Nomination for Farnum, Coronet John, House

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

FHR-8-300(11-78) United States Department of the Interior Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form See instructions in How to Complete National Register Forms Type all entries-complete applicable sections 1. Name For HCRS use only received MAR 3 1 1980 date entered MAY 7: 1980 historic Coronet John Farnum/House and/or common Same 2. Location street & number Mendon Street not for publication city, town Uxbridge vicinity of congressional district state Massachusetts 3.

Classification Category Ownership district public xbuilding(s) - private structure _both site Public Acquisition object -in process being considered code 025 county Worcester code 027 Status x _ occupied _ unoccupied _ work in progress Accessible - yes: restricted - yes: unrestricted _ no Present Use - agriculture commercial educational entertainment government industrial - military X museum -park - private residence _ religious -scientific - transportation - other: 4. Owner of Property name Town of Uxbridge street & number Town Hall, Main Street city, town Uxbridge vicinity of 5. Location of Legal Description state Massachusetts courthouse, registry of deeds, etc. Worcester County Courthouse street & number 2 Main Street city, town UxWorcester 6. Representation in Existing Surveys Inventory of the Historic title Assets of the Commonwealth has this property been determined elegible?

state Massachusetts yes x - no date 1979 federal x _state _ county _ local depository for survey records Massachusetts Historical Commission city, town Boston state Massachusetts 7. Description - excellent deteriorated Check one _ unaltered altered Check one original site moved date unexposed Describe the present and original (if known) physical appearance

Description of the property

The Cornet Farnum House is located on the west side of Mendon Street (Route 16) east of Uxbridge Center and the Mumford River. The house occupies a lot of 11,468 square feet. North, east and south of the house are residential areas, while land immediately adjoin- ing the property is used for parking for the Bernat Yarn Company. West of the house is The Farnum House is a one and one-half story timber frame structure of rectangular floor plan with a massive central chimney constructed of brick set on a stone base. The build- ing rests on a fieldstone foundation and is enclosed by a gambrel roof, which is covered with wood shingles.

The house's exterior is covered by clapboards and has plain corner- boards, boxed eaves and narrow mouldings beneath the eaves and at the verges of the gable All windows are set in unmoulded frames; first story windows have 9/9 sash, second story windows have 6/6 sash. On the lower slope of the north side of the roof is tangular hatch. SOUTH WALL: The south wall contains the house's major facade consisting of a center en- trance flanked on both sides by two windows, symmetrically placed. The entrance is framed by two narrow pilasters which project slightly from the wall and rise to the eaves. in the pilasters is a moulded surround which frames a door of four rectangular, raised panels, surmounted by two square lights of "bull's eye" glass. It is likely that this entry arrangement dates from the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century.

WEST WALL: The west wall contains one of the house's two gable ends. There are two windows at the first story and three at the second, all symmetrically arranged about the wall's center. SOUTH WALL: The south wall is the same length as the major facade; however, it is asymmetrically arranged. Moving east from its west end is a single window, a doorway with a plain surround and moulded cap (the door, itself, is identical to that of the facade), two windows closely spaced (located behind the central chimney), and a single located near the wall's west corner. EAST WALL: The east wall is nearly identical to the west end-wall, except that its three second story windows are asymmetrically placed. the two first story windows of the east wall is an historical palcque.

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

Significance Period - prehistoric 1400-1499 1500-1599 1600-1699 1700-1799 1800-1899 1900- Areas of SignificanceCheck and justify below -archeology-prehistoric community planning landscape architecture _ archeology-historic conservation law agriculture economics literature _ architecture education _ military art engineering -music commerce X exploration/settlement - philosophy communications industry xpolitics/government invention _ religion - science -sculpture social/ humanitarian theater - transportation other (specify) Specific dates c. 1710-1727 Builder

Statement of significance

/Architect unknown Statement of Significance (in one paragraph) The Cornet John Farnum House possess integrity of location, design, setting, materials and workmanship. Additionally, it has important association with the formation of Uxbridge and is a particularly well preserved example of a popular house type of the early to mid eighteenth century. Although similar buildings existed in surrounding towns, few examples of the type remain. It's most important features are its rectan- gular floor plan, central chimney, one and one-half story height and gambrel roof. It was built between 1710 when Cornet Farnum was granted 46 acres on the east side of the Mumford River and 1727 when Uxbridge's first town meeting was held there. Farnum, who was born in Andover in 1672, moved to Mendon (of which Uxbridge was originally a part) c.1701 when he was taxed sixteen shillings and five cords of wood.

He acquired the land on which the house now stands between 1701 and 1710. Upon the formation of Uxbridge in 1727, the Farnum House served as the site of the first two town meetings, on July 25 and August 25, 1727. As Uxbridge's incorporation was provisional, requiring that the inhabitants "within the space of two years erect and finish a suitable House for Public Worship and procure & settle a learned Orthodox Minister of good conversation and make provision for his comfortable support" , the first town meeting voted "to Sett ye Meeting House on ye Southside of the Drabble Tail Brook" In addition, the town meeing elected Robert Taft, Jr., Ebenezer Read, Woodland Thompson and Joseph White to be selectmen, Edmund Rawson to be town clerk and Solomon Wood to be town treasurer.

By the time of the second town meeting, the proposed meeting-house site had been found to be "inconvenient" and a new site "within the Fence of Ebenezer Read's pasture on a place which they had viewed for and judged convenient for that purpose" was selected. Later, in 1728, the town accepted Farnum's offer to use another portion of his land, near the river, as the site of the town pound. After Farnum's death (ca. 1750) the property was gradually reduced in size; nearby along the river bank a grist mill, gun factory and woolen mills were established in the nineteenth century. In 1926, the Farnum House was purchased and restored by the Uxbridge Worsted Company, which used home briefly for company employees before selling it to be used as a private house. In 1962, the property was acquired by Emile Bernat & Sons Co., which sold part of the land and the house to the Town of Uxbridge in 1968.

