BlockThe nomination, in full
Bibliography, boundary description, and the people who prepared and reviewed the nomination.
FORM B - BUILDING MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Office of the Secretary, State House, Boston - - 2. In Area no. Old Camb. 1 1. Town Cambridge Address_ 6 Appleton Street Name Howe House Present use residential Form no. OC IIB24 Photo (3x3" or 3x5") Staple to left side of form Photo number 100,9-31 - - 4. Map. Draw sketch of building location in relation to nearest cross streets and other buildings. Indicate north. HIGHLAND E= ...1 -9-03 _BRATTLE ASSESSOR #223-17 Present owner Jonathan R. & Barbara Beckwit. 3. Description: 8Appleton st. Date 1887 Source_ deed records Style Queen Anne/Shingie Architect_Cabot and Chandler Exterior wall fabric wood Outbuildings (describe) =---- Other features Queen Anne features in wood shingle; gambre] ro0f, elongate hip dormer combined with chinne! Altered No Moved Ne Date_- Date_-- 5.
Lot size: One acre or less Over one acre XX Approximate frontage 90 Feet Approximate distance of building from street 30 feet 6. Recorded by_Bainbridge Bunting Organization Cambridge Historical Com Date 1964 UTM- LEXINETON 19/324330/4693720 30M-5-77 7. Original owner (if known)_ Mrs.. Esteshove Original use residential Subsequent uses (if any) and dates_ _same 8. Themes (check as many as applicable) Aboriginal Agricuitural Architectural The Arts Commerce Communication Community development Conservation Education Exploration/ settlement Industry Military Political Recreation Religion Science/ invention Social/ humanitarian Transportation 9. Historical significance (include explanation of themes checked above) This Queen Anne/Shingle Style house was the home from 1889-1963 of Lois Lilley Howe, America's first woman architect. Howe was an early practitioner of the Colonial Revival Styie.
The building is marked by a broad overhang above the first floor and a symmetrical facade. NOy 086 10. Bibliography and/or references (such as local histories, deeds, assessor's records, early maps, etc.) SdN Substantive Review NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION / RETURN SHEET Howe House (Cambridge Multiple) Property: Resource area State, County: MA- Middlesex Federal Agency: (34 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service Working No. 11-14-80-2862 Fed. Reg. Date: Date Due: 4-17-82 Action: - ACCEPT - resubmission LRETURN_ 4.13.82 nomination by person or local government - REJECT_ owner objection appeal photos_ maps - Substantive Review: _ sample - request - appeal - NR decision Reviewer's comments: Please discuso the significaace o Hais particula, house. venerally, a significant arcvte dt particulas dsiçn er cuiedeng qnesigtio egeuis oves caver, ete.
and wry her apsociations with Recom. /Criteria Keturn his house mane it eligivle. Reviewer vatuck Anduus Discipline Historlan Bravaam Date - 4-5-82 _ see continuation sheet - technical corrections cited below _substantive reasons discussed below -Nomination returned for: 1. Name 2. Location 3. Classification Cetegory Oenership Public Acquisitien 4. Owner of Property Status Aecossible Prosont Ueo 5. Location of Legal Description 6. Representation in Existing Surveys hes thie property been determined eligibte? - roo - ne 7. Description Gemditien excellent good tair deteriorated ruins unexposed Chock ene unaltered altered Check one original site moved date eeribe the present and eriginal (Il knewn) physieal appoarance summary paragraph completeness clarity alterations/integrity dates boundary selection 8.
Significance Porte lroa hook and juatily bales Spooifie detes Btatement ef Significanoe (in ane paragraad hollder: Arehitee summary paragraph completeness clarity applicable criteria justification of areas checked relating significance to the resource context relationship of integrity to significance justification of exception other 9. Major Bibliographical References 10. Geographical Data Aoreage of nominated property Guedrangle neme UMT References Verbal boundery descriptien and justificatien 11. Form Prepared By 12. State Historic Preservation Officer Certification The evelusted significance of this property within the state is: - national _state .loca Bate Mistoric Preservetion OMicer signetur doto 13. Other Maps Photographs Other Questions concerning this nomination may be directed to .
Signed - Date 4.13-82 Phone: 202 272 -3504 Comments for any Item may be continued on an attached sheet FORM B - BUILDING MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Office of the Secretary, State House, Boston - - - In Area no. 01d Camb. , 1. Town Cambridge Address 6 Appleton Street Name Howe House Present use residential Form no. OC IIB24 2. Photo (3x3" or 3x5") Staple to left side of form Photo number 1099-3l - 4. Map. Draw sketch of building location in relation to nearest cross streets and other buildings. Indicate north. HIGHLAND APPLETON 0.?- 2 " BRATTLE AssEssoR #223-17 Present owner Jonathan R. E Barbara Beckwith 3. Description: 8 Appleton St.
