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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
69 97 0 Dennis BRE.431
Town/City: BREWSTER
Place:(neighborhood or village): Clark’s Point
Address: 30 Swift Lane
Historic Name: Rowe, William and Carrie House
Uses:Present: Residential
Original: Residential
Date of Construction: Early-20th c.
Source:Deed research
Style/Form: Craftsman Bungalow
Architect/Builder: Unknown
Exterior Material:
Foundation: Unknown
Wall/Trim: Wood shingles/ Wood
Roof: Asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
None
Major Alterations (with dates):
None on record
Condition: Good
Moved: no yes Date:
Acreage: 0.36 acres
Setting: This house is located on a bluff overlooking Cape
Cod Bay. The surrounding area is densely developed with
early-20th century and later cottages. The house is centered
on its small parcel and surrounded by lawn.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 30 SWIFT LANE
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
BRE.431
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 intact example of an early-20th century Craftsman Bungalow. The house is set on a raised foundation that is obscured
by skirtboards. The elevations are clad in wood shingles with narrow cornerboards. The roof has deeply projecting open eaves,
a character-defining feature of Bungalows. The gable roof extends more deeply on the waterfront side and incorporates a broad
open porch that is supported by paired posts with trellis. The roof is double-pitched on the south slope, reminiscent of a Gambrel
roof. A broad dormer with a shallow gable roof is centered on the north roof slope (such dormers are another common feature of
Bungalows). Fenestration includes a combination of wood and replacement 6/1 windows set in flat surrounds.
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 is a Craftsman Bungalow – a form and style of house that was popular in the United States between ca. 1905 and 1930. It
does not appear to have been built by 1910. The Barnstable County Atlas for that year shows three cottages just to the west of
this location with names that are not found in the chain of title for this property. Title can be traced back to a 1913 conveyance of
a “piece of shore land” by Benjamin Crocker of Brewster to William E. and Carrie G. Rowe of Brewster (Book 321/Page 303).
This deed and all subsequent deeds through 1960 reference land only, and it was not until a 1964 deed that reference is made
to “buildings thereon.” As noted above, however, the form and style suggest that this house was built long before the early
1960s.
William and his wife Carrie G. Rowe were living in Quincy in 1910, and he worked as a travelling salesman for a rubber
manufacturer. By 1920, they were living in a house they owned in Brewster and he was still working as a salesman. If this house
was built by the Rowe family, then it appears to have been built for their use as a summer cottage. The 1920 Census does not
list the street where they lived, but they had similar neighbors in the 1930 Census which lists the Rowes living on Main Street.
William died in 1933 and his wife died in 1945.
In 1946, his son and daughter-in-law, Gordon P. and Grace R. Rowe of Brewster sold this property to Harris E. and Dora R.
Wood of Braintree (Book 659/Page 398). Harris Wood (b. ca. 1893) worked as an insurance agent. In 1960, the property was
conveyed to Harris Everett Wood and his wife, Dora Reynolds Wood, of Old Lyme, CT (Book 1084/ Page 430). Harris died the
following year, and in 1964, Dora Wood (1892-1990) sold the property to H. Robert and Marion H. Eckhardt of Brewster (Book
1257/ Page 222). The estate of Marion Eckhardt sold the property in 2008 to an LLC based in Sturbridge, MA (Book 23189/
Page 267).
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 (1910, 1920, 1930, 1940)
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 30 SWIFT LANE
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
BRE.431
Assessor sketch.
Photo 2. View from Swift Lane, looking north.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 30 SWIFT LANE
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 3
BRE.431
1940s postcard view, 30 Swift Lane is second house from the right.