Nomination for Tolman-Gay 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 APR 2 8 1982 date entereeN | 1982 historic Tolman-Gay House and/or common same 2. Location street & number 1196 Central Avenue N/A. not for publication city, town Needham N/Avicinity of congressional district Ninth state Massachusetts 3.

Classification Category Ownership _ district - public xbuilding(s) X private structure both site Public Acquisition object pffe in process - being considered code 025 county Norfolk code 021- Status X - occupied - unoccupied _ work in progress Accessible X yes: restricted - yes: unrestricted .no Present Use - agriculture commercial educational entertainment - government - industrial _ military museum park private residence religious scientific transportation _ other: 4. Owner of Property name Philip A. and Carol H. Christophe street & number 1196 Central Avenue city, town Needham N/Avicinity of 5. Location of Legal Description state Massachusetts courthouse, registry of deeds, etc. Norfolk County Registry of Deeds street & number High Street Dedham Massachusetts city, town state 6.

Representation in Existing Surveys title Inventory of Historic Assets Of the Commonwealth, #6l date 1976 has this property been determined elegible? - - yes X no _federal x state county _ local depository for survey records Massachusetts Historical Commission city, town Boston state Massachusetts 7. Description Condition x excellent good s fair deteriorated ruins unexposed To1man-Gay House, 1196 Central Avenue, Needham Check one - unaltered X altered Check one X original site - moved date N/A Describe the present and original (if known) physical appearance

Description of the property

The Tolman-Gay House stands on 1ts original site, a high point of land on the easterly side of Central Avenue, about 3/4 of a mile south of the original town center. Surrounded by spacious lawns, gardens and shade trees, it is part of a residential neighborhood which has grown up around it within this century. Now expanded, it was constructed in 1743 as a two story, wood frame dwelling with an L-shaped plan. It had a three bay facade (west) and a rear kitchen ell (northwest). The original fieldstone foundation remaining under this portion, measures 25' on the west by 30' on the north (see sketch). It is believed that this house was enclosed by inter- secting gable roofs with a single chimey (which remains today) rising from the intersection.

Today, the Tolman-Gay House retains much of its original interior and exterior building fabric; the primary alteration to the structure has been the extension of the rear ell by two bays sometime atter construction, and by a porch and garage, c. 1930. In addition, its gable roofs have been replaced by hip roots. The three bay facade (west) contains windows in the two northerly bays and the entry in the south bay; windows are located above all three openings at the second story. These windows, along with the rest in the original house, measure 27 1/2" X 45"' and consist of 6/6 double hung sash with simple frames. The two stories are separated by a slight overhang. The north elevation consists of two parts: the westerly end dating trom 1/43, and the easterly end from 1930. The westerly end is enclosed by a hip roof and exhibits a slight overhang separating the stories.

Four windows are located on each floor level: proceeding from the west, one pair lights the original parlor; one pair lights the omhar ting dhe kitchen ell and lines up with the end of the original fieldstone foundation; two pairs light the first extension of the ell. The easterly end consists of a recessed section containing an entry and a window, and a garage containing double overhead doors and paired, flat roof dormers. (see continuation sheet) NPS Form 10-900-a (7-81) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form Continuation sheet Tolman-Gay House Item number 7 EXP. 12/31/84 For NPS use only received date entered Page 1 Similarly, the south elevation can be considered in two parts. The original west end con- tains a single window at each story and 1s divided by a slight overhang.

The ell contains three windows at the second story and a single window at the first story; the others are obscured by a shed roof porch tucked into the corner of the original house, c. 1930. The east addition contains two windows (west) and a blank wall which is the rear of the garage; its roof includes shed roof dormers. The rear (east) elevation is the side wall of the garage, and includes four windows at the first story and two at the second story. The interior of the house retains much of its simple eighteenth century appearance. Parlor fittings include a fireplace wall (east) with raised field paneling and a molded cornice, panelled wainscotting with plaster above on the exterior north and west walls, and vertical sheathing on the interior south wall. The kitchen ell retains its large cooking fireplace with bake ovens.

Both rooms reveal cased structural members.The front chamber is finished with vertical sheathing on its inner walls and a simple chair rail on the outer wall.

