Nomination for Cutter, Ephraim, House

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

Form No. 10-300 (Rev. 10-74) PH0507881 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE 11.22 FOR NPSUSE OMPOA SA 195 IEET RECEIVED NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY -- NOMINATION FORM DATE ENTERED MAR 2 9 1978 SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN HOW TO COMPLETE NATIONAL REGISTER FORMS TYPE ALL ENTRIES -- COMPLETE APPLICABLE SECTIONS NAME HISTORIC Ephraim Cutter House AND/OR COMMON Same 2 LOCATION STREET & NUMBER 4 Water Street CITY.

TOWN Arlington NOT FOR PUBLICATION SOGRESSIONAL DISTRICT STATE _ VICINITY OF CODE 025 3 Massachusetts CLASSIFICATION COUNTY MiddLesex 89% CATEGORY _DISTRICT XBUILDING(S) _STRUCTURE SITE _OBJECT OWNERSHIP _PUBLIC PRIVATE _BOTH PUBLIC ACQUISITION _IN PROCESS _BEING CONSIDERED STATUS X OCCUPIED -UNOCCUPIED - WORK IN PROGRESS ACCESSIBLE X YES: RESTRICTED _YES: ÜNRESTRICTED _NO PRESENT USE _AGRICULTURE -_MUSEUM XCOMMERCIAL _PARK -EDUCATIONAL XPRIVATE RESIDENCE -ENTERTAINMENT _RELIGIOUS _GOVERNMENT ...-SCIENTIFIC _INDUSTRIAL _TRANSPORTATION _MILITARY _OTHER: OWNER OF PROPERTY NAME Century Publications, Inc. STREET & NUMBER 4 Water Street CIYOWN Arlington .VICINITY OF LOCATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTION STATE Massachusetts 02174 COURTHOUSE REGISTRY OF DEEDS,ETC.

Middlesex County Registry of Deeds STREET & NUMBER 208 Cambridge Street CITY, TOWN Cambridge REPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYS STATE Massachusetts 02141 toch1 TITLE Inventory of the Historic Assets of the Commonwealth DATE 1973 _FEDERAL X STATE COUNTY LOCAL DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS Massachusetts Historical Commission CITY. TOWN Boston STATE Massachusetts 02108 7 DESCRIPTION CONDITION XEXCELLENT GOOD FAIR _DETERIORATED -RUINS _UNEXPOSED CHECK ONE _UNALTERED X ALTERED CHECK ONE ORIGINAL SITE MOVED DATE 1915 DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (IF KNOWN) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

Description of the property

The Ephraim Cutter House is located at 4 Water Street in the commercial area of Arlington. The house lies directly across Massachusetts Avenue from the town library, in close proximity to the Town Hall and Post Office. The house originally sat on a 3½ acre lot facing Massachusetts Avenue. The Cutter House figured pro- minently in early views of West Cambridge (Arlington) as it was one of four buildings which served as cornerstones of the center area. Iwo of these survive. In 1915 the house was turned 90 degrees and moved back 75 feet to face Water Street, which was early known as Mill Lane. Water Street led to Ephraim Cutter's mill, the oldest watermill in the area. The now less than 4 acre of property is separated from the street by a low picket fence. The 2½ story, rectangular Federal style structure was built in 1803-04 by Ephraim Cutter.

It rests on a high stone foundation headed by a beveled wooden watertable. The house is sheathed in clapboards painted red. Cornerboards and entablature are plain. The hip roof carries two large chimneys. Fenestration is 6/6. The shouldered architraves and plain sills are painted white, as is all the trimwork. The partially exposed basement level has three light casements. The five bay wide facade faces southeast toward Water Street. The center bay open entrance porch was added c.1915 when the building was moved. Three steps lead to the six panel door flanked by sidelights and headed by a fanlight with keystone. The entrance is shielded by a molded, modillioned, open triangular pediment supported by two fluted columns. A latticed wooden rail runs from each of these columns along the sides of the porch to a fluted pilaster on either side of the door.

