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NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service 174 RECEIVED 2280 National Register of Historic Places NOV 2 0 2009 Registration Form NAT. RECISTER OF HISTORIC PLA This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties aind districts. See instructions in How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form (National Register Bulletin 16A). Complete each item by marking "x" in the appropriate box or by entering the information requested. If any item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions. Place additional entries and narrative items on continuation sheets (NPS Form 10-900a).
Use a typewriter, word processor, or computer, to complete all items. 1. Name of Property historic name Benjamin Thayer House other names/site number. 2. Location street & number. 200 Farm Street -_ not for publication city or town Blackstone - vicinity state_ Massachusetts code_MA county_Worcester _code_027 zip code 01504 3. State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1986, as amended, I hereby certify that this E nomination - request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property M meets does not meet the National Register Criteria.
I recommend that this property be considered significant - nationally [ statewide Elocally. (- See continuation sheet for additional comments.) prons" novenber 13,2009 Brona Simon, SHPO Date Signature of certifying official/Title Massachusetts Historical Commission State or Federal agency and bureau In my opinion,the property meets - does not meet the National Register criteria. (OSee continuation sheet for additional Comments.) Signature of certifying official/Title Date State or Federal agency and bureau 4. National Park Service Certification I, hereby certify that this property is: DYentered in the National Register - See continuation sheet. - determined eligible for the National Register - See continuation sheet. - determined not eligible for the National Register - removed from the National Register - other (explain):.
Date of Action 12.30.09 Benjamin Thayer House Name of Property 5. Classification Ownership of Property (Check as many boxes as apply) x private -public-local - public-State - public-Federal Worcester, MA County and State (Check only one box) x building(s) - district - Site - structure - object Number of Resources within Property (Do not include previously listed resources in the count.) Contributing 2 1 2 Noncontributing 0 1 building _sites _ structures objects Total Name of related multiple property listing (Enter "N/A" if property is not part of a multiple property listing.) N/A 6 1 Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register 6. Function or Use Historic Functions (Enter categories from instructions) DOMESTIC: single dwelling Current Functions (Enter categories from instructions) DOMESTIC: single dwelling Z.
Description Architectural Classification (Enter categories from instructions) COLONIAL: Georgian, Federal Materials (Enter categories from instructions) foundationSTONE: granite, fieldstone walls WOOD roof_ other_ ASPHALI Narrative Description (Describe the historic and current condition of the property on one or more continuation sheets.) NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7 Page 1 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Benjamin Thayer House Blackstone (Worcester), MA 7. Description The Benjamin Thayer House, located in the upper northeast quadrant of the town of Blackstone, in the southeastern part of Worcester County, MA, is situated on 9.44 acres.
Farm Street is an old road that leads northwest from Woonsocket, Rhode Island to join with Blackstone Street north of the Thayer House. It is a rural road north of Blackstone Village, and only about one-half mile west of East Blackstone Village. Blackstone is an inland town in the Blackstone Valley. It was part of Mendon, the town directly north, until 1845, when Blackstone became incorporated separately. To the west is Millville, which was part of Blackstone until 1917. Bellingham borders Blackstone on the east, and municipalities in Rhode Island - Woonsocket and North Smithfield - to the south. The Benjamin Thayer House is representative of a late 18th -century farmhouse that was adapted over the years for succeeding generations of Thayers.
The property retains architectural and historical integrity and is reflective of a period of development beginning at the time of its construction in the late 18" century and continuing to 1959, through which time the property has been in continuous use as a homestead. Several other resources on the property are contributing, including the two-car, shingled garage built in the 1950s; the large, granite stepping stones at the front and side entrances; the stone wall lining the road edge of the property; and the meadow behind the house, which is reflective of the farm's agricultural past. One noncontributing resource is the in-ground swimming pool built in the 1980s. Setting The Benjamin Thayer House is located on the southwest side of Farm Street about one-quarter mile north of Summer Street.
