Nomination for Crowninshield House

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

Form 10-300 (July 1969) PH0026620 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE HB Noum NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM STATE: Mass. COUNTY: Suffolk FOR NPS USE ONLY ENTRY NUMBER (Type all entries - complete applicable sections) DATE FEB 23 1972 NAME COMMON: Crowninshield House AND/ OR HISTORIC: 21131LLE RECEÎVED LOCATION SEF 8 194 STREET AND NUMBER: 164 Marlborough Street CITY OR TOWN: NATIONAL REGISTER Cong. District 8 Boston STATE 3. CODE COUNTY: Mass.

25 Suffolk CLASSIFICATION CATEGORY OWNERSHIP (Check One) District Building Site Structure Obiect Public Private Both Public Acquisition: - In Process Being Considered CODE 25 STATUS Occupied Unoccupied - Preservation work in progress ACCESSIBLE TO THE PUBLIC Yes: Restricted Unrestricted No PRESENT USE (Check One or More as Appropriate) Agricultural Government Commercial Industrial Educational Military Entertainment Museum Park Private Residence Religious Scientific Transportation - Comments - Other (Specify) OWNER OF PROPERTY OWNER'S NAME: STREeTAD Fru BEScO 163 Marlborough Street CITY OR TOWN: Boston LOCATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTION COURTHOUSE, REGISTRY OF DEEDS, ETC: Suffolk County Registry of Deeds STREET AND NUMBER: Mass. STATE: Mass. CODE 25 Suffolk Pemberton Square CITY OR TOWN: Boston STATE Mass.

CODE 25 REPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYS TITLE OF SURVEY: Inventory of the historic assets of the Commonwealth DATE OF SURVEY: 1971 Federal F State - County DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS: Massachusetts Historical Commission STREET AND NUMBER: State House CITY OR TOWN: STATE: Boston Mass. Local FEB 23 CODE 25 STATE: COUNTY: ENTRY NUMBER DATE FOR NPS USE ONLY DESCRIPTION (Check One) Deteriorated Excellent - Good Fair CONDITION (Check One) Ixl Altered some intl. Unaltered Ruins - Unexposed (Check One) - Moved* X Original Site DESCRIBE THE PRESEN AND ORIGINAL (if known) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE The Crowninshield house, designed by H.H. Richardson in 1868 and com- pleted in 1870, is located at the southwest corner of Marlborough and Dart- mouth Streets. Constructed almost entirely of red brick, the house is four stories high including a full story mansard roof.

The lintels and a water table, which caps the rusticated brick foundation, are brownstone. A low straight stairway leads up to the entrance of the house, located in a two story projection which is centered on the northwest facade. The tall front door, flanked by a pair of equally tall, narrow windows is covered by a semicircular hood of wrought iron and glass. On the second floor a pair of rectangular, double hung windows have been placed above the doorway. Each end wall of the entrance pavilion contains a double hung window at the second floor level. The pavilion projects slightly more than the width of one of these windows. The corners at the second story level are turned by spiral corbels. The parapet at the top of the pavilion is finished in an elaborate brick design with small wrought iron panels.

On the first floor of the main facade, a single narrow window has been placed to the left of the entrance pavilion, and a narrow double window to the right. This opposition of double and single windows on the first floor is the only interruption in the bilateral symmetry of the facade. At the second story level another double hung window has been placed on each side of the pavilion. A brick stringcourse between the second and third floors runs across facade and continues around the building. Set in a diamond pattern, a row of ssquare tiles below the stringcourse adds to the horizontal integrity of the building. On the third story, the architect has placed three double- hung windows, one above each of the end windows on the second story and one in line with the front door. These third story windows are of the same dimensions as those on the floor below.

Each of the windows on the third floor dictages the position of a truncated gable dormer in the mansard roof. LANHHN \ Under the eaves, a course of bricks on end, diagonally angled, continues around the building. This type of brickwork can be seen on various houses of the period on Marlborough Street, in other parts of the Back Bay and Beacon z Hill. The wall facing Dartmouth street exhibits elements that appear ten years later in the southeast facade of Trinity Rectory.Richardson creates the idiom of a large chimney face connected to the main facade by curved planes of brick. Windows in these curved planes allow the projecting chimney piece to function as a bay window. The smooth face of the chimney wall is decor- ated by bands of black brick as well as the continuous stringcourse and tiles that separate the second and third floors.

