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- FORM B - BUILDING MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 80 BOYLSTON STREET BOSTON, MA 02116 Photo (3"x3" or 3"x5", black and white) Indicate address of property on back of photo. Staple to left side of form. Sketch Map: Draw map showing property's location in relation to nearest cross streets and/or geographical features. Indicate all buildings between inventoried property and nearest intersection(s). Indicate north sec attached Sheet UTM REFERENCE USGS QUADRANGLE SCALE 19/317740/4694820 LEXINGTOAL 1:25,000 1440 AUG 2 1 1989 AREA NATONAL REGIS TFETHAM, MA MRA FORM NO. 169 Town Address Waltham, MA 265 Beaver Street Historic Name Ephraim Hammond House Use: Present property of Mass. Girl Scouts Original Farm house DESCRIPTION Date c.1775 Source Marjorie W.
Childs--Some Historic Waltham House Style Georgian Architect unknown Exterior Wall Fabric Clapboard Outbuildings Large barn on premises-C others excluded from nominatior Major Alterations (with dates). restored during the 1920's Condition good from (west on same property) Moved Pidgeon H:11 Date late 19th c. Acreage less than one 44-2-1 Setting Situated on rise facing low rubble- stone retaining wall and semicircular drive part of extensive wooden tract Recordedby Ed Gordon Organization Waltham Historical Comm. Date Julv, 1986 revised C. Jenkins 2/88 NATIONAL REGISTER CRITERIA STATEMENT (if applicable) - The Ephriam Hammond House has a long and illustrious history associated with several facets of Naltham's development. It was constructed c 1775 on farm land in northern Waltham that had been owned by the Hammond family since the mid-17th ceatury.
In the mid-19th century, the farm was purchased by the family of Cornelia Otis Warren, noted philanthropist, and joined the ranks of Waltham's estates. In the 1920s, Ms. Warren bequethed the estate, then known as Cedar Hil1, to a charitable corporation. The Girl Scouts of America who were the eventual recipients re- stored the house and have owned it ever since. The Ephriam Hammond House possesses integrity of - location (since late-19th), design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling and association. It is significant as one of a handful of mid-18th century dwellings in the community' CONT ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE Describe important architectural features and evaluate in terms of other buildings within the community. The Emphraim Hammond House is the only example of a side hall plan Georgian period house in Waltham.
This house consiats of a 2-story main block with three bay main facade and ells which project from the east and west walls. In general, windows are fully enframed with thin, raised moldings and contain 6/6 wood sash. The front door opens on to a small open front porch with square porch posts. The west ell exhibits a distinctive lean to profile. The building's rear wall exhibits an I-shaped Italianate porch with champfered posts. The house is sheathed with clapboards and enclosed by an end gable roof with chimney stack : aligned with the entry. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE Explain the role owners played in local or state history and how the building relates to the development of the community. According to Marjorie W. Child's, this farm house was probably built by Ephraim Hammond son of Deacon Thomas Hammond Jr. It may date to the time of Ephraim's first marriage in 1775.
Originally this house stood on Pidgeon Hill but was moved at some point during the late 19th c. - The first Thomas Hammond in Waltham purchased 67 acres of land in the Beaver/Linden St's area from John Stowers as early as 1650 (with an additional 140 acres in many other scattered lots). Ephraim Hammond was born in 1745 and died in 1802. During the early 19th c. struggling Waltham lawyer Daniel Webster is said to have been a frequent visitor to the house, stopping here for tea on his way to go fishing. The old Hammond lands were greatly improved after their purchase by Cornelia Otis Warren's father, during the mid 19th c. The Emphraim Hammond House served the Warren family as a house for their coachman. The Warren family's Waltham estate was called Cedar Hill. The main house was an Italiante/Mansard mansion which was demolished in 1950.
The Warren estate (north síde of Beaver St.) encompassed 145 acres of land, divided between pasture, woodland, and cultivated land. On the Smith side of Beaver St. were acres of corn and rye. Cedar Hill was known for its variety of trees. Many brought from abroad. Miss Warren's father owned the Congin Paper Mill in Westbrook, Maine (beginning in 1854). This plant was later known as Cumberland Mills. Throughout her life, Miss Warren was engaged in social work--she was a trustee of the Home for Incurables, a Director of the Dennison Settlement House in Boston, and Treasurer of the College Settlement Association. The Girls Clubs of Waltham and Westbrook, as well as the Boy Scouts, received her interest and financial support. the Warren's Cedar Hill estate became famous for its maze: It was "designed for the pleasure of a ste ecae esous or e sase.: e.
