Nomination for Martin House

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

- PH0006025 Form 10-300 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR (Rev. 6-72) NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM ISTATE: Massachusetts COUNTY: Bristol FOR NPS USE ONLY ENTRY DATE (Type all entries - complete applicable sections) LAY 2 1974 1. NAME C OMMON: Horton Farm AND/ OR HISTORIC: Martin House 2. LOCATION 948ourtsteet 3 5. 6.

(use for publication) CITY OR TOWN: Seekonk STATE Massachusetts CLASSIFICATION CATEGORY (Check One) District X Building - Site - Structure Object CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: 10th CODE COUNTY: 025 Bristol CODE 005 OWNERSHIP STATUS Public Private Both Public Acquisition: In Process Being Considered Occupied ] Unoccupied - Preservation work in progress ACCESSIBLE TO THE PUBLIC Yes: X Restricted Unrestricted No PRESENT USE (Check One or Moreas Appropriate) Agricultural Government Commercial Industrial Educational Military Entertainment Museum OWNER OF PROPERTY OWNER'S NAME: Daniel E.Horton Park Private Residence Religious Scientific - Transportation - Other (Specify) 81!19 - Comments RECEIVER MAR 2 9 1974 STREET AND NUMBER: 940 Court Street CITY OR TOWN: Seekonk LOCATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTION COURTHOUSE, REGISTRY OF DEEDS, ETC: Registry of Deeds STREET AND NUMBER: NATIONAL REGISTER STATE: Massachusetts 5,00F 1005 Court Street CITY OR TOWN: Massachusetts Bristo1 Taunton STATE Massachusetts CODE 025 REPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYS TITLE OF SURVEY: Historic American Buildings Survey DATE OF SURVEY: 1935-37 y] Federal DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS: | State - County - Local Library of Congress STREET AND NUMBER: WAY CITY OR TOWN: STATE: CODE Washington, D.C.

H13 Zn19 0309240 ,4631540 2) 309/PO 4631360 308980 4631400 309100 4631600 STATE COUNTY: ENTRY NUMBER FOR NPS USE ONLY 7. DESCRIPTION (Check One) - Deteriorated Excellent CONDITION - Good (Check One) [X Fair Ruins XI Altered - Unaltered DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (if known) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

Description of the property

- Moved - Unexposed (Check One) X Original Site The Martin House, c.1799, sits elegantly atop Chestnut Hill in Seekonk, overlooking a landscape of gently rolling farmland and the Palmer River. A fine example of an elegant Federal mansion, it is five bays wide. Originally all clapboard, it is now covered on two sides with white clap- board and on two other sides with white shingles. It is topped by a hip roof with one chimney set in from either side. The house foundation and entrance steps are granite faced with brownstone. The main frame of the house is made up of handhewn 7" x 7" pegged oak members; the 3"x4" studding is tenoned into the main frame at 20" intervals, and the bracing is morticed and tenoned into the major uprights. The house has been altered considerably on the exterior. In 1880 a covered veranda was added on the east side.

At the same time, the rear entrance with pediment and fluted pilasters was removed so that a kitchen ell could be added on the north side. The ell was designed in the Federal style with a gable roof and two dormers. It is two bays deep, three bays long, and is quoined at the corners.Also in 1880 the original six over six window sashes were changed to two over two, the shutters were removed from all but the facade, and shingle replaced clapboard on the east and north elevations. In 1957 seven original dormers and an 18' square monitor were removed fxom the roof along with the Chinese Chippendale style ballustrade. The. elegant roof entablature consists of Greek fretwork topped by shallow flared brackets and a boxed cornice. The hip roofed front entrance porch is made up of two Doric columns and fluted pilasters with Greek fretwork and dentils running along the porch cornice.

The six-panelled door is topped by a fanlight, and a handsome Palladian window is located above the porch, lighting the stairwell. All of the facade windows and the ground floor windows of the other elevations are topped by straight wooden keystoned lintels. The interior, which has remained intact, has the conventional floor plan of a central hall with eight rooms. The interior woodwork reveals superb craftsmanship. All doors are eight-panelled as are the interior shutters for all the windows. The mantelpieces, though they vary in decoration, reveal a delicate workmanship and a common elegance. Particularly noteworthy are the parlor and dining room mantels with their fluted pilas- ters, scalloped medallions, fluted and dentiled cornices, and raised panelling.