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

Significance Period prehistoric 1400-1499 1500-1599 1600-1699 X 1700-1799 1800-1899 1900- Areas of Significance - Check and justify below - archeology-prehistoric community planning -archeology-historic conservation agriculture economics X architecture education art engineering commerce X. exploration/settlement communications industry invention Specific dates 1743 Statement of Significance

Statement of significance

(in one paragraph) Builder/Architect _ landscape architecture law literature X military music philosophy -politics/government - religion science sculpture social/ humanitarian theater transportation other (specify) Nathaniel Tolman The Tolman-Gay House possess integrity of location, design, materials and workmanship as well as associations with the development of Needham since the mid-eighteenth century. It 15 Important because of its location near the original town center, because its primary occupants, the Tolmans and the Gays, were active in the military and governmental affairs of the town, and because it retains its original design features which reflect its long history. Thus the Tolman-Gay House meets criteria A, B and C of the National Register of Historic Places.

provision: ana the chimney under the same, with the liberty to pass and repass from said east end the barn easterly of the floorway, viz. -the northwardly half with a common use of the floorway and convenient yard room by said barn with liberty to pass and repass from said barn to the same." The barn is long gone, but the division of the house can The name of John Tolman first appears in town records as one of the builders of the Second Meeting House in 1774, where he is identified as a "housewright" or carpenter. It is unknown if Nathaniel was also a carpenter. On the morning of April 19, 1775, at the age of eighteen, John Tolman marched with the East Militia Company of Needham to the Lexington Alarm.

On the afternoon of that day he received a musket ball in the chest at Menotomy, now Arlington, Massachusetts, where the Needham company were harassing the British troops in their retreat from Lexington and Concord. One of his companions on that day was Jonathan Gay, whose son Jonathan Gay, Jr. was to be the third owner of the house. John Iolman apparently recovered quickly from his wound because he was present at the siege of Boston in October, 1775. His name also appears on the muster roll of the East Militia of January, 1776. In June of 1776 he signed up for six month's service in the "York" campaign, which ended with surrender of Burgoyne in October of that year. (see continuation sheet) ACREAGE NOT VERIFIED LMENOL VERD 9. Major Bib iographical References Clarke, George K. History of Needham, Mass.

Boston, 1911 Jones, Frederic 01d Houses in Needham, Needham, 1953 Files at the Needham Historical Society 10.

The rest of the file

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

Geographical Data Acreage of nominated property 37,250 sq. ft. Quadrangle name Natick Quadrangle scale UMT References *L19 3|A/3710/ 1410/813/81710/ Zone Easting Northing Easting 1:25,000 LLILLL Northing HLILL E G F HL LUL LLL Verbal boundary description and justification Parcel One Westerly, by Central Avenue by a curved line measuring 165.5 ft. more or less N. Westerly, by the curved junction of said Central Avenue and Gay Street 36.14 ft. more or less. (continued) List all states and counties for properties overlapping state or county boundaries state N/A code county code state code county code 11. Form Prepared By name/title Candace Jenkins, Registration Director with the Needham Historical Commission organization Massachusetts Historical Commission street & number 294 Washington St. date February, 1982 (617) telephone 727-8470 city or town Boston state Massachusetts 12.

State Historic Preservation Officer Certification The evaluated significance of this property within the state is: 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 according to the criteria and procedures set forth by the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service.

State Historic Preservation Officer signature atune ZWeslki Executive Director, Massachusetts Historical Conmission date 4/21/82 title For HCRS use only I hereby certify that this property is included in the National Register delore Entered in the faredapor of the National Hegister yeu National Regiater Attest: Chief of Registration date 6/1/82 date GPO 938 835 NPS Form 10-900-a (7-81) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form EXP. 12/31/84 For NPS use only received date entered Continuation sheet Tolman-Gay House Item number 8 Page 1 He was paid a bounty "for Ticonderoga"' but he was apparently ordered back to Boston before the final battle of that campaign at Saratoga, because in October, 1776, he is listed as a sergeant at Roxbury.

He returned to Needham in 1778, to marry Elizabeth Fisher, but tradition has it that he thereafter returned to active duty and served for the rest of the war. When he finally returned home, he and his wife occupied the whole house, because his mother had remarried in 1777, and the property had been rented in the interval. He continued to serve in the militia, and he was commissioned as a captain in 1801. He was called up during the War of 1812, but the company did not leave Needham, and he was finally detached from service in 1814. By 1783 he was again engaged at his trade; town records from 1783 to 1801 show a series of payments made to him for building coffins. Probably as a result of this work he served as sexton of the town's burying-ground from 1801-1804. He was also becoming involved in other town affairs.

He was first elected as an assessor in 1797, and in 1801 he was agent of the town during the controversy over the division of the town, and he wrote the petition to the legislature which protested the division. This controversy dragged on until 1881, when the West Parish of Needham broke away and became the Town of Wellesley. In 1804 John Tolman sold his property in Needham and moved to Vermont, where he died in 1835. In or about 1906 one of his descendants removed the bodies of John Tolman and his wife from Vermont and reinterred them in the Tolman family plot in the Needham Cemetery. When he left for Vermont in 1804, John Tolman sold his house and land, which then consisted of thirty acres, to Jonathan Gay, Jr. the son of his old comrade-in-arms, Jonathan Gay, Sr. They had served together, not only in the early days of the war, but also in the "York" campaign.