Date 1887 Source deed records StyleQueen Anne/Shingle Architect_ Cabot and Chandler Exterior wall fabric_wood Outbuildings (describe)=- Other features Queen Anne features in wood shingle; gambrel roof, elongat hip dormer combined with chimney stack. Altered No Date - Moved No Date= 5. Lot size: One acre or less Over one acre XX Approximate frontage 90 feet Approximate distance of building from street 30 feet 6. Recorded by Bainbridge Bunting Organization Cambridge Historical Comm. Date 1964 UTM-LEXINGTON 19/324330/4693720 30M-5-77 7. Original owner (if known)_ Original use Mrs.. Estes, Howe residential Subsequent uses (if any) and dates_ same 8.
Themes (check as many as applicable) Aboriginal Agricultural Architectural The Arts Commerce Communication Community development Conservation Education Exploration/ settlement Industry Military Political Recreation Religion Science/ invention Social/ humanitarian Transportation 9. Historical significance (include explanation of themes checked above) This Queen Anne/Shingle Style house was the home from 1889-1963 of Lois Lilley Howe, America's first woman architect. Howe was an early practitioner of the Colonial Revival Style. Theebuilding is marked by a broad overhang above the first floor and a symmetrical facade. 1ON 086L 10.
Bibliography and/or references (such as local histories, deeds, assessor's records, early maps,etc.) INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Office of the Secretary, Boston Community : Old Cambridge Form No: II.B.24 Property Name : Lois Lilley Howe House Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below. Lois Lilley Howe (1864-1964) was one of the first women to graduate from the architectural program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the organizer of the only all-woman architectural firm in Boston in the early twentieth century, and the first woman elevated to Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. Born in Cambridge in 1864, she grew up in a house at 1 Kirkland Street opposite Memorial Hall.
After financial reverses in the 1870s and the death of her father in 1887, when Howe was 23, the family left the house at Kirkland Street and moved into one at 6 Appleton Street designed for them by the Boston architectural firm of Cabot & Chandler. Howe lived at 6 Appleton Street throughout her life. Although she did not design it, the house is asso- ciated with her most productive years as architect of domestic struc- tures (at least 33 commissions in Cambridge alone, 12 in various National Register Districts). It meets Criterion A as associated with the role of women in architecture and Criterion B for its associations with Howe. The following biography is excerpted from the M.I.T. Historical Collections, "Inventory of Howe, Manning & Almy Papers, 1883-1973": Lois Lilley Howe, 1864-1964 Lois Lilley Howe (LLH) was born into the Cambridge family of Dr. Estes and Lois Lilly White Howe.
Before entering the Museum School - of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in 1882, she earned an equivalency certificate from the Cambridge Public High School. At the Museum School, LLH concentrated in design, finishing the program in 1886. Her later architectural work refiected this artistic training, and she maintained contacts with artists throughout her life. ... As a result of her alteration on a stairway for Reverend Francis G. Peabody's home, she gained the admiration of architect Robert Swain Peabody, and he became her mentor. In 1888, she entered M.I.T.'s School of Architecture and took the course in 'Partial Architecture' which lasted only two years. ... With Peabody's help LLH was hired as a draftsman with the firm of Allen and Kenway after finishing at M.I.T. Peabody also told her of the competition for a Women's Building at the Columbia Exhibition of 1893 in Chicago.
She and her classmate Sophia Hayden Bennett Hayden won and LLH placed second. The prize money made it possible for LLH to take her mother and sisters to Europe. After fifteen months, LLH returned to Boston (see over - continued) Staple to Inventory form at bottom and worked as a part-time librarian in the M.I.T. School of Archi- tecture. She received her first commission to build a house in 1894 and worked alone and with various partners until 1900. She then established her own firm. LLH concentrated on domestic architecture from the beginning of her architectural career. This emphasis continued when she became part- ners with Eleanor Manning O'Connor (EMO'C) in 1913 and with Mary Almy (MA) in 1926. Her work with houses was often innovative. For example, an article about her experimental plaster work appeared in a 1907 issue of Architectural Review and Architectural Record.