Hop Brook crosses Farm Street just south of the Thayer House and runs west of the rear property line through land that once was part of this farm and that remains under ownership by family members of the present owners of the Benjamin Thayer House. The Thayer House is surrounded by modern residential development, with the Hop Brook Lane Subdivision along the southern property line (once part of this parcel) and other late 20t-century dwellings north of this property. On the northeast side of Farm Street there are a few mid to late 20"-century modest residences and one historic property - the Judge Francis Thayer House (207 Farm Street - MHC #299), a ca. 1875 Italianate dwelling - all on land that once was part of the large Benjamin Thayer farm. The front yard of the Benjamin Thayer House is marked by a low stone retaining wall along the Farm Street property line.
The wall breaks for the driveway entrance along the south boundary and for a stone footpath to the front door. The path leading to the front door has lilac bushes on each side of the single step at the road edge and stepping stones of single stone slabs set into the grass leading to the front door, where there is a large granite step. A tall stand of Norway spruce trees screens properties northwest of the Benjamin Thayer House. They are arranged in two rows running from Farm Street southwesterly along the northwest property line to the rear yard of the property. The house is situated about 50 feet from the road on a grassy plateau and faces northeasterly. Two large maple shade trees are located in the front lawn: one just behind the stone wall marks the edge of the driveway on the southeast corner of the property, and the other (continued) NPS Form 10-900 (Rev.
10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7 Page2 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Benjamin Thayer House Blackstone (Worcester), MA is set back from the road, near the southeast corner of the house. A large rhododendron shrub that has grown to a height of more than one story covers the northeast corner of the house. A low picket fence with cap rail and a central gate encloses a small entrance yard across the entire façade of the main house. The rear yard contains a 1950s shingled garage with attached screened porch and an in-ground swimming pool (1980s) that is surrounded by a picket fence and accessed through gates or via the screened porch attached to the garage. An extension of the driveway passes behind the house to the garage, which is directly behind the side wing of the house.
A small well house covers the old well on the southwest corner of the house. The acreage of this parcel extends behind the house for over 1,000 feet. A wide meadow, dotted with single pine and spruce trees and a cluster of deciduous trees near the middle, stretches out behind the garage and pool. The rear of this parcel is wooded with a variety of deciduous trees. The meadow is an important component as a remnant of the agricultural past of this property. The rear property line is within the wooded area and is contiguous to open land and Hop Brook, which flows in a northwesterly direction only about 300'southwest of this property line. Benjamin Thayer House The Benjamin Thayer House consists of a five-bay, 2 ½ story, Georgian-style house with a single-story side wing on the southeast side, and a small, enclosed, rear-entrance porch.
The house rests on a fieldstone (main block) and a scored granite block (side wing) foundation, sheathed in wood clapboards and topped with an asphalt shingle roof. Straddling the ridge is a brick chimney that is slightly off center (about two feet south of the centered entrance bay). The main house is two bays deep, and the side wing is three bays with an extended rear roof slope (a shallow version of a saltbox roof) Exterior features of the main block include: 6/6 sash set in slightly projecting plain wood frames with projecting molded lintels; a boxed cornice with narrow returns in the gable ends; an enclosed (boxed) molded eave overhang with second- story windows butting up to the overhang; flat narrow and unadorned corner boards; and a water table trim board just above the stone foundation. (Photo 1) The house has four entrance doors.
The centered entrance on the façade of the main block is an eight-paneled door with raised-field panels, set into a frame of flanking pilasters. These pilasters (replaced with three short boards on each side making up the height of each pilaster) frame the door and the six-light transom over the door and have molded projecting capitals that carry a heavily molded projecting lintel (two-part graduated molding separated by a bold ovolo molding strip). The door has a large Suffolk latch and is hung by three long strap hinges (on the interior). A large granite stepping stone marks this main entrance. The rear entrance, near the northwest corner of the house, has a modern storm door with an enclosed gabled-roof, five-foot-wide entrance porch.