Cornice mouldings and chair-rails throughout the house are Chinese influenced, combining scroll, cross, fluted, and dentil carving. 13 1L0 RECEIVED MAR 2 9 1974 NATIONAL REGISTER M M - Z Form 10-300a (July 1969) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM STATE Uassachusetts Bristol FOR NPS USE ONLY ENTRY NUMBER MAY 2 1974 MARTIN HOUSE,SEEKONK (Continuation Sheet) (Number all entries) 6. Representation in Existing Surveys Title:Inventory of Historic Assets of the Commonwealth Level:State Depository: Massachusetts Historical Commission Street and number: 40 City: Boston State: Massachusetts Code: 025 181/191 RECEVEO MAR 2 91974 NATIONAL REGISTER 112, DATE GP0 921-724 -

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

SIGNIFICANCE PERIOD (Check One or More as Appropriate) - Pre-Columbian: 15th Century - 16th Century 17th Century SPECIFIC DATE(S) (If Applicable and Known) C1799 and 1880 AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE (Check One or More as Appropriate) Abor iginal - Education Prehistoric Engineering Historic Industry Agriculture Invention Architecture C Landscape - Art Architecture Commerce Literature Communications Military - Conservation Music 8 18th Century X) 19th Century - 20th Century Political - Religion/Phi- losophy - Science - Sculpture - Social/Human- itarian - Theater - Transportation - Urban Planning - Other (Specify) STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

Statement of significance

On the east side of Chestnut Hill, surrounded by farmland and overlooking the Palmer River, stands the magnificent home of Simeon Martin. The 1799 house is architecturally significant not only because/it is a city mansion in a rural farm setting, but because it is the only Federal mansion in Seekonk. Most of the elegant exterior woodwork and all of the interior woodwork have been preserved, and the interior cornice and chair- rail mouldings have been sited by Antoinette Downing as unique to this house. Historically, the house is significant because both Simeon Martin and his father were 'involved in state and local government, silvanus as a Rehoboth selectman and Simeon as the Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island. In 1799 Simeon Martin returned from service in the Revolutionary War and began a political career in Newport, R.I.

In the same year, he went to Rehoboth (which became Seekonk in 1812) and built his house on the family property where he had grown up. His father, Silvanus Martin, whose house was dismantled in the early 20th c., had been a gentleman farmer and se lectman of Rehoboth for twenty years. while the architect and craftsmen of the Martin House are unknown, it is likely that Simeon brought them from Newport, as the house resembles, in style and detail, many other Federal mansions in Newport. It is also unknown why Martin built such an elegant Federal mansion in the farm area of Rehoboth. Perhaps he did not anticipate a long political career in Newport, but nevertheless, Martin did spend the next seventeen years in political service in Newport, renting the house out to his brothers in the meanwhile.

During the period 1799-1819, Simeon Martin held the offices of Adjutant General and Major General of the State of Rhode Island. 1819 he served as a trustee of the corporation of Brown University. In 1808 he was elected to the Lieutenant Governorship, and he sustained this office until 1816. In 1816 he retired from the political arena and returned to the Seekonk mansion with his family. He lived as a gentleman farmer on the property until his death in 1819.

The rest of the file

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

MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES 1. Arnold, Vital Records of Rehoboth. 2.Martin,Henry I.,Geneology and History of the Martin Family of New England, 1880. 3.Registry of Deeds, Taunton, Mass. 4.Silvanus Martin's last will and testament. 10. GEOGRAPHICAL DATA LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE COORDINATES DEFINING A RECTANGLE LOCATING THE PRODERTY CORNER LATITUDE Degrees Minutes Seconds LONGITUDE Degrees Minutes Seconds LATITUDE AND LONGIT'IDE COORDINA TES DEFINING THE LENTER POINI OF A PHOPERTY OF LESS THAN TEN ACRES Degrees 41 LATITUDE Minutes 48 LONGITUDE Seconds 49% Degrees Minutes Seconds 71 ° _17' 54 NE SE SW APPROXIMATE ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY: 8.56 acres. 9 ILIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BØUNDARIES STATE: CODE COUNTY.

RECEIVED CODE STATE: CODE COUNTY: STATE: CODE COUNTY: 110 STATE: CODE COUNTY: MAR 2 9 1974 NATIONAL REGISTER Fllgiz CODE CODE CODE FORM PREPARED BY NAME AND TITLE: Mindy Arbo for Elizabeth Amadon, State Survey Director ORGANIZATION DATE Massachusetts Historical Commission STREET AND NUMBER: 40 Beacon Street CITY OR TOWN: Boston (617)727-8470 [T2. STATE LIAISON OFFICER CERTIFICATION STATE CODE Massachusetts 02108 025 NATIONAL REGISTER VERIFICATION 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 c-iteria and procedures set forth by the National Park Service.