Two shed dormers The northeast elevation is four bays deep. The rear elevation was extended prior to 1915. The original entrance to the house is located in the original center bay of the elevation. It is a six panel H-L hinged door which retains one of the two original bull's eye glass panes. The door is flanked by fluted pilasters which give rise to the wide molded frieze and dentiled cornice. The door is headed by an 8/12 window on the second story. The one bay deep addition at the northern end has a small window on the second story and a one story, flat roofed enclosed porch on the first story. This porch has a three horizontal light window on its southeast and its northeast elevation and wraps around the corner to continue along the northern end of the northwest (rear) elevation. The northwest elevation has been much altered.

The enclosed porch from the northeast elevation has a series of four, three horizontal light windows. This porch is headed by two 1/1 windows on the projecting second story. A second center projection has a 4/4 window, a 6/6 window and a modern door on the first story and a single original 6/6 window on the second story. The third projection, located at the western end of the elevation, includes a six panel door partially below foundation level. Iwo roof dormers are connected by an extension.

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

SIGNIFICANCE PERIOD PREHISTORIC _1400-1499 _1500-1599 _1600-1699 1700-1799 X1800-1899 1900- ARCHEOLOGY-PREHISTORIC ARCHEOLOGY-HISTORIC AGRICULTURE XARCHITECTURE ART XcOMMERCE -COMMUNICATIONS AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE -- CHECK AND JUSTIFY BELOW -COMMUNITY PLANNING -LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE _CONSERVATION -LAW _ECONOMICS _LITERATURE LEDUCATION -MILITARY ENGINEERING _MUSIC X EXPLORATION/SETTLEMENT _PHILOSOPHY XINDUSTRY -POLITICS/GOVERNMENT LINVENTION _RELIGION SCIENCE _SCULPTURE -SOCIAL/HUMANITARIAN -THEATER -TRANSPORTATION _OTHER (SPECIFY) SPECIFIC DATES c. 1804 STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE BUILDER

Statement of significance

/ARCHITECT Ephraim Cutter The Ephraim Cutter House is significant for its association with the Cutter family and as one of the few houses of its period remaining in Arlington Center. In 1637 a privilege on Mill Brook was granted to Captain George Cooke by the town of Newtowne (Cambridge). This was the first watermill in Cambridge, and farmers came from distant communities to grind their corn there. In 1690 the mill site and privilege were passed on to the Cutter family who had been among the first families to acquire land in Menotomy (Arlington) and who had owned five of the six privileges on Mill Brook for many years. Eight year old Ephraim Cutter watched the British march through Menotomy on their way to Lexington on April 19, 1775. His 52 year old father, Ammi Cutter, joined the old men of Menotomy in an attack on British supply wagons that lagged behind the column of regulars.

Ephraim was the ninth of Ammi Cutter's twenty children (by three wives). In 1795 Ephraim inherited his father's grist mill and five years later built a new dam and mill below the old 17th century one. He prospered as a miller, and in 1804 built him- self the elegant house in the center of town. In an early history he was remembered as having "the best livestock, the best orchard, and the best filled barn of the neighborhood." A thrifty and public spirited man, he became the Deacon's assistant and was later elected Deacon himself, serving the First Parish Church until his death in 1841. According to a family genealogy, Ephraim Cutter never enjoyed educational advantages, but "by assiduous endeavor attained good standing among his townsmen." Said to be a man of unpretentious manners, he ascribed his success in life under God to the judicious manner of his wife, Deborah Locke.

She was "a person interesting in manners and conversation" who, despite her 300 to 400 pound weight, was "remarkably agile and her footsteps noiseless and graceful." She died in 1823. Three of Deborah and Ephraim Cutter's 14 children died in September 1802 in an epidemic of fever and dysentery that almost tripled the town's death rate that year. One son, Dr. Benjamin Cutter, founded the Middlesex County Medical Society and was a pioneer in temperance reform. His research into local genealogy and history became the basis for the first published history of Arlington, co-authored by his son William R. Cutter. Today the house is the home of the Arlington Advocate, the town's oldest newspaper, operating continuously since 1872.

