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The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.
United States Department of the Interior NATIONAL PARK SERVICE 1849 C Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20240 JUL 6 2010 Notice to file: This property has been automatically listed in the National Register of Historic Places. This is due to the fact that the publication of our Federal Register Notice: "National Register of Historic Places: Pending Nominations and Other Actions" was delayed beyond our control to the point where the mandated 15 day public comment period ended after our required 45 day time frame to act on the nomination. If the 45t day falls on a weekend or Federal holiday, the property will be automatically listed the next business day. The nomination is technically adequate and meets the National Register criteria for evaluation, and thus, automatically listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Edson H.
Beall Historian National Register of Historic Places Phone: 202-354-2255 Fax: 202-371-2229 NPSForm 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 RECEPVED2280 413 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service MAY 1 8 2010 National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NAT. R. Nri. SIC PLACES NICE This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in National Register Bulletin, How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. 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 certification comments, entries, and narrative items on continuation sheets if needed (NPS Form 10-900a). 1.
Name of Property historic name other names/site number 2. Location street & number Butters - Avery House William Butters II House 165 Chestnut Street not for publication city or town state Wilmington Massachusetts code 3. State/Federal Agency Certification MA county Middlesex code 017 J vicinity zip code 01887 As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended, I hereby certify that this - 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 does not meet the National Register Criteria.
I recommend that this property be considered significant at the following level(s) of significance: _ national & statewide Llocal Brond S won Signature of certifying official May l', 2010 Date Exec. Director, MHC, SHPO Title State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government In my opinion, the property _ meets does not meet the National Register criteria. Date State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government Signature of commenting official Title 4. Nationa/Park Service Certification I, hereby, certify that this property is: Ventered in the National Register _ determined not eligible for the National Register Ebon Beall Signature of the Keeper - determined eligible for the National Register _removed from the National Register JUL 6 2010 Date of Action 1 BUTTERS - AVERY HOUSE Name of Property 5.
Classification Ownership of Property (Check as many boxes as apply) private x _ public - Local public - State public - Federal Category of Property (Check only one box) building(s) district site structure object Name of related multiple property listing (Enter "N/A" if property is not part of a multiple property listing) First Period Buildings of Eastern Mass. TRA 6. Function or Use Historic Functions (Enter categories from instructions) DOMESTIC, single dwelling 7.
Description Architectural Classification (Enter categories from instructions) COLONIAL, Postmedieval English MID 19T CENTURY, Greek Revival Wilmington, Middlesex County, MA County and State Number of Resources within Property (Do not include previously listed resources in the count.) Contributing Noncontributing 1 0 0 0 0 1 buildings district site structure object Total Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register 0 Current Functions (Enter categories from instructions) DOMESTIC, single dwelling Materials (Enter categories from instructions) foundation: STONE walls: WOOD, shingle roof: ASPHALT other:BRICK 2 BUTTERS - AVERY HOUSE Name of Property Wilmington, Middlesex County, MA County and State Narrative Description (Describe the historic and current physical appearance of the property. Explain contributing and noncontributing resources if necessary.
Begin with a summary paragraph that briefly describes the general characteristics of the property, such as its location, setting,size, and significant features.) Summary Paragraph The Butters- Avery House is located on the west side of Chestnut Street at the intersection of Marion Street Extension in the town of Wilmington, Middlesex County, MA. The 0.56-acre property is sited on a level plain framed by low rocky hills on the north and west, and wetlands - Maple Meadow Swamp - on the south and east. Chestnut Street follows the route of a Colonial Period highway - leading north from Woburn - that likely originated as an Indian trail. Maple Meadow Brook crosses Chestnut Street south of the property and drains into the wetland of the same name; it is part of the Ipswich River watershed. When built ca.
1720, the house was part of a 100-acre homestead tract that had been granted by the Proprietors of the town of Woburn to William Butters I in ca. 1665. This parcel remained largely intact until after the Second World War when it was gradually subdivided into suburban house lots, the last stage of which occurred in 1995 with the opening of Marion Street Extension, leaving the nominated property in the midst of a late 20'-century residential enclave. The Butters-Avery House is the only historic feature on the property. The two-story, wood-frame, saltbox-type house has a steep gable roof that extends down to the first story on the rear (PHOTOS 1 - 4). It has a three-bay front façade with an entrance on the east side, a center chimney and a shed-roof wing on the west side, with a two-story façade on the front and a one-story façade on the rear.
