, Diane Bouchard (1923-2013). She was born California; and graduated from New York University in 1944. After the death of her mother, she lived with and assisted her father, first at his studio on 40th Street in New York City and later at the Chelsea Hotel. In 1974, she and her father moved permanently to Brewster. After her father's death in 1984, she worked to organize and preserve his large body of work, much of which is now in the collections of Harvard University. This property is located within the Old King’s Highway Regional Historic District (adopted 1973) and the house is a contributing resource in the Stony Brook/Factory Village National Register District (listed 2000). INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 717 STONY BROOK ROAD MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 2 BRE.C, G BRE.300 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 Mimi McConchie (oral history taken 1986) http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~hou02569 www.ancestry.com - Vital records, US Census ( ) www.nytimes.com/1984/03/10/obituaries/thomas-bouchard.html Brewster Assessor sketch. Photo 2. 2016 Assessor photo of east elevation. Photo 3. 2016 Assessor phot of cottage.