Nomination for Thoreau-Alcott House

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

Form No.10-300 (Rev.

10-74) (H0355127 DATA SHEET UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE FOR NPS USE ONLY FEB 24 1976 RECEIVED NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY --NOMINATION FORM DATE ENTERED JUL 12 1976 2 3 SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN HOW TO COMPLETE NATIONAL REGISTER FORMS TYPE ALL ENTRIES -- COMPLETE APPLICABLE SECTIONS NAME HISTORIC ** Thoreau-Alcott House AND/OR COMMON same LOCATION STREET & NUMBER 255 Main Street CITY, TOWN Concord _NOT FOR PUBLICATION CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 5th STATE Massachusetts VICINITY OF CODE 025 COUNTY Middlesex CODE 017 CLASSIFICATION CATEGORY DISTRICT XBUILDING(S) _STRUCTURE SITE OBJECT OWNERSHIP PUBLIC X PRIVATE -BOTH PUBLIC ACQUISITION LIN PROCESS BEING CONSIDERED STATUS x _OCCUPIED _UNOCCUPIED -WORK IN PROGRESS ACCESSIBLE - YES: RESTRICTED _ YES: UNRESTRICTED _NO PRESENT USE AGRICULTURE 2MUSEUM _COMMERCIAL _PARK EDUCATIONAL X PRIVATE RESIDENCE _ENTERTAINMENT _RELIGIOUS _GOVERNMENT -_SCIENTIFIC INDUSTRIAL -TRANSPORTATION _MILITARY CLOTHER: OWNER OF PROPERTY NAME Dr.

and Mrs. Paul Rich Dinsmore STREET & NUMBER 255 Main Street CITY.TOWN Concord STATEMassachusetts 01742 - VICINITY OF LOCATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTION COURTHOUSE. REGISTRY OF DEEDS,ETC. Middlesex County Registry of Deeds STREET & NUMBER CITY TOWN Cambridge STATE Massachusetts REPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYS TITLE Inventory of the Historic Assets of the Commonwealth DATE 1968 _FEDERAL X STATE _COUNTY_LOCAL DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS Massachusetts Historical Commission CITY. TOWN Boston STATE Massachusetts 7 DESCRIPTION CONDITION EXCELLENT X__GOOD _FAIR _DETERIORATED RUINS _UNEXPOSED CHECK ONE -UNALTERED X ALTERED CHECK ONE X ORIGINAL SITE _MOVED DATE. DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (IF KNOWN) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

Description of the property

The Thoreau-Alcott House, set back 20 feet from Main Street, is situated facing north on a 3/4 acre plot. It is in a residential area but is set off from the surrounding houses by large trees, and is protected from the street by a six foot hemlock hedge. The oldest part of the house was built c. 1820 by Josiah Davis, a prominent Concord builder. This section consisted of a three bay by three bay, almost square two story clapboard structure, with two inside chimneys and four rooms on each floor. The cellar, which has not been altered, was unfinished with a foundation of giant fieldstones. The front rooms were used as reception rooms, and a kitchen, with a separate doorway, was located to the rear on the east side of the house. Each of the eight rooms had a fireplace, five of which are still in working condition. The house was altered in 1849 when the Thoreaus acquired the property.

John Thoreau and his son Henry David completely renovated and refurbished the structure, adding long side lights at the entrance and a pedimented portico supported by Doric columns over the front door; building an elegant mahogany railing for the main staircase; and constructing a two story wing to the south, with an attached shed to accomodate their pensil factory. A door on the north elevation of this wing led directly outside, and an outside staircase on the east side led upstairs. The south wing was built with a fieldstone foundation and had a finished basement. Further alterations occurred when the house was sold in 1877 to Anna Alcott Pratt. In order to accomodate Mrs. Pratt, her children, her father and mother (Bronson Alcott and "Marmee") and her sister Louisa May, an addition was built to the west of the original portion of the house.