Unpainted wood shingles cover the exterior, having been recently applied over 19"-century wood clapboards. Windows and doorways in the main section are in appropriate locations; however, historic sashes and doors have been replaced. The fenestration of the wing has been altered, as well as containing replacement doors and sash. The brick chimney is located in the rear plane of the roof and has been diminished in height so that it is no longer visible from the front of the house. The form of the house indicates its early 18'-century construction date, but the overall appearance of the exterior reflects the extensive alterations made in the mid 19t* century.
Narrative Description Conditions analyses conducted on the house prior to and after the Town of Wilmington acquired it as a historic property in 2006 documented the preservation of an early 18"-century house frame essentially intact and concealed within later exterior and interior finishes.! The framing configuration includes a jettied or overhanging second story, which is a distinctive feature of 17"-century New England domestic architecture, and its presence determines the period in which house was built (Figs.5 & 7, PHOTO 7). Alterations made to the ceiling of the principal first-floor room in 1989 exposed the summer beam that traversed that space (PHOTOS 5& 6).? According to the studies, the presence of beaded moldings, rather than chamfering, on the corners of the beams indicate that the house was constructed in the early 18th century when this mode of decoration was current.
This beading also was found on framing members in the leanto, showing it to have been a part of the original house (PHOTO 9). With the exception of the stud frame of the original first-story front wall, which was removed when the façade was pushed out 18 inches and flush with the second story façade in the mid 19" century, virtually all the posts, beams, joists, and rafters used to construct the early house are extant in their original locations, as well as, probably, floorboards that are visible in only a few instances. Feather-edged boards, dating to the initial phase of the house, were also identified but reused in different locations (PHOTOS 11& 12). One perplexing aspect of the jettied front wall is that it does not appear to have extended across the facade of the entrance lobby on the east side of the existing house (PHOTO 7).
There is evidence that indicates a large chimney once occupied the center of this eastern section and, less convincing, that the ancient framing was part of a larger two-room-plan, center-chimney house (Fig.4, PHOTO 13). (continued) 'Anne Grady, "Butters House, 165 Chestnut Street, Wilmington Massachusetts Site Report," Jan 18, 2006 and Finch & Rose, "Historic Architecture Assessment Report: The William Butters II House," December 4, 2007. Both reports were prepared for the Wilmington Historical Commission V Lanz Neoison, "Ceaihg setork Exposes Ancient Beam in Butters House," Wilmington Town Crier (1989). 3 Abbott Lowell Cummings, The Framed Houses of Massachusetts Bay, 1625-1825 (Cambridge MA: Belknap Press, 1979), 159. Thanks to Anne Grady for this citation.
3 BUTTERS - AVERY HOUSE Wilmington, Middlesex County, MA Name of Property County and State In its present configuration, the frame represents a one-room plan with leanto dwelling, which was common in Massachusetts in the 17" and early 18t centuries (PHOTOS 1 - 4). Such houses had large chimneys on an end wall with an entrance lobby in front of them. Gaps in the pattern of floor joists and a patchwork of rafters on the east end of the Butters-Avery house characterize the original chimney location (Figs. 5 & 9, PHOTO 13). It would have contained hearths in the principal rooms on the first and second floors. The chimney girt surviving on the lower level supports the summer beam bisecting the ceiling of the main room (Figs. 5 & 7, PHOTOS 5 & 6). There is no summer beam on the second story; attic joists span the entire space front to back (Fig.6).
The existence of open notches on the outside of the second-story wall girt on the east side of the house has led to speculation that the house had a second room and leanto on the east side of the removed chimney, balancing the plan in a center-chimney configuration. Documentation for this phantom half is limited and contradictory (what appears to be 18"-century wall framing and sheathing is intact on both gable ends in the attic), but sufficient to warrant further investigation. An 1846 publication contains a drawing of the house depicted as a two-story, jettied, center-chimney house with a three-bay front facade containing a center entrance flanked by single windows (Fig. 1).