The recommended level of significance of this nomination is: Nationa1 State - Local I hereby certify that this property is included in the Nationa1 Register. ARuorleusar Director, Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation Date 5/3/74 Name Title snzen ondrable F.X.Davoren Secretary of the Commonwealth Chairman, Massachusetts Histori- cal Commission ATTEST: Date 3/20/74 Date wmplente Keeper of T 5.1.)4 * U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1973-729-147/1442 3-1 - Z RUCTIONS PROPERTY WORKING NUMBER TECH REVIEW Nortor Farm 1 martini O STAVE Mass. 3. 29. 74.480 / PHO TOS MAPS Bristol CONTROL REVIEW 4.3 OK HISTORIAN Too bao About the dormers ETc- Accept: R. (ue 4/3/14 ARCHI TECTURAI, HISTORIAN Would like to see photos of unterior. .

ande 4/3/74 ARCHEOLOGIST REVIEW UNIT CHIEF BRANCH CHIEF ColE 4/28/74 aeccnt 4-30->4 KEEPER 510/4 National Register Write-up Federal Register entry 5/29/24 June 4 1974 Send-back Re-submit_ Entered MAY INT:1538-73 Seekonk. FORM 10-301 A (6/72) 1. NAME COMMON Horton Farm 2. LOCATION STATE Massachusetts STREET AND NUMBER 940 County Street 3. PHOTO REFERENCE PHOTO CREDIT William A. MacIntosh Jr. 4. IDENTIFICATION DESCRIBE VIEW, DIRECTION, ETC. Facade facing south UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES PROPERTY PHOTOGRAPH FORM (Type all entries - attach to or en close with photograph) AND/OR HISTORIC the Martin House COUNTY Bristol TOWN NUMERIC CODE (Assigned by NPS) MAY 2 1974 Seekonk DATE December 1, 1972 NEGATIVE FILED AT Martin House TTIBI19 RECENVED MAR 2 9 1974 NATIONAL REGIST= 940 CoonTeSt 4. Goo. Ma Lt. Burlin WA.

Mac] 12/1/72 Daniel He Sooth fi GPO PROPERTY OF THE NATIONAL REGIS Form 10-301 (July 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) 1. NAME COMMON Horton Farm 2. LOCATION STATE Massachusetts STREET AND NUMBER AND/OR HISTORIC Martin House NUMERIC CODE (Assigned by NPS) MAY 2 1974 COUNTY Bristol TOWN Seekonk 940 County Street 3. MAP REFERENCE SOURCE DATE U.S.G.S.,East Providence, Mass.-R.I. 1949 REQUIREMENTS: PROPERTY BOUNDARIES, WHERE REQUIRED, AND NORTH ARROW: SCALE 1:24,000 GLTLBLD RECENVED MAR 2 9 1974 - NATIONAL REGISTER 11111112 GPO 932-010 AULE BO CHAGIO JETA LIRATAID CHTED John F. X. Davoren Secretary of the Commonwealth The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Cfice of the Secretary Massachusetts Histonical Commission 3 Joy Sereet Boston, Mass.

02108 March 21, 1974 SpecraL Notice National Register of Historic Places Department of the Interior National Park Service 18th and C.Streets,N.W. Washington,D.C.20240 Attention: Charles Herrington, Chief of Register CERTIFIED MAIL Dear Charles: Enclosed are three National Register submissions for the following properties: 1.Seekonk,Martin House, Bristol County, 2.Medfield,First Parish Unitarian,Church,Norfolk County, 3.Milton, Holbrook House, Norfolk County. These have been declared eligible for submission by the Massachusetts Histor- ical Commission, the State Review Board, and have been signed by Secretary of the Commonwealth John F.X.Davoren,Chairman of the Massachusetts Historical Commission and designated the State Liason Officer. Please note that the properties covered by these submissions are to be included in our 1975 apportionment warrant.

Therefore, we would appreciate your pro- cessing these nominations promptly. Please let us know if any other informa- tion is needed. Sincerely, 19 Bettu Elizabeth Amadon State Survey Director Massachusetts Historical Commission 11O RECEiVED MAR NARIONAL REGISTER ERA/ma enclosures ENTRIES IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER MASSACHUSETIS STATE Date Entered MAY 2 1979 Name The Steanship NOBSKA Clapp Houses Sawyer Duilding Martin Houge King'a Chapel Burying Ground Court Square llistorie Dietrict Location Nantucket Nantucket County Boston (Dorchester) Suffolk County Boston Suffolk County Seckonk Briotol County Boston Suffolk County Springfleld Haapden County Also Notified Hon- Brooke Hon. Eavard l: loooey Hon. Gerry I. Studds los. John J. Moakley Hon. Margaret M. Heckler Hon. Edvard P. Bolaad Begional Director, North Atlantic Region (PR MMott/row 5/3/74 State Historle Pregervation Officer Bon.

Joha I.X. Davores Secretary of tha Consonvealth Chairasn, Meesacbueette Historieal Conaiasion 40 Beacon St. Bostoa, Maasachusetto 02108