BlockThe nomination, in full
Bibliography, boundary description, and the people who prepared and reviewed the nomination.
FORM B - BUILDING MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 80 BOYLSTON STREET BOSTON, MA 02116 Photos 36:19 boxed southwest corner post, west chamber 36:21 Iear, west chimney post, closed off west chamber 36:23 original roof enclosed in attic. Common rafter bird-mouthed over plate. 36:24 junction of principal rafter and principal purlins, attic 70:8 south and east facades FIRST PERIOD SURVEY IIAN 2 4 1990 163 FORM NO. 96 Town Address Bedford 017 50 Old Billerica Road Historic Name Christopher Page House Sketch Map: Sprinss Bock BILLERICH OLD PAGE RD, UTM REFERENCE 19 / 314-370 / 4707-190 USGS QUADRANGLE SCALE Concord (now Maynard) 1:25,000 Use: Present Residence Oríginal DESCRIPTION Residence Date ca: 1730 Source Deeds, visual analysis style_ Late Ist Period/ Federal esterior Architect Unknown Exterior Wall Fabric _ Clapboards Outbuildings.
barn - late 19th to early century Major Alterations (with dates) Lean-to added, 18th c.; porch added and dormer Iaised, ca. 1910 Condition Good Moved No Date N/A Acreage 5.85 acIes Setting Amid open fields and stone walls, preserving the immediate area of the house -- a rural set- ting in an otherwise suburban stre Recorded by Organization Date May 1986 Anne Grady Boston Üniversity INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Office of the Secretary, Boston Conmmity: BEDFORD Form No: 96 Christopher Property Name: Page House Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below. SIGNIFICANCE The Christopher Page house retains integrity of location, design, materials and workmanship in its late First Period frame. Ihe house embodies distinctive characteristics of First Period design and construction, and therefore fulfills Criterion C.
The central chimney, two cell plan and quirk-beaded frame are typical of a larger number of late First Period houses, while the retardataire use of a principal/common rafter roof c. 1730 represents the rare survival of an earlier form. (The principal/common rafter roof found in some of the earliest houses surveyed, including the Deane Winthrop house in Winthrop,) was, in general, according to Cummings, gradually supplanted by the principal rafter/common purlin roof.) [2] culie boaoa boxa taey nos Tepray as part of he orighai conacruciton rael ved house would then gain added signiticance as manitesting simultaneously First and Second Period treatment of framing timbers. EXTERIOR DESCRIPTION The Christopher Page house is 5 bays wide, 2 1/2 stories high, and one room deep with an added rear lean-to.
A small 18th-century shed is attached to the center rear of the house, and a mid-19th-century shed, now used as a garage, abuts the rear right side. A full lean-to dormer, and a columned and balustraded Colonial Revival porch on the facade added in the early 20th century completed the growth of the house. Federal vernacular exterior trim includes simple window surrounds and corner boards. Windows are regularly spaced and vertically aligned. Iwo chimneys pierce the rear slope of the roof. MAJOR FIRST PERIOD FEATURES Evidence of First Period construction is visible in all the front rooms except the east chamber. Beams in these areas are quirk-beaded, while posts are unchamfered and in some cases boxed. Summer beams are longitudinal.
Joist spacing is 21 inches on While all the ceilings are now plastered, information from a previous owner indicates that the ceiling in the right-hand chamber was originally exposed and white washed. [1] The house exhibits an unusually wide nine foot chimney bay. A massive 13-foot-wide dry-laid stone chimney foundation in the cellar, however, is all that remains of the original central chimney. That chimney was removed c. 1800 when fireplaces were built at the rear of the front rooms.
Significantly, the Christopher Page house retained its First Period floor plan despite the Federal remodeling, thus representing a very late conservative survival of First Period planning concepts in a -1- Staple to Inventory form at botton INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Office of the Secretary, Boston Commmity: BEDFORD Form No: 96 Christopher Property Name: Page House Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below. building only superficially altered to conform to later standards. The attic, though finished, displays a principal/common rafter with principal-purlin roof. At the rear, where the dormer was raised, the original roof is preserved. Common rafters are bird-mouthed over the plate and pegged in place. Principal rafters appear to be lap-jointed at the ridge. In the cellar are several reused framing members.