Mortises visible along the bottom of the exposed inner jetty beam in the first-floor front room of the house show a single wide space between wall studs for a window on the west side of the entrance, which comports with the image. No other physical evidence has been found, but conditions of neither the building nor the site have been fully investigated. At undocumented times in the mid 19 century, the house was renovated to bring it up-to-date with the function and appearance of dwellings in the period. The front (south) façade of the house was flattened to a single plane by building out the first-story wall to the front edge of the second-story jetty (Fig. 7, PHOTOS 1 & 2).
A new entrance was installed at the east end of the façade (the architrave, door, and sidelights are late 20"*-century additions) surmounted by a window on the second story, and with two windows on each story on the west side of the façade. (The original house would have had casement windows.) New sawn-wood clapboards were added to the front façade at this time; they are extant and visible under a layer of wood shingle siding added in 1975, while an older layer of shingles is extant in the rear. The existing windows in the east and west gable ends were added in the renovation; the east gable end would have contained a chimney up to this point (PHOTOS 1 & 3). A picture window was later added to the east wall. Three windows are centered in the north façade; there are no other openings (PHOTO 4). Based on the 2007 existing conditions report, these windows are also 19"-century features.
The long, steep roof slope and large, square brick chimney are prominent features of the north side of the house. The asphalt shingle roof is associated with a much more recent age. A fieldstone basement exists under the principal room (Fig.8); other sections of the building are supported by low stone foundations. Thus, with the exception of the later -century overlays of wood-shingle siding and asphalt shingle roof and the more recent replacement sash, the exterior of the house is intact to the mid 19t -century period in which the abovementioned alterations took place. The interior floor plan was altered significantly, as were the interior finishes. Changes occurred in at least two stages. One of the first changes to have been made was moving the chimney, and this likely was done by one of the last generations of the Butters family to occupy the house.
The house would have been 100 years old, and the renovation very well could have been motivated by deteriorating conditions. The new chimney probably was built at the same time the first-story wall was moved forward to the plane of the jetty on the front façade. Under this scenario, a decrepit eastern half of a center-chimney house may have been demolished in the process. Changes to the plan were made in response to shifting the stack from the former chimney bay at the east end to the center of the house (Figs. 5 & 7). The original chimney bay was floored and converted to rooms on the first and second stories. A kitchen was created in the rear lean-to room with a hearth provided in the new chimney (Room 104, Fig. 5, PHOTO 8). Fireplaces were also installed in first-and second-story front rooms (PHOTOS 6 & 10).
Changes to existing room dimensions may have been made at this initial stage, but this probably occurred later. Further investigation is needed to determine the sequence of events. Yet, based on what can be seen, it is apparent that Alexander P. and Julia Avery, who owned the farm from 1846 to 1898, were responsible for creating the existing interior. The size of the original chimney bay room on the east side of the first floor (Room 103) [refer to floor plans at the end of the nomination for a numbered diagram] was increased by erecting a partition two feet west of the old chimney girt and within the principal front room of the house (Fig.5). Part of the room in the northeast corner of the leanto also was incorporated into this new room, with the remaining section reserved as a storeroom or closet (Room 103A).
The new chimney stack protrudes into the northwest corner of the room; a wood mantel has been attached to the wall encasing the masonry, although there was no fireplace; and the room may have been heated by a stove. Two windows were installed in the east exterior wall; a large third window has been added recently between them. (continued) BUTTERS - AVERY HOUSE Wilmington, Middlesex County, MA Name of Property County and State The entry lobby at the front of the house was extended an equal distance into the front room (Room 102). This space was also pushed out a nearly equal amount in the front (south) when the jetty was obliterated. It is conjectured that there was an open staircase on the north wall of the lobby opposite the doorway (Fig.4). This was replaced by the existing straight run of stairs when the renovations were made.
There is a closet under the stairs that is accessed from the front room. It is believed that this was the location of earlier basement stairs that descended into an excavated passageway linking to the basement, which is limited to the area beneath the principal room. The doorway at the entrance to the house is a nonhistoric Colonial Revival replacement. The original dimensions of the principal room (Room 101) were reduced by the partition encroaching about two feet from the east, and by the addition of the chimney, which took approximately five feet from the northeast corner of the room (Fig. 5, PHOTOS 5& 6). The balance of the space in the northwest corner was partitioned for a closet and a landing for the existing basement stairs, which connects to the kitchen (Room 104A).