This two story addition contained a library on the first floor, and a bedroom with an arched cathedral ceiling on the second floor. The west wing is the only part of the house without a full cellax, but it does have a crawl space to make the foundations accessible: A doorway led from the western end of the library outside to a balustraded porch which wrapped around to extend along the south wall of the addition. A columned portico with a shed roof covered the doorway, but the rest of the porch was open. The attic of the original house was converted into four bedrooms and the second floor of the 1849 wing into a bedroom and storage space at the same time that the west wing was built. The house has been virtually unaltered since the 1880's. The two wings look now as they did when first built, except for the staircase on the outside of the south wing which has been removed.

The portico built by the Thoreaus is still extant, as is the lovely porch on the west wing built by Iouisa May Alcott. The major present alteration is the paint color. Painted yellow when the Thoreaus owned it, the house is now painted white, with black louvered shutters. The windows are all 6/6 sash, except for two floor length 6/9 windows on the first floor of the north facade of the original house, and a 6/9 window in the back. Most of the glass is original, except for a few panes which have had to be replaced over the years.

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

SIGNIFICANCE PERIOD PREHISTORIC 1400-1499 _1500-1599 1600-1699 .1700-1799 X 1800-1899 1900- ARCHEOLUGY-PREHISTORIC ARCHEOLOGY-HISTORIC AGRICULTURE ARCHITECTURE ART _COMMERCE _COMMUNICATIONS AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE -- CHECK AND JUSTIFY BELOW -COMMUNITY PLANNING -LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE -CONSERVATION LLAW -ECONOMICS X_LITERATURE -_EDUCATION -MILITARY -ENGINEERING MUSIC LEXPLORATION/SETTLEMENT X_PHILOSOPHY _INDUSTRY _POLITICS/GOVERNMENT _INVENTION _RELIGION _SCIENCE SCULPTURE X SOCIAL/HUMANITARIAN THEATER TRANSPORTATION -OTHER(SPECIFY) SPECIFIC DATES c.1820; 1849; 1877 STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

Statement of significance

BUILDER/ARCHITECT Josiah Davis The Thoreau-Alcott House is an extremely significant house in Concord, a town which abounds in significant buildings, structuxes and sites. This house, which has been very little altered since the late nineteenth century, was the home of Henry David Thoreau during his most productive years, and was closely associated with Louisa May Alcott during the period in her life when she had finally achieved recognition and financial success. John Thoreau moved his family into the house in 1849, when his pencil-making business was successful enough for him to afford a large house. This house gave the family four bedrooms, a large kitchen, two parlours and a reception room, and was certainly the grandest they had lived in. Henry David Thoreau, 32 years old when they moved, took over the attic on the third floor.

He set up his cot and simple furnishings on the east side, built bookshelves along the low walls and set aside areas for his collections of arrowheads, birds eggs and wild flowers. The south wing, added when the Thoreaus moved in, was built to house the family pencil business. Both Henry David and his sister Sophia worked in the 'factory' and were the only business employees who were allowed to complete the manufacturing process and package the pencils. The pencils, which were completed with a secret process in the privacy of the second floor of the wing, were the best on the market, and sold for 25 cents each in Boston. Artists and draftsmen considered these pen- cils to be the finest available, and paid the exorbitant price, so the demand was great enough to, keep the Thoreau family very comfortably.

Over the years, however, other manufacturers started making inroads on the Thoreau monopoly and business declined. This left Henry David with more time on his hands, which allowed him to pursue the activities which really interested him. He was a man of many talents. He had an abiding love for and curiosity about natuxe, and spent a great deal of time tramping in the woods around Concord, gathering specimens for his collections. He had a garden at the back of the house, filled with flowers and vegetables, and gave festive melon parties, popular with friends and neighbors during the summers. He was a surveyor of note, and many of the property lines in Concord were drawn by Thoreau. He was also a carpenter, a mason, a teacher, a naturalist, a philosopher and an author.

