BlockThe nomination, in full
Bibliography, boundary description, and the people who prepared and reviewed the nomination.
TURTB BULDAAU MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 80 BOYLSTON-STREET BOSTON, MA 02116 Photos 19:26 attic 19:29 left-hand room 19:31 right-hand I0om 19:32 detail, summer tie beam, left-hand chamber 19:35 shadow molded sheathing, underside of chimney girt, left-hand chamber 19:36 exterior pendant, left-hand end JAN 2 4 1990 FORM NO. Sketch Map: Town Address Hamilton- 009 76 Bridge Street Historic Name Brown House Use: Present Residence Residence Original DESCRIPTION Date ca. 1662-1673 Source Style Cummings, Ist Period Houses, 143 First Period core, Second Period exterior Architect Tinknown Exterior Wail FabricClapboards OutbuildingsGarage - mie 20th c. made of split log - rustic Major Alterations (with dates)_Second cell and lean-to added ca. 1680-1690 Condition Good X xx XXxX -Bridge St Miles River Rd.
TY REFERENCE :ES CUADRANGLE ALE 19 / 348-140 / 4719-630 Marbiehead North (now Salem) ::25,000 Hoved NO Date N/A Acreage .3.6 acres Setting Semi-rural. Street of wicel spaced houses. Open land Iiver io the rear. Anne Grady - Recorded by Orçanization Boston Universicy Date July, 1985 INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Office of the Secretary, Bostor. Conmmity: HAMILTON Form No: 14 Property Name: Brown House Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below. SIGNIFICANCE The Brown House retains integrity of location, design, materials, workmanship, and setting in its First Period frame and finish which embody distinctive characteristics of form and construction eligible under Criterion C. between 1662 to 1673 places the Brown House among the earliest houses surveyed.
The house is representative of construction in the third quarter of the 17th century in the configuration of its chamfers and shadow molded sheathing, and in the retention of the principal rafter/principal purlin roof framing system. That roof system, derived from East Anglian practices, was supplanted almost completely after the third quarter of the century by the principal rafter/common purlin system. The Brown House, in fact, illustrates the shift in preference among carpenters to the purlin roof, for the newer west end of the roof is framed with common purlins. The roof also retains a rare example of diagonal wind brace between- rafter and principal purlin, a feature found in the Fairbanks house of 1637. The enlargement of the house by the addition of a second cell and lean-to in the First Period is representative of the evolutionary growth of many First Period houses.
The house gains added significance for the presence of an intact framed overhang which still retains its original cyma-molded overhanging girt and two large drops. The Stanley-Lake house in Topsfield is the only other example in the study area in which an original drop is retained in situ. William Sumner Appleton recorded the circumstances under which the drops were preserved. "The gable 'was long concealed by the lower story having been built out flush with the upper. In this case, it happened that the same carpenter who boarded it in was years later employed to uncover it. One of the drops was found in place and the other, which was in the carpenter's possession was returned...'" [1] Appleton acquired the molded overhanging girt of the demolished lean-to for the architectural museum at SPNEA.
EXTERIOR DESCRIPTION The Brown House is 5 bays wide, 2 1/2 stories in height and one room leep. There are 19th century additions to the rear and east (right) side. The front right-hand rooms and chimney bay comprise the single cell structure constructed between 1662 and 1673. he 1680s or 1690s, a second cell was added to the west and a lean-to xtended behind the addition and possibly behind the earlier end of he house as well. The west end of the house preseves a framed verhang with cyma molded exposed overhanging girt and original large -1- Staple to Inventory form at bottom INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Office of the Secretary, Boston Commmity : HAMILTON Form No: 14 Property Name: Brown House Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below. pendants. A smaller overhang trims the gable end.
The lean-to has been removed. The clapboarded exterior is vernacular Second Period, evidenced by fenestration of small, simply enframed sash windows, symmetrically placed across the facade. The small entrance porch, reminiscent of a medieval flitch gate, and the elaborately pilastered chimney date from a restoration of the house c. 1920. MAJOR FIRST PERIOD FEATURES First Period features are found in all four front rooms and on the exterior. The right-hand room is a little over 19 feet wide and 21 feet deep. The longitudinal oak summer beam in that room is 12" wide by 15" deep and is decorated with broad quarter-round chamfers and gLarter--9arg5om 20 lamb's tongue stops, except on the south face at the right-hand end. Here the stop just peters out. Joists are tusk tenoned and are spaced 18 inches on centers.
In the right-hand chamber, beam has quarter-round chamfers, flat collars and triangular stops. nters inch the 11 inch wide transverse summer tie A First Period style staircase, modeled after the one at the Parsor. Capen house was installed in the lobby, probably during the restoration of c. 1920. The left-hand room of 1680s or 1690s construction date is 20 feet deep by 21 feet wide. The 14 1/2 inch wide longitudinal summer beam has wide quarter-round chamfers and lamb's tongue stops. On the fireplace wall is a replica of the shadow-molded sheathing now in SPNEA's architectural museum which was found in a reused postion in the house. In the left-hand chamber, the 14 inch wide pine summer tie beam has broad quarter-round chamfers and lamb's tongue stops. The oak front plate has a flat chamfer without stop.