In another 1907 issue she gave advice about designing serving pantries for small houses. LLH initiated Howe, Manning & Almy's (HM&A) use of the Colonial Revival Style for both building and renovating and stressed the need to research architectural details. Details of Old New England Houses was published in 1913 by LIH and Constance Fuller (M.I.T. Class of 1914). The problems of urban housing concerned LLH enough to steer HM&A towards the development of small houses and of urban planning. She was on the Planning Committee for Architect's Small House Bureau and was a member of the Boston Society of Architect's Small House Service Bureau of the American Institute of Architects (A.I.A.). She also participated in the Committee on Small Houses for A.I.A. and was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Housing Association of Metropolitan Boston. . . .
Professionally, she was a forerunner because there were few women architects at that time. In 1901, she became the first women to be officially elected when Robert Swain Peabody sponsored her for mem- bership in the A.I.A. She was also one of the first women admitted to the Boston Society of Architects. Perhaps her greatest honor came in 1931, when she was elected a Fellow of the A.I.A., the first woman to be chosen. LLH retired from HM&A in 1937, after practicing for more than forty years, but she never stopped working. After retirement, she occa- sionally worked on commissions for EMO'C's private practice. She was also treasurer of the Old Cambridge Shakespeare Association, president of the Cambridge Plant Club, vice-president of the Cam- bridge Historical Society and a member of the Cambridge Social Dramatic Club and various Unitarian Clubs.
When LLH died in 1964, she was twelve days short of her hundredth birthday. 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 Item number For NPS use only received date entered Page /4 ~L17 Multiple Resource Area Thematic Group Name State Cambridge Multiple Resource Area MA - Nomination/Type of Review 131. Conventual Church of St. Mary and St. John joz4 Substantive Review 132. /Second Cambridge Savings Bank Building Sulietant1 re Nevieu 133. Frost, David, House Sube nftve Nevier 134. Howe House Substantive Review ^135. Lowell, The Su8s5 FATIAD -136. Willis, Stil1man, House Farion Soli VIra Lerian '137. Second Waterhouse House SERRS TOWER - Harvard. Observatory aune aljeteon DOE/OWNER -139. Almshouse Substantive Review JECTION *140.
Lovell Block SUüs Date/Signature Weuian H.Braiham 4.1382 / Keeper Attest Keeper tnu /uDe,1631) Attest Keeper mu1en 16-209 Attest Keeper Pu 1npl6205 Attest Keeper NDdA- Dagl 1-30.6) Attest Keeper Willian H Braham 413.82 Attest Keeper tone t derl 6305) Attest Keeper Cune PShull 2-2687 unse 2-26-8i WeiamH. Braonam 4.13.82 Keeper Attest Keeper Attest tuurkua Bangh 63080 ATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES tted States Departmart of the latarta donal Park Servic Substantive Review - Howe House (Cambridge MRA) Middlesex County MA EYALUATION / RETURN SHEET Working No. /1.14.80-2862 Fed. Reg. Date: - 2-7-84 Date Due: 7/4/83 Action: L ACCEPT 6/30/83 - RETURN - . REJECT. Foderal Agency:_ - appeal - _ NR decision resubmission nomination by person or local government owner objection appeal Substantive Review: sample - request Reviower's comments: jacocistion iste an imporkent sarly female artiteit.
It is not Recom. /Criteria. - elijible sindu "A vicause her Reviewer_ Discipline- A.(+ significanan is recoznized und Date- 6-3s. 83 A. _ se0 continuation sheet -Nomination returned for: -technical corrections cited below -substantive reasons discussed below 1. Name 2. Location 3. Classification Prosam uon 4. Owner of Property 5. Location of Legal Description 6. Representation in Existing Surveys Is thin property teen deter 7. Description orren hoe - t poco rgleel (il keowel piysiee summary paragraph completeness clarity alterations/integrity dates boundary selection Chock em mover 8. Significance vons of Si 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 Aornage of nomineted property - Quedrangie neme. UNIT Reterencos Verbel boundery doscrptien hesthbeatie 11. Form Prepared By 12. State Historic Preservation Officer Certification The evelusted significance of thie property within the state is: nationat stata ae Histonte f 13. Other Maps Photographs Other Questions concerning this nomination may be directed to _ Signed - Date - Phone: 202 272-3504 Comments for any item may be continued on an attached sheet 1099-31 086LA0N Canbridye MRI, Ma OHfene Htause 6 Appleton St. 1099-31 Please refer to the map in the Multiple Property Cover Sheet for this property Multiple Property Cover Sheet Reference Number: 64000275