He wrote many works while living in this house, including Walden and Cape Cod, and published numerous articles in the leading magazines and news- papers of the day, including the Atlantic Monthly, Putnam's Magazine and the Liberator. He lectured widely, in nearby communities as well as in Philadelphia, very, and welcomed prominent abolitionists, including John Brown, in the Thoreau (continued)

The rest of the file

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

MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES Cheney, ed., Life, Letters and Journals, Louisa May Alcott, 1889 Fenn, Mary R., Old Houses of Concord, 1975 French, Allen, Old Concord, 1919 Meltzer and Harding, A Thoreau Profile, 1962 Torrey and Allen, ed., The Journals of Henry David Thoreau, 10 GEOGRAPHICAL DATA ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY UTM REFERENCES A1,9/ 1310,610,8,0 ZONE EASTING C VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION 3/4 acre 14,710,311,5,01 NORTHING BL1 EASTNG LIlILLL NORTHING LLILL LIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES STATE CODE COUNTY CODE STATE CODE COUNTY CODE FORM PREPARED BY NAME /TITLE Christine Boulding, Assistant Survey Director, and Mrs.

Paul Dinsmore ORGANIZATION DATE Massachusetts Historical Commission February 11, 1976 STREET & NUMBER TELEPHONE 294 Washington Street 617-727-8470 CITY OR TOWN STATE Boston Massachusetts 02108 12 STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER CERTIFICATION THE EVALUATED SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS PROPERTY WITHIN THE STATE IS NATIONAL STATE-_ LOCAL- As the designated State Historic Preservation Officer for the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law 89-665), 1 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.

STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER SIGNATURE TITLE Egabed Rus Amadon Executive Director, Massachusetts Historical Commission 2/17/76 FOR NPS USE ONLY | HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS PROPERTY IS UNCLUD THE NATIONAL REGISTER QLLSTRECTOR, 9FFIC OF ARCHEGTOGIAND IKEEPER OF THE NATIONAL REGISTER RBR f WEM 7/8/76 DATE DATE 3/12/76 6-5-20 GPO 888-445 Form No. 10-300a (Hev. 10-74) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY -- NOMINATION FORM FOR NPS USE ONLY FEB 24 1976 RECEIVED DATE ENTERED JUL 12 1976 CONTINUATION SHEET ITEM NUMBER 8 PAGE 2 #8: home. Soon after Brown's memorable visit in 1857 Thoreau wrote his well known tributes to this activist.

In 1861 Thoreau accompanied Horace Mann to Minnesota on a lecture tour, but the exertion of the trip served to accelerate Thoreau's tuberculin condition and he had to return home, to spend the last two years of his life an invalid. Thoreau's room was moved downstairs to the front parlor, and his couch was set close to the window so he could see the changing seasons. His friends and neighbors kept him company and continued the philosophical discussions which had been such an important part of his life. Shortly before Thoreau died a visitor asked if Thoreau could visualize his approaching death and his now famous reply was "one world at a time." Thoreau died on May 6, 1862, in the front parlor of this house, two months before his 45th birthday. The house was kept by Henry David's mother and sister until 1877 when it was sold to the Alcott family for $4,500.

Louisa May Alcott, who by this time had achieved financial success through her writing, paid most of the cost of the house, but she maintained her official residence in Boston, and only came out to the house for visits. Bronson Alcott, "Marmee" who was seriously ill at the time, the widowed Ann Alcott Pratt (Meg in Little Women) and her two sons all moved into the spacious and comfortable house. This was the first time that the Alcott family had been financially secure, largely through Louisa May's substantial literary fame, so the house has especially significant associations with the family. Louisa May, in addition to making most of the original house payments, paid for the addition of the two story west wing.