Under the supervision of the Uxbridge Historical Commission, the Farnum House is under- going gradual restoration and conversion to a museum. Since acquisition by the town, the house's roof and chimney have been extensively repaired, electrical wiring, heating security systems have been added and the first floor has been replastered and par- tially furnished. In 1977, the house was opened to the public in commemoration of the town's 250th anniversary. Restoration and furnishing of the house's second story is now being planned.

The rest of the file

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

Major Bibliographical References Barber, John Warner, Historical Collections of Every Town in Massachusetts. Worcester, Mass. Dort, Howland & Co., 1839 Holbs, George W. A History of Worcester County. Philadelphia. J.w. Lewis & Co., 1889. Metcalf, George. Metcalf's Annals of Mendon. 10. Geographical Data Acreage of nominated property 11,468 square feet Quadrangle name . Uxbridge UTM NOT VERIFIED ACREAGE NOTLERIFIED Quadrangle scale - 1:24000 UMT References AL119| |2|812|61110| [4|6 6|1|41410 Zone Easting Northing CLL LUILLL BLILLILLL Zone Easting -LULLILIL E GLULLILLIILII HL LLILIL LUILL Northing LLILLL LLILLL LLILL Verbal boundary description and justification Please refer to the attached map. Worcester County Registry of Deeds, Plan Book 320, plan 35. 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 Candace Jenkins, National Register Coordinator with J. Francis Cove, III Uxbridge Hist. Comm. organization Massachusetts Historical Commission date Ja nuary, 1980 street & number 294 Washington Street telephone (617) 727-8470 city or town Boston state Massachusetts 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), I hereby nominate this property for inclusion in the National Register and certify that it has been evaluated accordingtothecriteria and procedures set forthby the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service.

State Historic Preservation Officer signature atum K Weskwok title Executive Director, Massachusetts Historical Commission For HCRS use only I hereby certify that this property is included in the National Register Bua Keeper of the National Register har Dinp Attest: Patuck Andus Chter of Registration date 3/10/50 date date 5/1/80 5/6/80 GPO 938 835 FHR-8-300A (11/78) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR HERITAGE CONSERVATION AND RECREATION SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY -- NOMINATION FORM FOR HCRS USE ONLY RECEIVED MAR 3 1 1980 DATE ENTERED CONTINUATION SHEET ITEM NUMBER 8, 10 PAGE Significance Continued since the early eighteenth century, the Cornet Farnum property may contain cultural materials and features capable of adding to present knowledge of social and economic patterns and site configurations in rural regions during Boundary Justification Boundaries were selected to include only the land owned by the Town of Uxbridge and immediately surrounding the Farnum House.

The remainder of lot #47-93 is owned by the Bernat Yarn Company, and used as a parking lot. -1-90g 59 1.793g 221.0 -/0,1094 3/0.65,"3 245.c5 3.0, 23,6:60 2051 30 12.0030 13.328.4 :3/0005 3/0 5.032 C0 402r3 0.324. 240 172.04 85 0.291 73.LL8 0.99 0?54 26,027 8.6.g0 0.221. 37 Grres 8.2A 72 0SCA. 73 0.4.31 Pur: FARNUM HOUSE S POND Coio. " 2 97 10.91 2/2 13.L24. AT 48 Map +7 RECEIVED MAR 3 1 1980 NATIONAL REGISTER Cornonet John - Farnum House Mendon Street Uxbridge, Mass.

Assessor's Map #47, lot #93 (part) MAY 7 1980 Property Farsusas Corout Gobn Houss Working Number rel no 90001682 MA-Norcesten 3-31-80 1038 TECHNICAL CONTROL Photos - 2 Maps This house is eligible for architectene as a well-presewed example of eadly, 18thceut HISTORIAN vernaculas domestic aichitecture and for govt, as the site of the fist two toun meetings g ungecdentaudecn, agante lrildino in tis ao tinler camo tt uctne witt a Patrick Andrus loof. The bldg, is now owred ly the town and serves as a museum. 5/6/80 ARCHITECTURAL HISTORIAN ARCHEOLOGIST OTHER HAER Inventory Review REVIEW UNIT CHIEF BRANCH CHIEF KEEPER National Register Write-up Federal Register Entry 2.3.8| Send-back Re-submit Entered_MAY 7. 1980 United States Department of the Interior - Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service Coronet John, Farnum House Mendon Street Uxbridge, Mass. MAR 31 Worchesteo co; 1980 Brian R.

Pfeiffer 1978 Uxbridge Historical Commission Photo #1 of 2 North elevation taken from a position facing southwest MAY 7 1980 Coronet John, Farnum House Mendon Street Uxbridge, Mass. Wbuchester CMAR 3 1 1980 Brian Pfeiffer 1978 Uxbridge Historical Commission Photo #2 of2 South and East elevations taken from postion facing northwest a. MAY 7 1980 ENTRIES IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER STATE MASSACHUSETTS Date Entered MAY 7 1980 Name (Ramun, coronet Join, oue Allen, W1111am Russel1, House Location Uxbridge Worcester County Pittsfield Berkshire County Also Notified Honorable Paul Tsongas Honorable Edward M. Kennedy Honorable Joseph D. Early Honorable Silvio O. Conte (NR State Historic Preservation Officer Mrs. Patricia L.

Weslowski Executive Director, Massachusetts Historical Commission 294 Washington Street Boston, Massachusetts 02108 Byers/bjr 5/15/80 For further information, please call the National Register at (202)343-6401.