The side wing has two entrances as well: one in its southeast gable end facing the driveway leading from the road, and one in the rear elevation facing the driveway between the house and garage. The door in the gable end of the side wing has six raised-field panels each trimmed with molding. This late 19"h/early 20"-century Colonial Revival door is set into a plain flat frame, has a simple glass storm door covering it, and a large wide granite stepping stone in front. The one in the rear of the side wing has Colonial Revival detail, with two strings of four small lights over three long, recessed panels. It is covered with a neo-Colonial storm door that is half glazed and half wood with an X-panel hung with long strap hinges. (Photo 2) (continued) NPS Form 10-900 (Rev.
10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7 Page 3 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Benjamin Thayer House Blackstone (Worcester), MA The first-story interior plan (see attached floor plans) displays the common shallow, front stair hall in front of the chimney stack, with flanking parlors and an altered three-room space behind. There are three rear rooms. On the northwest end is a mudroom; in the middle is a long kitchen with fireplace at the rear of the central stack; and on the southeast end is an added staircase and passageway to the side wing. The walls between these three rooms across the back of the main block appear to be modern; however, evidence to where dividing walls may have been in this long space are not evident.
The side wing has one small room, accessed from the southeast parlor, and one long room, accessed from the passageway that runs along the back of this wing. Evidence in the cellar indicates that the wing is likely to have been just one small room that was enlarged at a later date. Foundation and floor joists vary under the side wing, with a full cellar under the small room and only a crawl space under the remaining part (passageway and long front-to-back family room at the end of the side wing). The second-story interior plan of the main block mirrors the first-story plan, with the shallow front stair hall, flanking chambers, and three rooms across the rear. The wall dividing the northwest and middle rooms is not coincident with the mudroom/kitchen wall; rather it is more to the south, creating a larger space in this rear southwest bed chamber than in the mudroom below.
The attic is accessed by steep stairs leading from the second-story stair hall. The space is open, with the exception of a small, built-in cedar closet in the northeast corner. Each pair of common rafters carrying the roof is joined with mortise and tenon joints that are pegged. Each pair, spaced at about three feet on center, is also braced with a one-by four-inch collar tie that is 9'8" long between the front rafter and rear rafter, set 4' 7" below the peak (rafter joint), and pegged to the rafter at each end. There are thirteen pairs of rafters, including one pair engaged at each gable end of the house; six are on the southeast side of the chimney and seven on the northwest side, accounting for the slightly off-center chimney when viewed from the road.
The chimney rises through the attic space and is splayed on its front side with dimensions of four foot square from the collar ties to the roof and 5'6" along the sides of the chimney at the attic floor accounting for the splay, which is most visible when viewed from the sides. The chimney appears to have been rebuilt from the collar ties to the peak. Sheathing boards that are laid over the rafters are parallel to the main façade, running northwest to southeast, as are attic floorboards. The cellar is an unfinished space with a foundation of large, boulder-like, whitewashed stones, much that has been reinforced with concrete. The foundation walls and the carrying beams and floor joist structure are consistent with 18th -century construction. There is a full basement under the main block and the small room of the side wing.
Under the rear and end section of the side wing, there is only a crawl space. Most post and beam members are large in dimension (from eight to twelve inches) and horizontal members are mortised. Sills are laid on top of the stone foundation. Two large binding beams extend front to back and are separated from the stone-based chimney by about eighteen inches. A similar large structural member runs longitudinally along the back of the chimney between the two end sills of the main block. The sleepers (first-floor joists) are parallel to the front sill, extending between the end sills and these binding beams, and are two and one-half by seven inches, with a one and one-half foot, on-center span between each. Under the small room of the ell, the joists or sleepers are perpendicular to the main façade and extend between the large stone foundation along (continued) NPS Form 10-900 (Rev.
10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7 Page 4 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Benjamin Thayer House Blackstone (Worcester), MA the front and back of this space. Joists in the crawl space under the ell addition (hall and end room) are perpendicular to the rear wall of the house. The base of the chimney in the cellar is stone and wide. The chimney has two large structural beams running along the front and back of the chimney and extending to the transverse binding beams noted above. These two chimney framing beams are not mortised into the binding beams; instead they help to carry the transverse binding beams and are supported by large posts, and they are whitewashed. They are curved upwards on each end, similar to the bottom of a canoe.