Despite these losses, the room gained about 18 inches of depth when the space under the jetty was incorporated into the room (Fig. 7, PHOTO 5). All the current walls enclosing the room are the result of renovations, with the exception of the west exterior wall. The front (south) wall contains two windows; a third window is located under the old summer beam on the west wall. The lower portions of the summer beam, with its beaded corners, and the beam demarcating the location of the original front wall recessed under the second-story jetty have been exposed in the ceiling and are the only visible remnants of the early 18"-century framework. The east wall contains doorways to the entry (Room 102), the closet under the stairs, and the east room in the old chimney space (Room 103).
The north wall contains a fireplace and wood mantle and a doorway leading to a passageway leading to the leanto kitchen (Room 104). The closet on the west side of the chimney connects to the passageway. In the kitchen, the east end of the south wall contains a fireplace and bake oven built into the chimney constructed as part of the renovation (PHOTO 8). The original dimensions of the wide, shallow room in the leanto essentially were preserved. The enclosures on the west end of the south wall are recessed slightly south of the girt in the location of the original south wall; another closet has been added in the northwest corner (Fig. 5). Three small windows are closely spaced at the east end of the north exterior wall of the room. Their odd placement suggests that they are in locations determined by a previous room use or arrangement; one likely was a doorway.
A doorway on the east wall leads to the room constructed in the old chimney space (Room 103); there also is a doorway in the west wall that connects to a room in the ell attached to the west side of the house (Room 105). All the originally exposed floor framing in the ceiling was concealed with lath and plaster installed in the mid 1gt century in an effort to update the appearance of the interior. (The summer beam and front jetty girt in the front room were re-exposed only recently.) New flooring was also installed in the mid 19t century over pre-existing flooring or subflooring; wall-to-wall carpeting now covers the floor in the leanto kitchen. Although the early 18'*-century features of the interior have been obscured, the current interior plan and finishes are distinctive to the mid 19t*-century period of the house's history. The second story was altered in a similar fashion (Fig.6).
The stair hall was enlarged by shifting the partition of the front chamber a few feet west from its original location (Room 202). This was done to create a landing of sufficient size for the new straight run of stairs. An enclosed attic stair was built along the east wall, but this was done later. From the landing on the west side of the hall, there is a doorway on the west wall leading to the front chamber (Room 201) and a door on the north wall leading to the chamber introduced in the old chimney space (Room 203). This chamber was created with a new floor and new partition on the west side a few feet east of the original chimney girt. A window was added in the east wall to illuminate the room.
A board wall is located on the north side of the room, which may have been constructed from reused material, as there would have been no reason for a partition in this location when the chimney was there. This wall more recently has been covered with drywall. The main room on the second story, the large front chamber, was reduced a few feet in width with the erection of a stud partition on the east side, which provided additional space for the stair hall and chimney chamber (Room 201, PHOTO 10). Additional board partitions were erected on the north side of the room to encase the new chimney and block off the attic of the leanto. The boards are antique and appear to have been relocated here either at the time of the renovation or at some later stage (PHOTO 11). A bathroom and closets configured in the northwest corner of the room are still later changes.
There are two windows in the south wall where there was only one originally; the third window in the west wall may have been added as part of the renovation. A wood mantle is located on the chimney enclosure, although it has not been determined yet if the room was heated by a fireplace or stoves in this period. (continued 5 BUTTERS - AVERY HOUSE Wilmington, Middlesex County, MA Name of Property County and State Similar to what occurred in the first-floor rooms, the three finished spaces on the second story have walls and ceilings lathed and plastered in a mid-19"-century manner, with the exception of partitions along the lean-to attic at the north side of the house where vertical boards were used. An original stud wall is visible from the lean-to, which suggests that the vertical boards attached to them were added.
(A vertical board wall would have used horizontal nailers for support.) Also, the present board wall does not contain any evidence of a doorway, which would have been necessary to provide access to the attic (Room 204). There are remnants of a floor in the leanto attic that indicates that it had a function. An ell was attached to the west side of the house sometime in the 19t century; whether it was before the mid-century renovations or after has not been determined (Fig. 5). Physical evidence indicates that it was a pre-existing accessory building moved to its current position and attached to the west wall of the house. The method in which its hewn frame was tooled dates it to the late 18*h or early 19t century. It utilizes a barn framing type with horizontal nailers (instead of studs) for vertical siding.