The rest of the file

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

MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES Arlington Vital Records to 1850, New England Genealogical Society, Boston, 1904. Cutter, Benjamin & William R., History of the Town of Arlington, David Clapp & Son, Boston, 1880. The Ephraim Cutter House, Century Publications, Inc., Arlington, 1975. Paige, Le, History of Cambridge, Mass. 1630-1877, H.O. Houghton, Boston, 1877. Parker, Charles S., Iown of Arlington, Past and Present, C.S.

Parker & Son, Arlington, 1907 10 GEOGRAPHICAL DATA ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY less than acre UTM REFERENCES AL119/ 13/212/61610 EASTING CLI VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION u6e9r8l0/n0 NORTHING EASTING NORTHING VORTHING LULLLL LIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES STATE CODE COUNTY CODE STATE CODE COUNTY CODE 11 FORM PREPARED BY NAME / TITLE Blaine Mallory and Joseph Orfant, National Register Editor Marianne Balazs, Arlington Historical Commission ORGANIZATION Massachusetts Historical Commission October 20, 1977 STREET & NUMBER TELEPHONE 294 Washington Street NE1.

T23.2 617-727-8470 CITY OR TOWN STATE Boston Massachusetts 12 STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER CERTIFICATION THE EVALUATED SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS PROPERTY WITHIN THE STATE IS: NATIONAL_ STATE_ LOCAL 02108 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 oritera and procedures set forth ly the National Pak ele STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER SIGNATURE abuth Rud Amadon TITLE Executive Director, Mass. Historical Commission 10/31/77 FOR NPS USE ONLY | HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS PROPERTY IS INCLUDED IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER ATTEST SIETOR, OFICE OF ARCHEOLOGY AIYO KEEPER ORTHE ATIONAL REGISTER ISTORIO PREGER HON PATE Pucisyyn: DATE 3-26-78 GPO 892.453 Properey Cutter, Ephrain, Wauce Mass.

Working Number 11.22.27.1976 TECHNICAL Photos - Maps Moved in 1915 Middlesex CONTROL pl 11.28.27 HISTORIAN Local histaig shapy 2-13-18 ceupl IRCHITECTURAL HISTORIAT accept Brackan 1.11.28 ARCHEOLOGIST OTHER HAER See above despite Aulington o very caly selltemant, il has fewo historieal resounces Inventory Review REVIEW UNIT CHIEF Qocept Lebovel 3|16/78 BRANCH CHIEF KEEPER National Register Write-up Federal Register Entry 5.2.28 Send-back Re-submit Entered United States Department of the Interior National Park Service WASO No. 7 MAR 23 1978 INT: 2106- 74 Ephraim Cutter House Arlington, Massachusetts NOV 22 1977 1976 Edward Jacoby Arlington Historical Commission Town Hall, Arlington #1 e4 Southeast facade and southwest elevation.

MiddlEsEx County MAR 29 1978 Ephraim CutturHau 4 waler St.,Arlingta South East faradle APG Architectural Photography Group All reproductions of this r'hotograph must be credited To: : EDWARD JACOBY PROPERTY OF THE NATIONAL REGISTER ARL.HIST. Com Ephraim Cutter House, 4 Water Str PROPERTY OF THE NATIOR Ephraim Cutter House NOV 2219 Arlington, Massachusetts 1977 Arlington Historical Commission Town Hall, Arlington Southeast facade and northeast eleva middle sex Courty MAR 2 9 1978 Ephraim Cutter House, 4 Water St.

FROPERTY OF THE NATIONAL Ephraim Cutter House NOV 22 Arlington, Massachusetts 1977 rlington Historical Commission Town Hall, Arlington northeast and northwest elevations midlEsEx County MAK 29 1978 Ephraim Cutter House, 4 Water St1 PROPERTY OF THE NATIO Ephraim Cutter House NOV 22 Arlington, Massachusetts 1977 Arlington Historical Commission Town Hall, Arlington #4A4 Entablature over original door on northeast elevation midllesex Courty 1978 ENTRIES IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER STATE MASSACHUSETTS Date Entered MAR 29 1978 Name Cottage Farm Historic District Worcester City Hall and Common Cutter, Ephraim, House Bixby Block/Home Bank Building Dalton House Page, Nathaniel, House King Caesar House Location Brookline Norfolk County Worcester Worcester County Arlington Middlesex County Brockton Plymouth County Newburyport Essex County Bedford Middlesex County Duxbury Plymouth County Also Notified Hon, Edward W.