The cellar ceiling on three sides of the chimney base (all but front) has several boards set on an angle, extending between the stone chimney base and one of the large binding beams, each carrying the corresponding hearth above. Architectural features of the interior finish, found in each room range from paneling to hinges and latches, articulate the early design as well as the function of the ca. 1790 dwelling. Three fireplaces on the first floor and two on the second are in rooms bordering the center stack, which takes up a large volume at the core of the house. Each fireplace is relatively shallow, except the kitchen fireplace (now the dining room), which is deeper and has a crane and a separate beehive bake oven outside the main fireplace.
Plaster ceilings have been removed in all rooms, exposing joists and beams, none of which is chamfered or finished in such a way to indicate that they were exposed in the 18th and 19t century. In the front parlors, the summer beams run front to back as binding beams and are set only 18" away from the corresponding chimney girt with short joists between the two. Exposed corner posts are located in each corner of the two parlors and chambers above. Rooms have wide-board pine floors that run from front to back (perpendicular to the joists below), with the exception of the southeast parlor, which has a replaced narrow-board floor. The front stairhall entry is six and one-half feet wide by four and one-half feet deep. The wide entrance door with eight raised-field panels as described on the exterior is hung by three long strap hinges.
A six-light transom provides natural light into the stairhall. This entrance door is not centered in the stairhall, but is opposite the stairs leading to the second story at the northwest end of the entry hall. The stairs are partially enclosed with full walls, except for two short strings that have a newel post and three modestly turned balusters. The newel post at each end (first-story hall and second-story hall) has a round ball finial. Two other posts at the stair turns are square, with chamfering at the top. The walls of the first-story stair hall and the wall lining the stairs are covered with creased-molding wainscoting and plaster walls above the wainscoting. Doors between parlors and chambers and the two stair halls (up and down), as well as the doors to the attic and cellar, are four-panel Georgian doors.
The doors between the parlors and entry hall and those between the chambers and stairhall have raised-field panels on both sides. (Photo 4) Each of the doors is hung by HL hinges - most are old, but some are replaced, reproduction hinges. The doors retain their Suffolk latches, except the cellar door, which has been changed to a Victorian door knob mounted on a decorative plate. The parlors on each side of the stairhall are slightly different in size due to the off-center chimney, with the northwest parlor a foot longer than the southeast one. The northwest parlor has a shallow fireplace with tapered firebox, short crane, and brick hearth. The fireplace wall is paneled with feathered-edge pine boards. (Photo 3) The over-mantel consists of a long, raised-field panel over the firebox with a three-shelf nook flanked by raised field panels above the horizontal panel.
Above the fireplace, the ceiling has vertical sawn boards that are laid on a slant between the chimney girt and summer (continued) NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7 Page 5 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Benjamin Thayer House Blackstone (Worcester), MA beam supporting the hearth in the chamber above. The joists spanning the length of the room from the end girt to the summer have pulled away from the summer beam, exposing part of the mortise and tenon joint. This is a result of the once-crumbling foundation under the northwest end of the house. The two interior doors in the northwest parlor open into the room; they are set into slightly projecting molded frames, and are hung with HL hinges.
The door to the stairhall retains its simple Suffolk latch; the door to the kitchen (rear wall of this parlor) has a Victorian doorknob on a decorative plate. The southeast parlor retains the cooking fireplace with larger firebox than others in this house. Within the firebox is a crane, and a brick hearth lines the fireplace. To the side of the firebox is the exterior beehive bake oven with wood storage box under the bake oven. The fireplace wall has been removed, exposing the brick chimney, and the bake oven and wood box have lost their doors. The hearth under the oven and box has been changed from brick to a couple of large flagstones. Modern pine paneling has been added to three walls of the southeast parlor (dining room), and exposed posts, beams, and joists show the same configuration as those in the northwest parlor.