Truncated gable dormers interrupt the roof line on either side of the chimney. A third dormer is situated directly above the windows (one on each floor) on the left side of this facade and with them creates an axis that echoes the verticality of the chimney. The opposite, southwest facade is rather plain and contains a two-story bay window in place of a chimney. 1971 SEP NATIONAL REGISTEI - SICNIFICANCE PERIOD (Check One or More as Appropriate) Pre-Columbian| 15th Century 16th.

Century 17th Century L 18th Century 19th Century - 20th Century SPECIFIC DATE(S) (If Applicable and Known) 1868-1870 AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE (Check One or More as Appropriate) Abor iginal Education Prehistoric Engineering Historic Industry Agriculture Invention Architecture Landscape Art Architecture Commerce Literature Communications Militory - Conservation Music Political Religion/Phi- losophy Science Sculpture Social/Human- itarian Theater Transportation Urban Planning Other (Specify) STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

Statement of significance

The Crowninshield House (1868) was Henry Hobson Richardson's first attempt at domestic architecture and, along with Trinity Rectory, is one of the two surviving houses he designed in Boston. Richardson was the first great architect to work in a truly national idion, and his designs were international in thier influence. The primary value of the Crowninshield House lies in its availability for comparative studies of Richardson's work and the development of his unique style, known as American or Richardson Romanesque. The chimney piece on the Dartmouth Street facade was used ten years later on the Newbury Street facade of Trinity Rectory. In Sever Hall, Harvard (1878), Richardson worked with the same material, red brick, but obtained noticeably better results.

In discussing the Crowninshield House, Professor Henry Russell litchcock has said that "there is no work of Richardson's so little rewarding Ln aestaetlc satisiaction. In light of the fact that this is the first house Richardson ever designed and executèd, this criticism is understandable. One need only compare it with the Trinity Rectory of1879, the Stoughton House in Cambridge (1883), or any of his later houses to see the rapid maturing of Richardson's style. Finally, though the building is not as impressive as his later works, a study of the Crowninshield House arouses an "admiration for its originality, its relative simplicity and the handling of the bay window at the left end as an enrichment of the general mass."- Much of the interior woodwork and panel- ing exists in its original state, offering an excellent example of the interior decoration of an early Richardson house- 1.

Hitchcock, p. 82 2. Ibid, p. 82 43191938 SL 8 23S

The rest of the file

Bibliography, boundary description, and the people who prepared and reviewed the nomination.

MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES Hitchcock, Henry Russell. The Architecture of H. H. Richardson and His Times. M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, 1966. Van Rensselaer, Marianna Griswold (Mrs. Schuyler).ar Henry Hobson Richardson- Boston, 1888. Bunting, Bainbridge. Houses of Boston's Back Bay, Cambridge, 1967. 328750/ 4690800 10.

GEOGRAPHICAL DATA LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE COORDINATES DEFINING A RECTANGLE LOCATING THE PROPERTY CORNER LATITUDE Degrees Minutes Seconds LONGITUDE Degrees Minutes Seconds 0 R NW LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE COORDINATES DEFINING THE CENTER POINT OF A PROPERTY OF LESS THAN TEN ACRES LATITUDE LONGITUDE Degrees Minutes Seconds Degrees Minutes Seconds 21' 10" 71 ° 04 ' 45 " 42 NE SE " SW APPROXIMATE ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY: less than one LIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES STATE: CODE COUNTY CODE STATE: CODE STATE: CODE STATE: CODE FORM PREPARED BY NAME AND TITLE: Anne R.