The face of the plate is covered with a shadow-molded board which may be part of the original The chimney girt, also flat chamfered without stops, is covered on the lower surface by a shadow-molded board. In the closet which spans the previous location of the fireplace (the fireplace has been bricked up), the same molded board remains with a thick coating of white wash. The above shadow-molded boards look like original finish, but there is no way to be certain that they were not installed in the c. 1920 restoration. The attic preserves clear evidence of two separate roof framing systems.
Over the original right-hand rooms are the remaining -2- Staple to Inventory form at bottom INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORI CAL COMMISSION Office of the Secreiary, Boston Comuunity: HAMILTON Form No: 14 Property Name: Brown House Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued belor. principal rafters of a principal rafter/common rafter/principal purlin roof system. of oak and is chamfered. newer part of the the pine rafters of a principal rafter/common purlin roof system are visible. There are collar beams in all rafters except those in the east end wall. There is a diagonal brace between the purlin and a rafter in the older part of the roof. When the lean-to was added, new rafters were inserted the rear slope of the original roof. Their ends resting near the ridge on top of the earlier rafters.
The front siope of the roof set out at a later date so as to create an overhanging eave. narrow deep purlins were inserted in all parts of the roof at some HISTORICAL INFORMATION The presence of the Miles river and open fields around the house gives the site an unusually continuity of setting. The house was on the site by 1673 when John Brown Sr. gave the property to his son Nathaniel, but may have been built c. 1662 when Brown originally acquired the land. The Brown House is associated with the early 20th century restoration movement. Mrs. W.G. Mitchell had the house restored c.1920. The restoration included replication of the original sheathing for fireplace wail finish, the introduction of a staircase copying the Parson Capen House staircase, and the reconstructior of the exterior chimney along the lines of the plastered chimney at the Parson Barnará House.
REFERENCES Cummings, Massachusetts and its First Period Houses, Publications of the Colonial Society in Massachusetts,51:143-144. - 3- Stadle to Inventory form at bottom is Fom: 20000 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number Page . OMB Approvel No. 10210018 1/21/40 Multiple Resource Area Thematic Group Name First Period Buildings of Eastern Massachusetts TR State Nomination/Type of Review Cover s'I. Abbot--Stinson House 2. Adams, Abraham, House su'3. Adams--Clarke House 4. 4. Beverly Grammar School S.rs. Blanchard--Upton House 16. Brown House S'"7. Brown, Austin, House 548. Burnham, James, House 5M9. Carlton--Frie--Tucker House 10. Chase, Samuel, House öubstantive lcviaa Entered in the Hat1onal Register Date/Signature Skeoper Betlnn Sauze 2/9/90 Sakeoper Betkf Savye 3/9/9.
Attest prsoper Atelasa Byun 3/9/50 Attest ilbstantiva 4ukau - Boto Sauge 3/9/90 Attest Intored 1n the tateszed RueiatoKeeper Aeluuasyun 3/1/50 Attest (Keeper Substantiva Horísu setbok. Sarge 3/9/9 Attest Entered in the Mational Register -Tkeeper AelamByue 3/9/20 Attest Busstaneive Borsegfkeope Bethf. Surage 3/919 Attest Bubstantive Reríaif& Keeper Attest fo Keeper Mabstantive Revieg Setlg. Sauzge 2/9/9 BtlL.
Savage 3/9/90 Entered in the National Register freoper Attest AtelorSyun 3/216 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET REQUESTED ACTION: NOMINATION PROPERTY Brown House NAME: MULTIPLE First Period Buildings of Eastern Massachusetts TR NAME: STATE & COUNTY: MASSACHUSETTS, Essex 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: 90000223 NOMINATOR: STATE REASONS FOR REVIEW: REQUEST: N SAMPLE: COMMENT WAIVER: N LACCEPT RETURN ABSTRACT/SUMMARY COMMENTS: N SLR DRAFT: N REJECT PROGRAM UNAPPROVED: NATIONAL: 3/9/40 _DATE Entered in the National Register 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 UTMS verbal boundary description boundary justification ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENTATION/PRESENTATION _sketch maps _USGS maps photographs OTHER COMMENTS Questions concerning this nomination may be directed to presentation Phone Signed Date 76 Budge xtruet, Hamilton Hamilton,, TA Brown House 85:04 7e brudge steet extrmion 1985 Ist Peicd Buldiys af E.
Ma, TR Hamiltun. MA Brown House He Burdge steet detall: summesto 1985 Ist Perid Buldligs af E Ma, TR 19:32 Haemiltn, Brown House 7e bredge stei left-hand raom 1985 IstPoiid Buldings 1 F Ma, TR 19:29 Hamilton, Bronn House Hebud stree riph hand room Ist Peridl Buldines Of E.Ma, TR 19:31 Hamitton, TA Brown Hruse 76 bridge Street attec 1985 Ist Peridl Buldiys of E. Ma, TR 19:26 Please refer to the map in the Multiple Property Cover Sheet for this property Multiple Property Cover Sheet Reference Number: 64000281