The rooms that run along the back of the chimney have been altered with modern-day kitchen appliances as well as window and wainscoting changes. The brick of the chimney is exposed, and the firebox opening has been filled with brick. A turn-of-the-century, wood-burning, Glenwood Home Grand cooking stove sits on a modern brick hearth in front of the fireplace. Second-story historic architectural features are limited to the stairhall, the northwest chamber, and the middle rear room. The stairhall retains raised-field panel doors (to chambers and attic) with Suffolk latches, and a newel post topped with a round ball finial at the top of the stairs, all described above. In the northwest chamber, the small, slanted firebox is elaborated with 18"-century, raised-field paneling framing the fireplace.
This over-mantel consists of four side-by-side, vertical panels over two side-by-side horizontal panels. Between the fireplace and the rear wall of the room, bookcases have been cut into the paneling. Crown molding trims the top of the walls around this room. The southeast chamber has been substantially altered with the application of modern pine paneling and removal of the fireplace wall exposing the brick of the fireplace. The middle rear room has an exposed ceiling with two-by-seven-inch joists and seven-by-seven- inch beams between every two joists. As with other ceilings, each joist shows nail holes where lath that carried a plaster ceiling was affixed. The larger beams appear to be hand hewn and the joists show vertical saw marks. Other Structures The two-car, gable-front garage, built in the 1950s, is on a slab foundation and is covered with wood shingles.
Overhead doors have a string of lights (window panes) across the top of the doors. Windows have 1/1 sash. On the north side, there is a shed-roof, screened porch attached to the garage. This was added when the in-ground swimming pool was constructed in the early 1980s, and provides access to the pool deck through the garage, which is immediately adjacent to the pool. The garage is a contributing resource and the swimming pool is noncontributing. (continued) NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7 Page 6 OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 Benjamin Thayer House Blackstone (Worcester), MA Landscape features that contribute to the architectural and historical significance of the property include the stone wall lining the frontage on Farm Street, the large granite stepping stones at the front and side entrances, and the small well house located on the southwest corner of the property. Archaeological Description While no pre Contact-period Native American sites are located on the property or in the general area (within one mile), it is possible that sites are present. Concentrations of Native American sites are known elsewhere in the region, especially in uplands bordering the Mill River floodplain approximately 1.5 miles north to northeast of the Thayer House, and to the southeast near the confluence of the Mill River and Harris Pond.
Other Native sites in the region are located along the Blackstone River and its many tributaries. Environmental characteristics of the nominated property represent locational criteria (slope, soil drainage, proximity to wetlands) that are favorable for the presence of Native sites. The Thayer House occupies a well-drained, level to moderately sloping stream terrace bordering Hop Brook, a tributary of the Mill River. The confluence of Hop Brook and the Mill River lies approximately one-half mile east of the Thayer House. The Mill River flows southerly to the Blackstone River approximately three miles south of the house. The entire town of Blackstone lies within the Blackstone River drainage.
Given the above information, the size of the property (9.44 acres), and the extent of historic-period land use, a moderate to high potential exists for locating ancient Native American resources on the property. A moderate to high potential also exists for locating historic archaeological resources on the Thayer House property, although many of those resources remain to be documented. Additional historical research, combined with archaeological survey and testing, may help locate and identify structural evidence of the barns, stables, and outbuildings that comprised the farmstead that was in continuous use from the late 18" to the mid 20th century. During the 19h century, a large barn existed on the northeast side of Farm Street. Historical and archaeological research might determine whether a second, possibly earlier, barn was also present on the same side of Farm Street as the house.
Similar research might also locate occupational-related features (trash pits, privies, wells) used during the same period of occupation and use. A small well house covers an old well at the southwest corner of the house; however, a second, possibly earlier, well may also exist. Construction features might also be present related to the initial construction of the Thayer House and later renovations. (end) Benjamin Thayer House Name of Property 8. Statement of Significance