BlockThe nomination, in full
Bibliography, boundary description, and the people who prepared and reviewed the nomination.
FIRST PERIOD DURVEY FORM B - BUILDING MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 80 BOYLSTON STREET BOSTON, MA 02116 Photos 81:18 front facade :81 :16 rear facade JAN & 4 1990 FORM NO. 118 91 017 Town Readine Adaress 289 Grove Ste Historic Name Samuel Fester House 81 :21 2nd flo0t, left rear chimney post and girt with quirk beading 81.:23 lst flooi, right-hand I00m N Sketch Map: Headow siai vof club 1pr > ic : Fignelin Use: Present reside-ca - renter Original secidence DESCRIPTION Date ~ 1710 Source Bicha?, Beeding's Cal Bosftrces Style First Period.. Architect unknown Exterior Wall Fabric clapboard Outbuildings none. (belongs to golf club-clut house across driveway, tennis courts) Major Alterations (with dates)Jean-to, 18th? shed, 19=h or early 20=h c.
Condition good Moved ne Date _n/2 Acreaçe _part of 60 acre parcel Setting mocde ia frart to road, woods ard galf cluh srounde hehind development - to the southeast new suhuchar UTM REFERENCE USGS QUADRANGLE SCALE Z E 'N 10 / 325-350 / 4711-94- Wilmington 1:25,000 Recorded by Arne Brophy Orçanization Boston University Date December 1985 INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Commnity : Form No: MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION READING 91 Office of the Secretary, Boston Property Name: Samuel Foster House Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below. SIGNIFICANCE Despite extensive alterations, the Samuel Foster house clearly retains integrity of location, materials and workmanship in its transitional First Period frame, (most now hidden beneath later material,) making it eligible under criterion C.
If the later boxing is removed, the house is very likely to yield information important to our understanding of late First Period construction under criterion D. Its original one-cell 2 1/2 story integral lean-to form is unusual for Massachusetts, making it further eligible under Criterion C and worthy of further study under Criterion D. EXTERIOR DESCRIPTION The Samuel Foster house is a 2 1/2 story clapboarded central chimney structure with an asymmetrical six bay facade. The original main facade, which now faces into overgrown woods, has a simple one story flat-roofed pre-1920 enclosed entrance porch on the third bay from the left. A 1/2-story integral lean-to extends along the left rear, including the chimney bay extending one bay beyond the side of house. A long 1 story probably 19th-century shed projects from its left end.
As all visible First Period framing appears only in the left three bays (including the chimney bay) of the house, the same portion which includes the integral lean-to, it is probable that the house began as a one cell 2 1/2 story structure with integral lean-to which was enlarged twice to the right of the chimney during the Second Period. MAJOR FIRST PERIOD FEATURES The house has undergone many alterations and additions, including the partial removal and apparently subsequent replacement of its central chimney to accommodate stove flues. However, exposed framing members visible in closets and upstairs rooms indicate that the building retains most of its transitional First Period frame intact under later finish. The southwest (left) front Ist floor room has no visible First Period finish; the 16" wide longitudinal summer beam is boxed.
The southwest corner of the room has been closed off into a closet with a window inside. In this closet, the exposed quirk-beaded summer beam of the larger room is visible extending out of its box through the closet wall to form the north cornice of the closet. The end and front girts and the corner post are also exposed and quirk-beaded, a transitonal First Period decoration. The lean-to has been completely redone at least twice in the 20th century; its exposed ceiling beams are unfinished.
(As lean-to's were rarely finished with as much care as the main rooms, it is impossible to tell by stylistic evidence alone if the lean-to was integral..) 1 Staple to Inventory form at bottom INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Office of the Secretary, Boston Community : READING Form No: 91 Property Name: Samue1 Foster House Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below. The second floor left chamber has an exposed and guirk-beaded transverse summer beam, front plate, and end tie beam. A partition wall under the summer tie beam divides the room in two. Moldings applied to plate and tie form part of a cornice around the end room. The chimney girt has a beaded box with applied moldings. The north part of the room has been partitioned to create a closet and part of a hallway leading behind the chimney stack.
In the hall, the chimney post is exposed and quirk-beaded. The chimney girt resting on this post is exposed and has one quirk-beaded edge, facing out, and one unfinished edge, facing into the chimney bay. This treatment is the same as that at the John Bickford house in North Reading and is typical for late First Period chimney girts. The principal rafter/common purlin roof clearly incorporates an integral lean-to on the left side, visible in both the attic and lean-to garrett. LATER SIGNIFICANT FEATURES The right front room has visible only Second Period boxed framing members. There is evidence that the room was extended to its present three-bay size possibly at the same time that the present boxes were installed, as the boxed longitudinal summer beam extends from the chimney to a transverse beam.