The library on the first floor of this wing, with its separate door to the outside, was used by the members of the School of Philosophy when they met with its founder Bronson Alcott in the very beginnings of its organ- izations. The house was inherited by Anna Pratt's sons, passed to their sons, and finally to Louisa Alcott Pratt Kussin in the early years of this century. It then passed out of the Alcott-Pratt family, and was owned by Donald Forte and Judge Herbert Wilkins before the present owners acquired the property. The house had been well maintained through the years and has retained a strong sense of the associations that make the building so significant. State roperty Tharem - Alctt Hause Working Number 2,24.76.2592 Mass TECHNICAL Photos Maps Note National Significance: Middlesex CONTROL OK 3.9.76 HISTORIAN Accept E.

smith =24-16 ARCHITECTURAL HISTORIAN Aocapt uicole 2126.7 RCHFOLOGIST OTHER HAER Inventory - Review REVIEW UNIT CHIEF KCOlL 6-16.76 BRANCH CHIEF KEEPER Hunte JUL 12 1976 Entered INT:2106-74 National Register Write-up Federal Register Entry -3-76 Send-back Re-submit United States Department of the Interior National Park Service WASO No. 7 TH2 THORIAU. ALCOT HOUSZ 2SS MAN ST. COnCORD, MA. EAST - NORTH PACADES SPRING - 1ATS NPS Number 2/12/26 Title: Thoreau - Alcott None middlesef Co., ma. Ioc. nord frade and east blevatin PROPERTY OF THE NATIONAL REGISTER Form No. 10-301a (Pev.

10-74) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES PROPERTY PHOTOGRAPH FORM FOR NPS USE ONLY FEB 24 1976 RECEIVED JUL 12 1976 DATE ENTERED SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN HOW TO COMPLETE NATIONAL REGISTER FORMS TYPE ALL ENTRIES ENCLOSE WITH PHOTOGRAPH 1 NAME HISTORIC AND/OR COMMON Thoreau-Alcott House same 2 3 4 LOCATION CITY. TOWN Concord _VICINITY OF PHOTO REFERENCE PHOTO CREDIT Caroline C. Dinsmore NEGATIVE FILED AT 255 Main Street, Concord, MA IDENTIFICATION DESCRIBE VIEW. DIRECTION, ETC. IF DISTRICT. GIVE BUILDING NAME & STREET north facade and east elevation COUNTY Middlesex STATE MA DATE OF PHOTO 1975 PHOTO NO. 1 Form No. 10-301 (Rev.

10-74) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES PROPERTY MAP FORM FOR NPS USE ONLY FEB 24 1976 RECEIVED JUL 18 1976 DATE ENTERED SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN HOW TO COMPLETE NATIONAL REGISTER FORMS TYPE ALL ENTRIES - ENCLOSE WITH MAP 1 NAME HISTORIC AND/OR COMMON Thoreau-Alcott House same 2 3 LOCATION CITY. TOWN Concord VICINITY OF MAP REFERENCE SOURCE U.S.G.S., Concord, Mass quadrangle SCALE 1:24,000 DATE 1970 REQUIREMENTS TO BE INCLUDED ON ALL MAPS 1. PROPERTY BOUNDARIES 2. NORTH ARROW 3. UTM REFERENCES COUNTY Middlesex STATE MA INT: 3464 - 75 ENTRIES IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER STATE Date Entered MASSACHUSETTS JUL 12 1976 Name Location Thoreau-Alcott House Telegraph H11l Concord Middlesex County Hu11 Plymouth County Also Notified Hon. Edward M. Kennedy Hon. Edward W. Brooke Hon. Paul Isongas Hon. Gerry E.

Studds Regional Director, North Atlantie Region PR MMott/Iow 7/16/76 State Hiatoric Preservation Officer Mrs. Elizabeth R. Amadon Executive Director Massachusetts Historical Conmission 294 Washington Street Boston, Massachusetts 02108 INT: 2950-75 B'NATIONAL REGISTER DATA SHEET )NAME as it appears on deral register: 2 OTHER NAMES: B date of entry: 4) county code: Thoreau-Alcott House -12-71 LOCATION street & number wity/ town vicinity of tate 017 county 8NPS REGION 255 Main St. Concord MA Middlesex No. Atlantic OWNER APRIVATESTATE -MUNICIPAL -COUNTY 1 WMULTiPLE -FEDERAL (agency name) 8ADMINISTRATOR: 9 EXISTING SURVEYS CHABS CHAER OONHL 10 FUNDED? OYES 11)CONGRESS. DISTRICT 5 12)SOURCE of NOMINATION -STATE CFEDERAL if state who prepared form?

