BlockThe nomination, in full
Bibliography, boundary description, and the people who prepared and reviewed the nomination.
MAY 1 5 1989 FORM B - BUILDING MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 80 BOYLSTON STREET BOSTON, MA 02116 SOUTHBRIDGE MASS 523 MRA AREA C FORM NO. 308 Town Southbridge Address 29 Summer Street Historic Name Sylvester Dresser House Photo (3"x3" or 3"x5", black and white) Indicate address of property on back of photo. Staple to left side of form. 25J# 2-9 Sketch Map: Draw map showing property's location in relation to nearest cross streets and/or geographical features. Indicate all buildings between inventoried property andnearest intersection(s). Indicate north Use: Present rectory Original residential DESCRIPTION Date ca.
1870 Source maps, visual analysis Style transitional Italíanate/Victorian Gothic Architect _unknown Exterior Wall Fabric brick Outbuildings carriage house (c) Major Alterations (with dates) none Condition Good Moved no Acreage one acre Settingresidential Date na UTM REFERENCE 18/745 320/4661 7A5 USGS QUADRANGLE Southbricige MA CT SCALE 1:25,000 Recorded by E. Woodford, S. Ceccacci ed. S. Ceccacci Organization Southbridge Historical Com- mission Date May 1986 NATIONAL REGISTER CRITERIA STATEMENT (if applicable) The Sylvester Dresser House is significant for its association with the town's mid- Ath century reai estate development and its stylish brick Italianate design. It meets National Register criteria A and C at the local "level and retains integrity of location, materials, workmanship, design, feeling, and association..
The boundaries indicated on the attached assessors map are those of .current ownership. ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE Describe important architectural features and evaluate in terms of other buildings within the community. Strongly influenced by the Victorian Gothic style, this house is more Italianate in its shape and arrangement. Bearing Italianate characteristics such as the squarish body, three bay center entry facade, the round arched entrance and the heavy balcony, it has strong vertical elements such as the tall facade pavilion, high pitched roof and high pitched facade gable which are typically Victorian. Also Victorian are the jerkinhead dormer, gable apron and stick-like brackets. Because of the probable late C.1865 date of construction, such a mixture of styles is not unusual.
Other surviving houses of the same caliber and of the same approximate date in Southbridge are either Italianate or show a blending of Italianate and Victorian elements (e.g., 14 South Street, Form #D-440; 495 Main Street, form #D-21). The use of brick as a building material is unusual for houses of this period in Southbridge. The selection of - brick is, however, easy to explain since the owner of the house was a brick manufacturer. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE Explain the role owners played in local or state history and how the building relates to the development of the community. Sylvester Dresser (1820-1898) was an important and active member of the Southbridge community during the second half of the 19th-century. Born in Charlton, he was the son of Asa Dresser, Jr. and Elizabeth McInstry (sic) (McKinstry). In 1848 he married N. Maria Morse, the daughter of Deacon Oliver Morse.
After studying at Nichols Academy in Dudley, Dresser was a school teacher for eight years workin in a number of towns in the region. He later served as assistant principal at Nichols Academy. Changing his career, the young man settled permanently in Southbridge in 1842. With a capital of $80.00, he bought the stock in trade of William S. Knowlton: fancy goods, toys, musical instruments etc. Having met with success, he later bought the jewelry and book- store of Robert H. Cole and added jewelry, silver, clocks and periodicals to his stock. After deciding to sell the business, he operated an apparently prosperous stove and hardware enterprise from 1852 to 1864. In 1865 Dresser became involved in brick manufacturing, ultimately owning as many as three brick yards in Southbridge and Dudley. At the same time he also took up lumbering, apparently to fire his brick kilns.
In 1866 when the railroad came to town, he shipped a load of his bricks on the first freight train to leave Southbridge. - For forty years Dresser was a director of the Southbridge Savings Bank. He was also active in town affairs, serving at various times as Selectman, Town Treasurer, Town Clerk, Assessor, (See Continuation Sheet) BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES - maps, atlases scrapbook, Jacob Edwards Memorial Library - Biographical Review. Boston: Biographical Publishing Co., 1899, p. 568. 8/85 VUUiTD: BASS INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Commmity : MR Form No: MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Southbridge C-308 Office of the Secretary, Boston Property Name : Sylvester Dresser House 29 Summer Street Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE (cont'd) Overseer of the Poor and School Board Member.
He was elected to the state legislature in - 1850 and 1852. In 1861 he served as a state senator from the Worcester Southeast District. He also served for some time as Trial Justice. Sylvester Dresser had an active role in the development of parts of Southbridge. In 1853 he bought a parcel of land which had belonged to the Bella Tiffany estate on Elm Street (form #C-301). Over a number of years he built houses, including his own home, on this land and sold off house lots to others. Although available maps do not indicate precisely the extent of this property, it seems likely that it included a triangle of land bounded approximately by Elm, Park and Everett Streets. Dresser also built fourteen houses on brickyard property he owned on Charlton City Road.