On the other side of this beam, but not directly opposite the summer, a second longitudinal summer beam extends to the end girt. The rear girt visibly sags at the rear post supporting the transverse beam. The tenant says that restoration revealed an earlier door in place of the window presently in the center of the wall between the post and the fireplace wall. HISTORICAL INFORMATION Samuel Foster was a farmer who moved to Reading from Lynn in 1709. By his death in 1762 he had established a saw mill which he ran in partnership with his grandson Abraham. REFERENCES Bishop, Reading's Colonial Rooftrees. BOUNDARX DESCRIPTION Located ner the southeast corner of the property, the setting of the Samuel Fóster House has been altered with the development of the golf club. A line of convenience around the hogse isolates it from the clubhouse on the north and the tennis courts on the south.
Staple to Inventory form at bottom NPS Form 10-000- (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number Page 10240018 1/24/90 Multiple Resource Area Thematic Group Name First Period Buildings of Eastern Massachusetts TR State Nomination/Type of Review 91. Bullard, Isaac, House Date/Signature Entered in the' National Register( st Reeper Aelarealyen 3/9150 Scl2. Foster, Samuel, House dubstentiva derime Attest nkeeper_ feth Sevage 319/90 Attest 93. Gardner, Addington, Housintered in tne National Begister Entered in the 94. Green House National Begister 6 Keeper_ dulmeßges 3/9/80 Attest / Reeper_ selareBge 3/9/90 5ul95. Hammond House 96. Hapgood House 97. Hill, Abraham, House 98.
Hill, Deacon Samuel, House Attest fubstantiva Merteó TKeeper_ Baxty Sevage 3/2/10 Entered in the Attest National Register KeeperAulnenByen 319/86 Attest Entered in tne Hational Register rReeperAhemuByen 3/8/50 Attest Entered in the llational RegistéKeeper Mlmeszyu 3/9/50 Attest 99. Hopestill Bent Tavern dubetantIvs Borzem f Keeper_ Bita Savage 3/9/20 Attest 100. Hosmer, Joseph, House Entered in the Mational Regtater / Keeper_ Attest Allareagen 3/9/90 NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number - Page .
- SUPPLEMENTARY LISTING RECORD NRIS Reference Number: 90000178 Date Listed: Foster, Samuel, House Midalesex Property Name County First Period Buildings of Eastern Massachusetts TR Multiple Name 03/09/90 MA State This property is listed in the National Register of Historic Places in accordance with the attached nomination documentation subject following exceptions, exclusions, notwithstandingtheNattonal Park servie cortificationenaclnded in the nomination documentation. BitlY Sange for Signature of the Keeper 03/09/90 Date of Action ====== ========= Amended Items in Nomination: Geographical Data: Acreage The correct acreage is <1. This information has been confirmed with Ann Tait, MASHPO, by telephone.
DISTRIBUTION: National Register property file Nominating Authority (without attachment) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET REQUESTED ACTION: NOMINATION PROPERTY Foster, Samuel, House NAME: MULTIPLE First Period Buildings of Eastern Massachusetts TR NAME: STATE & COUNTY: MASSACHUSETTS, Middlesex DATE RECEIVED: 1/24/90 DATE OF 16TH DAY: 2/23/90 ATE OF PENDING LIST: 2/07/9 ATE OF 45TH DAY: 3/10/90 DATE OF WEEKLY LIST: REFERENCE NUMBER: 90000178 NOMINATOR: STATE REASONS FOR REVIEW: APPEAL: N DATA PROBLEM: N LANDSCAPE: N LESS THAN 50 YEARS: N PDIL: PERIOD: PROGRAM UNAPPROVED: REQUEST: N SAMPLE: N SLR DRAFT: Y NATIONAL: N COMMENT WAIVER: N LACCEPT _RETURN REJECT 3/4/90DATE ABSTRACT/SUMMARY COMMENTS: BEUOT/CRITERIA Aceept C+D REVIEWER_ avas DISCIPLINE Xeclite 317/90 Westory DOCUMENIATION see attached conments Y/N see attached SIRYAN 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 OTHER COMMENTS Questions concerning this nomination may be directed to Phone _presentation Signed Date - Readuag, Mt 288 Groves.
Samuel Foter House. Ist Peried Bulldings of E Ma, TR 81:6 1585 Reading. MA 288 Giove St. Samuel Froter thuse Ist perid Baldins af Fe. Ma, TR 1985 81:23 Ceadiig, MA 288 Girvef. Fiser Huse Ist Pericd Buldings Y TEa Ma, TR ,985- 81:21 Please refer to the map in the Multiple Property Cover Sheet for this property Multiple Property Cover Sheet Reference Number: 64000281