LATER SIGNIFICANT FEATURES Iater Federal-period features include mantelpieces, wide-board dados, and a staircase trimmed with a slim molded hand rail and balusters which are square in profile. HISTORICAL INFORMATION Christopher Page (1710-1786) received the land on which this house sits in 1737 from his father, Nathaniel Page, whose homestead survives nearby on Page Road (NR). [3] Nathaniel's father, also Nathaniel, emigrated, supposedly from Plymouth, England and learned the roof framing technique from his father's recent English experience is unknown. If houses built by Christopher Page in Hardwick after 1735 are found to have a similar roof framing system, it would add significant information to our * 1s topher Pade adn sagnilicant en understanding of the regional distribution of early-18th-century construction methods. REFERENCES 1. John Riley, Notes on the Christopher Page house. 2.
Cummings, Framed Houses of Mass. Bay 1625 - 1725: 116 3. Book 38, page 425. Middlesex County Registry of Deeds. 4. Lucius R. Paige, HIstory of Hardwick, Massachusetts (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1883): 432-436. -2- Staple to Inventory form at bottom NPS Form 10-000e (886) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number - Page OMB Aaproval No. 1024-0018 1/24/20 Multiple Resource Area Thematic Group Name_First Period Buildings of Eastern Massachusetts TR State Nomination/Type of Review *VioI. Jaquith, Abraham, House 102. Mason, John, House Date/Signature, antered 1n the oo i ea copor Sulve Pyeu 3/4/91 Attest Entered in the National Register Keeper_ delmByui 3/9/90 Attest 103. Meeting House of the santeredahshe in Woburn Hatlonal Register Oelwmaßyen 3/240 Attest >6104.
Noyes--Parris House wubstantite detkoy fwr Keeper Betef Saugge 3/4/10 Page, Christopher, Hougetered in the National Register Aréeper AlelareaByur 3/9/80 Attest 106. Putnam, Rev. Daniel, Housintered in the fteeper AlelousBgun 34/40 Hational Register Attest_ SUM107. Robbins, George, House inbstantine Berasy Dregor Bitf)f Seuoge /9/10 sut108. Spaulding, Zeb, House Tevx Jar kapor fetf euase 319/00 109. Tenney Homestead Entered in the Hational Registe: fxeeper AelameAgex 319250 Attest 110.
Upham, Phineas, House fatered in tbe Battonal Register OKeeper Afelmubgua 3/9/90 Attest UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET REQUESTED ACTION: NOMINATION PROPERTY Page, Christopher, House NAME: MULTIPLE First Period Buildings of Eastern Massachusetts TR NAME: STATE & COUNIY: MASSACHUSETTS, Middlesex DATE RECEIVED: 1/24/90 DATE OF 16TH DAY: 2/23/90 DATE OF PENDING LIST: 2/07/90 DATE OF 45TH DAY: 3/10/90 DATE OF WEEKLY LIST: REFERENCE NUMBER: 90000163 NOMINATOR: STATE REASONS FOR REVIEW: REQUEST: N SAMPLE: COMMENI WAIVER: N VACCEPT RETURN ABSTRACT/SUMMARY COMMENTS: N PER DRAFT: N NATTONAL PROGRAM UNAPPROVED: REJECT 3/1/20DATE N Entered in the fational Begiater RECOM./CRITERIA REVIEWER DISCIPLINE DATE DOCUMENTATION see attached comments Y/N see attached SLR Y/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 verbal boundary description UTMS _boundary justification ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENTATION/PRESENTATION sketch maps USGS maps _photographs _presentation OTHER COMMENTS Questions concerning this nomination may be directed to Phone Signed Date 50 Old Belerica Road, Beford, mA Chrotopher page House Ist Perial Buldings of Es Ma., TR 1985 70:08 50 Old Billerica Rd.
Bed fnd, MA Choistopher Page House 1985 Ist Porid Buldias df E. Ma, TR 290992 930, euraPsr4 2650 earnesr .5756 63S0 ven #4349/232/92492232323252923/92292922929222932922 3252909092329232925220292329 2339299298 AAA 3AKAS SSA3 2950036003 50 Ald Billerica. Rd. Bedfnd, MA Choistapher pagettase 1985 Ist Perid Buldings of Te. Ma., TN 36:21 50 Old Billerica Rd. Bed ford, mt Chrstpher pagettause Ist Poried Buldings of E. Ma., TR 1985 36:49 50 Old Billerca Rd. Bedgod, mt Christopher House 1985 Ist Percl Buldins f E. Nay TR 36:24 Please refer to the map in the Multiple Property Cover Sheet for this property Multiple Property Cover Sheet Reference Number: 64000281