BlockThe nomination, in full
Bibliography, boundary description, and the people who prepared and reviewed the nomination.
HASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 80 BOYLSTON STREET BOSTON, MA 02116 photos 16:23 Right-hand room :24 Right-hand room :26 Right-hand chamber :31 Exterior view sketch Map:! - argilla Ra." - Heartbreak Ra Essex St. M REFERENCE ES QUADRANGLE Z E N 19/ 350-000 / 4725-000 Ipswich HLE 1:25.000 NNN 4 9 00 FORM NO. 34 Town Ipswich. 009 Address 37 Heaitbreak Road Historic Name James Burnham House Use: Present Residential Original Residentia] DESCRIPTION Date c. 1677-1703 Source Waters, Candlewood Style First Period core/Colonial Architest unknown Revival Exterior Exterior Wail Fabrie. shingles Outbuildings farage designed by Mckim, Mead and White - earlv 20:* Major Alterations (with dates) teit-hans cell and rear ell added: 18=h C. Condition g00d Moved no Date Asrease 4,2 acres Sesting semi-rural. abutting marsh and woodlands on road with widel! spaced heuses cf mixed 18-20th C.
construction - Recorded by Anne Gradv Orçanization B.U. Dace 1985 INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Office of the Secretary, Boston Commumity : IPSWICH Form No: 34 Property Name: House vames surnnam Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below. SIGNIFICANCE The Burnham house retains integrity of location, design, setting, and association in its First Period. Integrity of materials and workmanship is presumed, but cannot be verified until First Period construction is examined on the interior. There is strong evidence, however, both physical and documentary, that a significant First Period structure is enclosed within the later finishes of this house, making the house eligible under Criterion D as likely to yield information important to First Period architectural history.
3) nearly 20 feet square room dimensions (consistent with other major 17th century buildings in Ipswich); 4) extreme width of summer beam boxes on both floors, suggesting that the enclosed summer beams are among the widest on record; 5) the disparity in wall width between the first and second floors on the three outer walls of the right-hand room (deeper walls on the first floor are often a telltale sign that overhanging second stories were later closed in, cf. the Ross Tavern). One of these features alone would not be sufficient proof of First Period construction, but together they provide compelling evidence that the Burnham house was constructed in the First Period.
The house, in room dimension, suspected presence of overhangs, and possible presence of crossed summer beams most closely resembles the Whipple House and the Tavern in Ipswich, and may, therefore, like those houses, be part of what Cummings called the distinctively elegant regional school of architecture that flowered in Ipswich in the late 17th century.[1] EXTERIOR DESCRIPTION The James Burnham House is a 5 bay wide, 2 1/2 story, one room deep structure with rear ell. The right-hand room and chimney bay comprise the earliest part of the house. The left-hand rooms and the rear ell were added in the 18th century. A 20th century, 2 story porch abuts the west end. The house retains First Period massing with steeply pitched roof and the original central chimney. The facade reflects updatings of the house at several periods.
Windows, Second Period vernacular in style small in size, are asymmetrically placed. Iwo windows light the ample east rooms, while a single window on each floor lights the smaller west rooms. The exterior incorporates subtle shingle style detailing in the form of slight, curved projections over some of the windows. An early 20th century enclosed, one story entrance porch and dormer windows added in the 1950s give the house a Colonial Revival character. MAJOR FIRST PERIOD FEATURES No First Period features are exposed in the house.
However, the combined evidence of room dimensions, beam size and configuration, joist spacing, -1- Staple to Inventory form at bottom INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORI CAL COMMISSION Office of the Secretary, Boston Conmmity : IPSWICH Form No: 34 Property Name: House James Burnnam Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below. probable presence of overhangs on three sides enclosed within the walls, and steep roof pitch is sufficient to presume First Period construction. The right-hand room is a spacious 19 1/2 feet wide by 18 1/2 feet deep. The longitudinal summer beam is enclosed in a box 18 1/2 inches wide. the outer wall, the summer beam is supported by a post with box of egually ample dimensions.
The shallowness of the summer beam box and the size of the room in fact suggest the possibility of a crossing transverse summer beam now totally hidden within the ceilings, a framing system which would be consistent with the overhangs suspected on three sides (see below). Joist spacing as indicated by nail evidence is 17 to 18 1/2 inches on centers. The walls of the room, as indicated by the depth of the window reveals are one foot thick. In the right-hand chamber, the longitudinal summer beam also encased in an 18 1/2 inch wide box. The box of the post which supports the summer beam at the outer wall is only 10 inches wide, however. The outer walls of the upstairs room are at 5 inches thick, as opposed to a foot thick in the downstairs room. In the attic no framing is visible because the space has been finished off for living quarters.