The Gays were an old family in Needham. Jonathan's ancestor, Samuel Gay, became a landowner in 1683, three years after the purchase of the land of the town from the Indians. in ieteh tho foratha Jonathan Gay, Jr. was a schoolmaster in the town from 1803 to 1823. In 1914 he was elected as a representative to the General Court. Jonathan Gay, Jr. and his descendants owned and occupied the house from 1804 until 1923, when it was finally sold out of the family. In recent years, much of the original thirty acres on which the house stood has been sold and subdivided, and the names of the streets in the subdivision bear the family names of descendants of Jonathan Gay, Jr.: Brackett Street, Gay Street and Smith Street. There is also Tolman Street, and a small pond called McIntosh Pond, which bears the name of another descendant of Jonathan Gay, Jr.

Since 1923, the house has had a succession of private owners who have maintained it well and preserved its historic character. Owners of the house since 1967 are Mr. and Mrs. Philip A. Christophe. NPS Form10-900-a (7-81) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form Tolman-Gay House Continuation sheet EXP. 1:51:04 For NPS use only received date entered Item number 10 (Verbal Boundary Page Description) Northerly, by said Gay Street 21 ft. more or less Easterly, by Lot #4, 81.69 ft. on the plan hereinafter mentioned 56.07 ft. Northerly, again by said Lot #4, 81.69 ft. Easterly, again by said Lot #4, 22.80 ft. Northerly, again by said Lot #4, 58.59 ft. Easterly, again by land of Richard W. and Elaine M. Casavant and by land of William and Doris B. Hutcheson as shown on said plan 10 8.49 ft.

Southerly, by lot 3A, as shown on said plan, 166.36 ft., more or less, Containing 24,964 sq. ft. of land. Parcel Two Westerly, by Central Avenue, 80 ft. Northerly, by Lot 5A as shown in the plan hereafter mentioned, 166 ft. more or less Easterly, by land of William and Doris B. Hutcheson and land of Edward and Catherine M. Hall, as shown on said plan, 148.83 ft. Containing 12,286 sq. ft. of land A. I GARAGE - 1- c.1430 NEW KITCHEN ORIGINAL SIDE VIEW NORTH SIDE OLD KITCHEN PORSH NORTH SIDE 30' IST FLOOR PARLOR LLae C. 1743 WEST ORIGINAL FRONT VIEW WEST FRONT FACADE 25' TOLMAN - GAY HOUSE C.

1743 NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION / RETURN SHEET Property:Islman- GaV tsuse State, County: MA, Nar fo/k Federal Agency: resubmission nomination by person or local government owner objection appeal Substantive Review: Reviewer's comments: United States Department of the Interier National Park Service Working No. 428/42-1272 Fed. Reg. Date:FEB Date Due: $/22/82 6/12/82 Enteret C4iotte ACCEPT- 6/1/82 National Register__ RETURN_ - REJECT - photos_ maps - _sample - request - appeal - NR decision Recom. /Criteria - Reviewer_ Discipline- Date - see continuation sheet omination returned for: -technical corrections cited below _substantive reasons discussed below 1. Name 2. Location 3. Classification Pomeredelg rosont Uee 4. Owner of Property 5. Location of Legal Description 6. Representation in Existing Surveys hes thle property been determined 7.

Description Cieel deteriorato rulee Checks or marad and eriginat (if luneum) pingaleat eppearenes summary paragraph completeness clarity alterations/integrity dates boundary selection 8. Significanco Perted poslfle dateo enê et o f om ad pootify bale summary paragraph completeness clarity applicable criteria justification of areas checked relating significance to the resource context relationship of integrity to significance justification of excepticn other 9. Major Bibliographical References 10. Geographical Data oge of nominated property - auadrangle neme _ UNIT Roference Forbel bouadery ad justifleatier 11. Form Prepared By 12. State Historic Preservation Officer Certification The ev ed eignificance of thie property within the stete is: Rational local Aate Htetoric Preservetten Offcer etgneture 13.

Other Maps Photographs Other Questions concerning this nomination may be directed to. Signed. Date_ Phone: 202 272 - 35 Comments for any Item may be continued on an attached sheet R8-7-80 NEEDHAM HISTORICAL COMMISSION Town Hall Needham, MA 02192 Tolman-Gay House Photo No.l North Elevation 1196 CENTRAL AVE 2 JO I # 0704d 086T KENNETH C. WATSON 142 H.LLCREST RD. NEEDHAM, MA 02192 Tolman-Gay House Needham, Mass. Kenneth Watson 142 Hillcrest Road IISSION 1980 Photo #2 of 2 Sourth elevation House Photo No. 2 South Elevation NoGAwM 3 HIaNNaX -8 =-8Y Tolman-Gay House Needham- Positive REGAIVED APR12 1982 MAG3. HIST. COMM. 1196 Central Avenue Needham, Massachusetts April 11, 1982 Ms. Patricia L. Weslowski Executive Director Massachusetts Historical Commission 294 Washington Street Boston, Massachusetts 02108 Dear Ms.