Brooke Hon. Edward M. Kennedy Hon. Robert F. Drinan Hon. Joseph D. Early Hon. Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr. Hon. James A. Burke Hon. Michael J. Harrington Hon. Paul Isongas Hon, Jerry E. Studds 880 Mott/js 4/6/78 State Historic Preservation Officer Mrs. Elizabeth R. Amadon Executive Director, Massachusetts Historical Commission 294 Washington Street Boston, Massachusetts 02108 PH0507881 NATIONAL REGISTER DATA SHEET ONAME as it appears on federal register: 2OTHER NAMES: 2)date of entry! 4 county code: Cutter, Ephraim, House MAR 2 9 1978 6 LOCATION street & number city / town Arlington vicinity of 17 state county 6)NPS REGION: 4 Water St. MA Middlesex NA 7 OWNER XPRIVATE COSTATE COMUNICIPAL CCOUNTY CMULTIPLECOFEDERAL(agency name) 8ADMINISTRATOR: (9) EXISTING SURVEYS CHABS CHAER 1 ONHL (10) FUNDED? OYES CONGRESS. DISTRICT 8th 12)SOURCE of NOMINATION *STATE CFEDERAL if state who prepared form?

RIETT NAL HISTORIC LANOM ACREAGE DNO 1 -LOCAL PRIVATE ORGANIZATION 1CONDITION - deteriorated Daltered Ooriginal site )features: -SUBSTANTIALLY INTACT-1 «SUBSTANTIALLY INTACT-2 Dexcellent Oruins Omoved Dgood Ounaltered SONOT INTACT-O 2 COSUBSTANTIALLY INTACT - 3 20 NOT INTACT-O 2ONOT INTACT - O Dunexposed Dfair Oreconstructed Ounknown WOUNKNOWN-4 LCUNKNOWN-5 SOUNKNOWN-6 Ounexcavated Oexcavated EO NOT APPLICABLE -7 WO NOT APPLICABLE-8 ZONOT APPLICABLE - 9 SACCESS OYES-Restricted [YES -Unrestricted - No Access O Unknown 19) ADAPTIVE USE CYES ONO SAVED? OYES IS PROPERTY A HISTORIC DISTRICT?

DyesOno EI) AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE : DENGINEERING-11 - LANDSCAPE ARCH.- 15 - POLITICS / GOVT.- 21 -RECREATION -28 @CLAIMS: explain CARCHEOLOGY - prehistoric -2 -COMMERCE - 6 first'O -ENTERTAINMENT-26 - LAW - 16 C RELIGION- 22 - SETTLEMENT-29 C ARCHEOLOGY- historic-1l - COMMUNICATIONS-7 -EXPLORATION -12 - LITERATURE - 17 - SCIENCE- 23 -URBAN PLANNING-31 'oldest' O D AGRICULTURE-3 - CONSERVATION - 8 C HEALTH -27 C MILITARY - 18 - SOCIAL/HUMANITARIAN-24 - OTHER (SPECIFY) -ARCHITECTURE-4 - ECONOMICS- 9 - INDUSTRY-13 - MUSIC - 19| - SOCIAL / CULTURAL- 30| - ART-5 - EDUCATION-10| - INVENTION -14 - PHILOSOPHY - 20| 'only' D C TRANSPORTATION -25 3functions WHEN HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT: CURRENTLY: Aarchitectural style(s): @dates of initial construction: major alterations : historic events: ETHNIC GROUP ASSOCIATION @architect: master builder: engineer: @landscape architect / garden designer: 3) interior decorator: artist: artisan: 5builder/contractor: BNAMES give role & date PERSONAL:.

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