In 1855, only shortly after Dresser had purchased the Tiffany property, only scattered houses lined Elm Street, becoming sparser the further the distance from Main Street. There were hardly any buildings south of the intersection with Eastford Road. Everett Street did not exist and no cross streets had been put through off of Elm Street. By 1870, Everett Street and several cross streets, including Park and Summer Streets, had been opened and a few houses had been built in the area. Sylvester Dresser's house was one of these. At that time, its grounds extended the full length of Summer Street between Elm and Everett Streets. No buildings stood across from it on the other side of Summer Street. By 1878 the east side of Elm Street had been almost completely developed from Summer Street southward to the inter- section with Everett Street.
A number of houses had also been built on Everett Street near Park Street. By 1898 Elm, Everett, Park and Summer Streets had been built up. Even the land opposite Dresser's house on Summer Street was thickly settled. The grounds to his house, however, remained undeveloped until the early years of the 20th-century, some time after his death. Staple to Inventory form at bottom NPS Form10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number Page - OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Multiple Resource Area Thematic Group Name State Southbridge MRA Worcester County, MASSACHUSETTS Nomination/Type of Review 21. Comins--Wall House Substantiwa Beview 22. Congregational Church Entered in tac Hational Register 23. Cummings, E.B., House intered 1n the National Register 24.
Dani and Soldani Cabinet Makers and Wood Workers Factory Entered in the National Registor 25. Dennison School House Entered in the Mational Register 26. Dresser, Sylvester, House Entered in the Watlonal Register 27. Dunbar--Vinton House Entered in the National Register 28. Durfee, Henry E., Farmhouseintered 1n the National Register 29. Elm Street Fire House Entered in the National Register 30.
Evangelical Free Church Entered In the National Register Date/Signature JorKeeper Berfaunge 6-2289 Attest LKeeper 6pa/4 Attest Fxeopor aueons Bizua 6/2/4 Attest Keeper AulneByeu 0/23/9 Attest 6 Keeper shbneBgen6/22/4 Attest FReeper allrByen 6/22/ Attest fKeeper LbreByu 6/4/5 Attest Keeper dlraBzun/2/29 Attest FKeeper AleluByu 4/0/59 Attest /Keeper Slelmßzen 4/2214 Attest NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET REQUESTED ACTION: NOMINATION PROPERTY Dresser, Sylvester, House NAME: MULTIPLE NAME: Southbridge MRA STATE & COUNTY: MASSACHUSETTS, Worcester DATE RECEIVED: 5/15/89 DATE OF 16TH DAY: 6/16/89 DATE OF WEEKLY LIST: DATE OF PENDING LIST: 5/31/89 DATE OF 45TH DAY: 6/29/89 REFERENCE NUMBER: 89000523 REASONS FOR REVIEW: APPEAL: N DATA PROBLEM: N LANDSCAPE: N LESS THAN 50 YEARS: OTHER: N PDIL: N PERIOD: I PROGRAM UNAPPROVED: REQUEST: N SAMPLE: N SLR DRAFT: N NATIONAL: COMMENT WAIVER: N VACCEPT RETURN ABSTRACT/SUMMARY COMMENTS: REJECT 6/22/89DATE Intered In tha National Regiater RECOM./CRITERIA REVIEWER DISCIPLINE DATE DOCUMENTATION see attached comments Y/N see attached SLR ./N CLASSIFICATION _count resource type STATE/FEDERAL AGENCY CERTIFICATION FUNCTION historic current DESCRIPTION architectural classification materials descriptive text SIGNIFICANCE Period Areas of Significance--Check and justify below Specific dates Builder/Architect statement of Significance (in one paragraph) 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 BIBLIOGRAPHY GEOGRAPHICAL DATA acreage UTMs verbal boundary description boundary justification ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENTATION/PRESENTATION sketch maps OTHER COMMENTS USGS maps photographs presentation Questions concerning this nomination may be directed to Phone Signed Date Sulvester Dressertse, (C.308) 29Summer St.
Southbriage Ms ceccacc, 1986 Southlbridge tistorical Commission Roll#2.9 MRA 29 summer Street 135 36 GI 2F :206 :209 160- 175 153 -2: 213 214 204 eneun =105 202 201 200 GB STREET 2F GB 2F 132A nal. CHAPIN 138 MI 142 143 144 I4S 146 147 AR8M i2ã 1E1E98% mooe O SOUTHORIOO C-308/ #29 SOUTHBRIDGE MASS 260 JOHNEN'NICHELL A ACUCIATES 33 0 54 SOUTHBRIDGE, MASS. 46 55 46 w moill ns.07 27 Please refer to the map in the Multiple Property Cover Sheet for this property Multiple Property Cover Sheet Reference Number: 64000294