Wardwell, Survey Director ORGANIZATION Massachusetts Historical Commission STREET AND NUMBER: State House CITY OR TOWN: Boston STATE LIAISON OFFICER CERTIFICALION As the designated State Liaison Officer for the Na- tional Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law 89-665), I hereby nominate this property for inclusion in the National Register and certify that it has been evaluated according to the criteria and procedures set forth by the National Park Service. The recommended level of significance of this nomination is: National State Local Name Secretary of T.XWont Commonwealth, and Chairman, Massachusetts Historical Title Commission Date July 27, 1971 COUNTY: COUNTY: COUNTY: PEG NAX ONA 00 1971 CODE CODE CODE DATE August 26, 1971 STATE CODE MaSS LATIONAL REGISTER VERIFICATION 25 I hereby certify that this property is included in the Nationa1 Register.

amert A (bunally Chief, Office of Archeoloéy and Historic Preservation Date FEB 231972 ATTEST: Date Keeper of The National Register JAN 27 1972 m INST RUC ONS F -22 Boston crowninshield House 164 Marlborough st. North (eNtraNce) facade and Enst (exterior chimney) fucude 71.439 NPS Number- 7ek.23,/912 Title:_ Craunenshield Hteuse Loc.. tuffuk County, asd Tuith and taet Yocades PROPERTY OF THE WATIONAL REGISTER Form , 10-301 (Dec. 1968) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES PROPERTY MAP FORM (Type all entries - attach to or enclose with map) STATE Mass- COUNTY Suffolk FOR NPS USE ONLY ENTRY NUMBER DATE FEB 23 1972 - NAME COMMON: Crowninshield House AND/OR HISTORIC: LOCATION STREET AND NUM BER: 164 Marlborough Street CITY OR TOWN: Boston STATE: Mass- MAP REFERENCE SOURCE: U.S.G.S. Boston, South, Mass.

SCALE: 1:24,000 DATE: 1956 REQUIREMENTS TO BE INCLUDED ON ALL MAPS 1. Property broundaries where required. 2. North arrow. 3. Latitude and longitude reference. CODE 25 COUNTY: Suffolk CODE 25 327000m E. CAMBRIDG senfet M HARVARD MAIN STITUPEe, HNOLOGY Harvard Bridge MIDDLESEX SUFFOLK CO STORROW Fens NUEA SIMMONS Back Bay COLLEGE Fine A 17 Wentworth- Institute Highi Sch SCH NEWBURYPORT 34 MI. EVERETT (CITY HALL) 3.9 MI. 5* :329 328 SOMERVTILE LL Millers Gannett Schi Donnelly Field Rizve RIDGE Ground East Cambridge s River Dam ANG EN Gas@ BROAD BROADWAY Oil CANAL. ®Gas 10 Ken da Squara Mas cospirai Hospita LONGFÉLLOW BRIDGE River Charles --RIVER Basin * MEMORIAL BEACON Back Bay 04'45" blev: BOYLSTON JRR ENTRA STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS 6768 / NE CHELSEA (CITY HALL) 1.7 MI. (BOSTON NORTH) 2'30" 332 6.6 MI.

TO U.S.11 - Charfe CAMBRICG Prag Ponc Boston Sommon Piles ast -Boston Athletic Field Charlestown Bridge Play Ground -34 SUME TUNNEL TOLL Camp US NA RES Imimigtation 27 Sta OST 40 36 1 30 23 32 29 UMME INN 150 Ch Commonwealth Pier 37 CROWNINSHIELD HOUSE (164 Marlborough Street) U. S. G. S.:: Boston, South, Mass. 1956 Scale: 1:24000 Blra 26 Dolbhi HAR Dry Doc hannel ENTRIES IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER STATE Date Entered MECOR CINISTINIS FEB 2 3 1972 Name Merrell Tavorn. Horthborough Town-Hall Pirst Beptist Church Old County Court House Trinity Rectory St.

Lnke's Episcopel Church Crominshiola House First Univezsalist Church Location South Iee Eorkshire County Northhorough Worcenter County Eoston Suffolk County Plymouth Plynouth County Ecston Suffolk Couty Laneshorough Berkshire County BOstOT Suffolk County Provincetown Darstable County Buckland Frarklin County Griswold (Hajor Joseph) Houso Also Notified Hon. Edward M. Kennedy Hon. Idward w. arooke lon. Silvio o. Conte Eon. Harolá D. Donohue Hon. Thonas P. O'leill, JI. Hon. Hastings Koith Director, Northeast Region HR NRowland: mm 2/16/72 State Liaisen Officor Hon. John F. X. Daveren Sccretery of the Conmonwealth Chairman, Hagsachusctis fistorical Corminsion orfloe of the Secrotary State Hou3e Boston, Magsechusetts 02133