Weslowski: Thank you for your letter notifying us of the consideration of the Tolman-Gay house for nomination to the National Begister of Historic Places. We heartily endorse the nomination. Built in 1743 this house remained within the original fawily descendants until the early part of this century. It has retained to this day a structure and finishing which are fine examples of early American, New England construction. It is worthy of your nomination and continued preservation. Sincerely, dulgllungts Philip A. and Carol H. Christophe Carse N. Christashe MOLOLOS MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS Office of the Secretary of State 294 Washington Street Boston, Massachusetts 02108 617-727-8470 MICHAEL JOSEPH CONNOLLY Secretary of State April 22, 1982 Ms.

Carol Shull, Acting Keeper National Register of Historic Places National Park Service Department of the Interior Washington, D.C. 20243 Dear Ms. Shull: Enclosed you will find the following nomination forms: Boston - Adams Nervine Asylum (state) Boyalston - Keyes - Dakin House (local) Grafton - Willard House and Clock Museum (state) Hatfield - The Old Mill Site Historical District (local) Holden - Rogers House (local) Needham - Tolman - Gay House (local) Newton - Slade - Hovey House (local) owner objects Sturbridge - Oliver Wight House (state) Upton - Knowlton Hat Factory (local) Weston - Isaac Hobbs House (local) RECEIVED APR 2 8 1982 NATIONAL REGSTER All have been voted eligible by the State Review Board and have been signed by the State Historic Preservation Officer.

Owners were notified of pending State Review Board consideration 30-75 days before the meeting and were afforded the opportunity to comment. Comments received to date are attached to the nomination forms. Sincerely, Candace fenkins Candace Jenkins Registrati on Director Massachusetts Historical Commission CJ/amf 82004419 MAYT MAY-* NAT BEC RECEIVED 2284 The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Massachusetts Historical Commission RECEIVED 2280 MAY - 9 2005 NAT. REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES NATIONAL PARK SERVICE May 3, 2005 Ms. Carol Shull National Register of Historic Places Department of the Interior National Park Service 1201 Eye Street, NW 8" floor Washington, DC 20005 RE: Tolman-Gay House, Needham (Norfolk County), MA Dear Ms.

Shull: It has recently come to our attention that the UTM reference for the Tolman-Gay House, Needham, Massachusetts, listed in the National Register in 1982, is incorrect. The correct UTM reference is: 19 314397 4683113. A corrected USGS map with the property location noted is enclosed. Thank you. Sincerely, Betey Freedherg Betsy Friedberg National Register Director Massachusetts Historical Commission enclosure 220 Morrissey Boulevard.

Boston, Massachusetts 02125 (617) 727-8470 - Fax: (617) 727-5128 www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc NEE.95 Tolman-Gay House - Needham, Massachusetts NES NEE.65 CNEE.46 Newman Jr High Sch (IUHEE BM 47.9 Radio Towejs * 4(WHDH)+ 55.0 Abrap PO NET 3 ANEE/NEESI NEL4 BM4 ARKED MARKED 2 High Rock Sch UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET REQUESTED ACTION: ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTATION PROPERTY NAME: Tolman-Gay House MULTIPLE NAME: STATE & COUNTY: MASSACHUSETTS, Norfolk DATE RECEIVED: 5/09/05 DATE OF 16TH DAY: DATE OF WEEKLY LIST: DATE OF PENDING LIST: DATE OF 45TH DAY: 6/22/05 REFERENCE NUMBER: 82004419 NOMINATOR: STATE REASONS FOR REVIEW: APPEAL: OTHER: N REQUEST: N DATA PROBLEM: N LANDSCAPE: N LESS THAN 50 YEARS:N PDIL: SAMPLE: N PERIOD: N PROGRAM UNAPPROVED: N N SLR DRAFT: N NATIONAL: N COMMENT WAIVER: N LACCEPT RETURN REJECT 6/22 DATE ABSTRACT/SUMMARY COMMENTS: searauual Dosumentation Aosspted RECOM./CRITERIA REVIEWER TELEPHONE - DISCIPLINE DATE DOCUMENTATION see attached comments Y/N see attached SLR Y/N If a nomination is returned to the nominating authority, the nomination is no longer under consideration by the NPS.