Overtime BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES Marjorie W. Childs, "Some Historic Waltham Houses" ,1962, W.P.L. Dorothy M. Prescott, "Cornelia Otis Warren and the Story of Cedar Hill", 1958, W.P.L. E.L. Sanderson, Waltham 1630-1884 8/85 INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Office of the Secretary, Boston WALTHAM MA MRA Commmity: waltham, Ma Form No: 169 Property Name: 265 Beaverst. Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below. Historical Sig. children and was based on the maze at Hampton Court. The Cedar Hill Dairy became famous for the excellent quality of its milk and for the modern sanitary methods used. Miss Warren made a provision in her will, that her home--the Cedar Hill mansion House--and about 200 acres of land comprising the estate, be given to any corporations, legally charitable, to be maintained as a rest home or similar use.
The estate was eventually awarded to the Massachusetts Girl Scout Council. Cedar Hill opened its gates to visitors on May 11, 1923 for the occasion of the Annual Meeting of the Mass. Gir1 Scout Council. From 1923 until the late 1940's, Mrs. James Storrow played a key role in the administration of Cedar Hill. It was under her leadership that the Ephraim Hammond House or "old white farm house" was restored. According to Marjorie Childs, Mrs. Storrow obtained the services of Eli Comeau, rench Canadian craftsman and builder. This project was assisted through the cooperatior of amateurs, collectors of old furniture, and experts on their refurnishing, particularly Edward C. Wheeler, Jr. and Miss M.E. Noyes. According to Marjorie Childs "the old fire places with their brick ovens had been walled up and stoves stood in the middle of the rooms.
One wing had not been used for years and was mouldy, the roof leaked and pillars and sills were rotten." Interesting early feature in this house includes old hinges, the kitchen's substantial hand-cut beams and large fireplace, narrow front stairs and the sheathing of 20 inch pine discovered under mix layers of wall papers in one of the bedrooms. The property also encompasses a substantial mid 19th c. wooden barn with multipane transom over its large double doors. This barn's broad gable roof exhibits a low stage at the ridge's center which probably once supported a cupola. Criteria Statement its associations with the agricultural, and estate history of Waltham, as well as its connections with the Massachusetts Girl Scouts Council. It meets criteria A and C of the National Register of Historic Places.
Verbal Boundary Description & Justificaiton The nomination is confined to the Hamond House, the large barn with cupola that is located directly behind, and the land extending 25' from the perimeter of the buildings. The nomination is confined to these two buildings because the other buildings on the large lot do not contribute to the significance of the Ephriam Hammond House, nor do they date from its period of significance. They are contemporary office and residential struc- tures used by the Girl Scouts. Staple to Inventory form at bottom NPS Form 10-000 (8-66) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet OMB Approvel No. 1024-0018 AUG 2 | 1989 Section number . Page Multiple Resource Area Thematic Group Name State Waltham MRA Middlesex County, MASSACHUSETTS Nomination/Type of Review 41.
Hall, Henry C., House intered in the Natiotad Registez Date/Signature / Reeper2 9/20/8 Attest 42. Hammond, Ephraim, House Substantive Review Sorsesper Both. Seunge ehelsa 43. Hammond, Jonathan, House Entered in the National Register 44. Hardy, Nahum, House Intered in tha Mationad Regtater 45. Harrington Block Entered in the Nationa1 Register 46. Harrington, Samuel, Housfatered in the Mational Register 47. Hill, Rev. Thomas, Housesntered in the National Reglater 48. Hobbs Brook Basin Gate House 11a the ia houw deglater 49. Holbrook, Richard, Houses antered in the Hational Register 50.
Johnson, Edwin C., House Entered in the National Register /Keeper( Melouspyu 9/25/84 Attest Keeper Aelmepycu 9/28/84 Attest Keoper AleAgu 2/25184 Attest Vreeper dulntgua 116469 Attest /eepet Shemelgun 9/2619 Attest /keoper Aulmeliga 2/24/4 Attest /Keeper_ AlelverBgun 9/28/84 Attest Keeper AlorePyan 9/28/89 Attest_ NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interlor National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet OMB Approvel No. 1024-0018 Section number - Page.
SUPPLEMENTARY LISTING RECORD NRIS Reference Number: 89001490 Hammond, Ephraim, House Property Name Waltham MRA Multiple Name Date Listed: Middlesex County 09/28/89 MA State This property is listed in the National Register of Historic Places in accordance with the attached nomination documentation subject to the following exceptions, exclusions, or amendments, notwithstanding the National Park Service certification included in the nomination documentation. the Keepe 2/28/89 Date of Action Amended Items in Nomination: Statement of significance