The owner reports that roof framing is of principal rafters and common purlins. The cellar extends only under the right-hand rooms and rear of the house. The field stone chimney and foundation walls have a recent facing of brick, which replaced and earlier deteriorated brick facing (like that which survives at the Low House across the street). The framing of the first floor visible in the cellar is composed of a transverse spanning beam with wide flat chamfer and joists with butt cogs. LATER SIGNIFICANT FEATURES The interiors received a thorough remodeling in the Federal Period. Simple mantelpieces with pilasters, broad friezes, or mitered moldings around the fireplace opening are found in all rooms. The staircase is in a simple, but graceful Federal style. A garage north of the house with a diamond paned window and elliptical arches above the doors was designed by McKim, Mead and White.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION Deed research by the Rev. Thomas Franklin Waters of Ipswich in the early 20th century strongly suggests the house was one of three owned by James Burnham before 1703 on Heartbreak Road: 1) the house Burnham acquired from Samuel Poad in 1677 [2]; 2) a new house Burnham built before 1687 [3]; or 3) another house in which James Burnham lived in 1703. [4] many transfers of land with vague boundary descriptions among people with Staple to Inventory form at bottom INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORI CAL COMMISSION Office of the Secretary, Boston Commmity: IPSWICH Form No: 34 James surnnam Property Name: House Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below.
similar names makes it difficult to determine which of the three houses mentioned is the present Burnham house, but the location of pre 1677 house seems to match best the location of the current house. James Burnham, son of Thomas Burnham who built the Giddings-Burnham House on Argilla Road (Form # 36) served as a trooper in King Phillips War, fighting in the Narragansett winter campaign under Major Samuel Appleton of Ipswich. James Burnham was also a witness in the Salem witch trials of 1692. His real estate dealings in the Candlewood section of Ipswich suggest that he was a man of some wealth, who could have afforded to construct or acquire a house comparable to the Whipple House. James Burnham's son who died 8 years after his father left an estate of 5000 pounds. REFERENCES 1. Cummings, The Framed Houses of Massachusetts Bay, Cambridge, Belknap Harvard University Press, 1979: 127. 2.
Essex County Registry of Deeds. Ipswich deed 4:281. 3. Thomas Franklin Waters, Candlewood, Publication of the Ipswich Historical Society XVI:5. 4. Ibid: 8. Thomas Franklin Waters, Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Ipswich: Ipswich Historical Society, 1905. -3- Staple to Inventory form at bottom Reps Fom : 0900s 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 IR State Nomination/Type of Review Cover s 'I. Abbot--Stinson House 2. Adams, Abraham, House su 3. Adams--Clarke House 4. 4. Beverly Grammar Schoo1 S.N5. Blanchard--Upton House 6. Brown House S."7. Brown, Austin, House 8. Burnham, James, House/ SM9. Carlton--Frie--Tucker House 10.
Chase, Samue1, House cubstantive isvied Entered 1n the Natlona1 Register Date/Signature Skeoper Betligh Sauze 29/96 Sorkeopar Bettf Savye 3/9/9. Attest fresper AtelusasBgun 3/9/90 Attest substantive ivasu fer Keeper Attest Bitto Savess 3/9/10 Entered 1o tbe Ectlozat Rugisto Keeper. Aeluasyen 3/7/50 Attest Cubstantiva Hovfsu Keeper_ Betlok. Sarge 3/9/9 Attest Entered in the Jathonad Roglater Reeper AelamByu 3/9/20 Attest Busetantivs Horsaghkeeper Both. Saurage 3/919 Attest Substantive RerfadS Keeper Attest Bebstantive Berica ßetlg. Sarge 3/2/9 fttK. Sauise 3/9/90 Entered in the Mational Register & Keeper Attest faresper Attest Atelorayun 3/2186 Nº8 Ferm 10900a United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number - Page_ SUPPLEMENTARY LISTING RECORD NRIS Reference Number: 90000236 Burnham, James, House Property Name Date Listed: 03/09/90 Essex County First Period Buildings of Eastern Massachusetts TE Multiple Name MA state This property is listed in the National Register of Historic Places in accordance with the attached nomination documentation subject following exceptions, tot thstanoilowine Natxonati orask service certification included in the nomination documentation. SxaX. SSavae Sasilgnature of the Keeper ============================= Amended Items in Nomination: 03/09/90 Date of Action Geographical Data: VBD The handwritten scale on the sketch map supersedes the typed or printed one: the handwritten scale is the appropriate scale for the reduced map.
This information has been confirmed with Ann Tait, MASHPO, by telephone. DISTRIBUTION: National Register property file Nominating Authority (without attachment) UNTTED STANAT DNAT PARSORVIEINTERIOR ATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACE VALUATION/RETURN SHEE! REQUESTED ACTION: NOMINATION PROPERTY Burnham, James, House NAME: MAMETPLE First Period Buildings of Eastern Massachusetts IR 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: 90000236 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 N -NATIONAL: N COMMENT WAIVER: N LACCEPT _RETURN REJECT 3/9/40 DATE ABSTRACT/SUMMARY COMMENTS: RECOM.
/CRITERIA AccepK C$D REVIEWER DATE BLINE DiC Sfual Eftistory DOCUNENTATTON see attached conments ysee attached SIR Ou 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 -presentation OTHER COMMENTS Questions concerning this nomination may be directed to Phone Signed Date Jamei Burnhan House 37 Heartbreak Ra Ipsuch, hs Ist Periel Buldllys & E.
Ma., TR 14-31 Burnhan, Janes, Heuse Ist Perid Bulchus d E Ma, TR 37 Iearto rught (sfe 37 Hearth Ipswich Burs hen, Jhaes, Hee rught room It Pereel Bultys a/E 1 Bur shan, Janes, Have 37 Heartbre Zight chanl IstPerid Buldliys of E. Ma, TR Please refer to the map in the Multiple Property Cover Sheet for this property Multiple Property Cover Sheet Reference Number: 64000281