Where it attaches to the house, original wall sheathing is exposed without nail holes for the clapboards or shingles that presently cover the house. The wing has a a two-story front façade and a shed roof descending to a one-story rear wall. A surviving angled rafter suggests that the building was a part of a larger hipped-roof structure. The utilitarian design of the building and the fact that it does not contain a fireplace indicates that it was a service ell containing a wagon house, stable, and wood house. Later in the 20" century, it was renovated to contain a kitchen (Room 105) and bathroom (Room 106), with the westernmost bay used as a garage or storage room (Room 108). The existing conditions of the Butters-Avery House are essentially intact to the mid 19" century, following renovations, probably made by both later generations of the Butters family and Alexander P.
and Julia Bailey Avery, which represent a significant architectural period in the history of the building. The ell was probably joined to the house early in the sequence of additions and alterations. The distinctive characteristics of the house have been diminished in recent years bythe superimposition of wood shingle siding, asphalt shingle roofing, and replacement sash. Although effectively concealed by the historic modernization efforts, the presence of a frame for an early Colonial Era dwelling with a jettied second story at the core of the house is noteworthy. Such a rare surviving artifact is significant and perhaps unique in the town of Wilmington. Archaeological Description While no ancient Native American sites are known on the Butters-Avery House property, it is possible that sites are present. One ancient site is located in the general area (within one mile).
That site, 19-MD-674, was located during an intensive survey for a gas pipeline immediately northwest of the Butters-Avery House, and may extend onto the nominated property. While a site examination-level survey was not completed for the site, MHC staff did issue an opinion that the site was not eligible for listing in the State and National Register of Historic Places. The site was determined to be small in size, with low artifact density. The site lacked diagnostic artifacts, features, and had questionable integrity, which limited its research value. A concentration of ancient sites is located approximately 1.5 miles northeast of the farm. Most of the latter sites are located on stream terraces bordering Maple Meadow Brook.
Environmental characteristics of the farmstead represent locational criteria (slope, soil drainage, proximity to wetlands) that are favorable for the presence of ancient sites. The house is located on a well-drained level plain within 1,000 feet of unnamed ponds and wetlands associated with the Maple Meadow Brook Drainage. The farm is located within the Ipswich River watershed. The Butters-Avery House (ca. 1720) is a First Period House, , and the potential for locating ancient Native American resources on First Period properties is high. First Period houses are often situated at locations exhibiting the same characteristics favored by Native people in selecting sites. As indicated above, these include close proximity to wetlands, preference for well-drained soils (especially on south-facing slopes), and protection from prevailing winds and storms.
In addition, the documentary record indicates that First Period houses and settlements were actually located in locales where Natives had cleared dense forests either for agricultural or settlement purposes. Given the above information, a high potential exists that an ancient Native American site is located on the Butters-Avery property and that additional (continued) 6 BUTTERS - AVERY HOUSE Wilmington, Middlesex County, MA Name of Property County and State A high potential also exists for the recovery of historic archaeological resources on the Butters property. Structural evidence of barns and outbuildings may survive on the property associated with the Butters-Avery House, as well as with the first Butters house, built ca. 1665. The first Butters house was located at what is now181 Chestnut Street, at the corner of Mill Road off the nominated property. It was demolished in ca.
1865 following a fire. Archaeological evidence of occupational-related features (trash pits, privies, wells) may survive from both the Butters house occupations. The potential for locating significant historic archaeological resources in and around First Period houses is great. First Period houses (and their associated farmstead complexes) were constructed within well-defined regional and temporal patterns. While it is beyond the scope of this nomination to examine these patterns, the archaeological record associated with the Butters-Avery House should provide the essential information for documenting them.
This can include: evidence on the construction of the house and its physical modification over time (complementing the detailed interior analysis already completed); evolution of the house as part of a farmstead complex including the location of barns, sheds, and other outbuildings as well as fences, privies, and wells; and documentation of the changing social, cultural, and economic activities conducted in and around the house(s) through the examination of midden deposits, trash features, and privies. It should be noted that in many instances, the archaeological record is the sole remaining source of information on these aspects of First Period houses and the individual(s), family, and community histories they represent. (end) BUTTERS - AVERY HOUSE Name of Property 8. Statement of Significance