WITHIN MATIONAL REGISTER HISTORNC BISTRIETI HISTORIC LANDMARK1 ACREAGE BYESMAME B YES OLOCAL OPRIVATE ORGANIZATION 16 CONDITION - deteriorated Daltered Doriginal site 17) features: OSUBSTANTIALLY INTACT-1 «OSUBSTANTIALLY INTACT-2 Dexcellent Oruins 2OSUBSTANTIALLY INTACT - 3 Ogood Qunaltered Omoved QONOT INTACT-O 9D NOT INTACT-O Dunexposed Oreconstructed Ounknown OUNKNOWN-4 OUNKNOWN-5 2ONOT INTACT - O Ounexcavated 50 UNKNOWN-6 Dfair Dexeav atedi Z0 NOT APPLICABLE -7 EO NOT APPLICABLE-8 ZONOT APPLICABLE - 9 BACCESS OYES-Restricted DYES - Unrestri * No Access - Unknown 19 ADAPTIVE USE OYES XINO SAVED?

DYES IS PROPERTY A HISTORIC DISTRICT?O yes "1 AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE : DENGINEERING-11 LANDSCAPE ARCH.- 15 -POLITICS / GOVT.* 21 CRECREATION -28 @CLAIMS: explain -ARCHEOLOGY - prehistoric-2 -COMMERCE-6 -ENTERTAINMENT-26 - LAW-16 - RELIGION- 22 "first' O DSETTLEMENT-29 - ARCHEOLOGY-historic-1 - COMMUNICATIONS-7 -EXPLORATION -12 ASLITERATUR - SCIENCE- 23 -URBAN PLANNING-31 'oldest' O D AGRICULTURE -3 - CONSERVATION - 8 - HEALTH -27 C MILITARY- 18 - SOCIAL/HUMANITARIAN-24 DOTHER (SPECIFY) MCARCHITECTURE.

- ECONOMICS-9 XINDUSTRY- 13 - MUSIC - 19 - SOCIAL / CULTURAL - 30 -ART-5 - EDUCATION-10 - INVENTION- - PHILOSOPHK - 20 - TRANSPORTATION - 25 'only' D 3 functions WHEN HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT: HOUSE, FACTORY CURRENTLY: HOUSE architectural style(s): GREEK RENIVAL ©landscape architect / garden designer: i interior decorator: dates of initial constructoon: major alterations: 184 historic events: c.1820 E8T7 ETHNIC GROUP ASSOCIATION @architeet: a master builder: @engineer: artist: ®artisan: builder/contractor: Josiah Davis -NAMES give role & date Josiah Davis, builder, prominent in Concord PERSONAL: Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), naturalist, essayist("Civil Disobedience,"1849), lecturer and author (including Walden, 1854). Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888), author of Little Women (1869).

Amos Bronson Alcott (1799-1888), philosopher and educator, organized df the Transcendental Club (1836) with Ralph INSTITUTIONÁ: Wal do Emerson and George Ripley, estabiished short-1jved Fruitlands commune (1844) neax Harvard, MAZ NATIONAL REGISTER WRITE-UP FRAME, CLAPBOARDING; 2-and 22-STORY SECTIONS, MODIKIED LÉSHAPKD, GABLED ROOR SECTONS, INTEMOR CHMNKYS, FROMT CENTER IENTRANCE WITH SIDELIGHTS, I-StORY GABUED DISTlc PORTICO, Side tABAAAch AiD ENTRANCE VIESTEULK; ALTERATIONS . Greek Revival. Home of Henry David Thoreau, 1849-1862, when he ygote waldert and Cape Codi yJs pencil making businesg, purchased in 1877 from Thoreau's femily by Louisa May Alcott, auuthoz of Lilflätkomt and her widowed sister, Ann Pratt, as a residence for their parentso Bronson end "Marmee" Aleett, and the Pratt femily. initials. fT 9Ndaro 1/1/18'-13.78 IF ADDITIONAL SPACE NEEDED, NUMBER & PUT ON REVERSE