BlockThe nomination, in full
Bibliography, boundary description, and the people who prepared and reviewed the nomination.
FORM B - BUILDING LIAOI AENIUU VUKYEY MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 80 BOYLSTON STREET BOSTON, MA 02116 - photos 75:5 Rear wall, right-hand chamber 75:8 Right-hand room 75:9 Left-hand room - 75:13 Rear corner post. right-hand chamber JAN 2 4 1990 263 FORM NO. 61 Town Topsfield : Address 86 Howlett Road 009 Historic Name French-Andrews House 75:15 Detail fireplace trim, left-hand 75:19 Exterior view Sketch Map: Howlett Rd Route TM REFERENCE EGS QUADRANGLE Z E N 19 /341-080 / 4722-740 Georgetown (now Ipswich) CALE 1:25,000 Use: Present Residential Original Residential DESCRIPTION Date c. 1718 Source Cummings. Mass. & its First Pe Houses, p.187 StyleFirst Period ArchitectUnknown Exterior Wail Fabric Clapboards Outbuildings Garage / Barn - early 20th c. newer late 20th c.
animal shelter Major Alterations (with dates) Lean-to added: 1919; rear, east extension: Condition good 1950s Moved no Date n/a Acreage 3.8 acres Setting rural, narrow winding road. Fields and woodlands surround house on south slope below poute 1 Recorded by A.G. Organization B.U. June 1986 - Date INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Canmmity: TOPSFIELD Form No: MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Office of the Secretary, Boston Property Name: French-Andrews Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below. SIGNIFICANCE The French-Andrews House retains integrity of location, design, materials, workmanship and feeling in its late First Period frame and finish which embody distinctive characteristics of form and construction eligible under Criterion C. The c.
1718 frame, characteristic of late First Period treatment in its minimal decoration, nevertheless embodies certain features which link it to earlier buildings in the Topsfield area and even to the earliest buildings in Massachusetts. The massiveness of the frame and the use of beams which are deeper than they are wide relate the structure to the Parson Capen house of 1683. The deeply jowled corner posts are found also in the Stephen Foster house and the Zaccheus Gould house of c. 1700, suggesting a persistent local style of post treatment. The framing of door posts for interior doors into chimney girts and tie beams is a structural technigue found in the earliest houses in Massachusetts including the Fairbanks house and directly derived from English practises.
Normally superseded by other methods of framing doors in later houses, the use of such door posts in the French Andrews House is a rare and conservative expression of direct transfer framing practices. The house is also significant for the survival of original finish in situ. The fireplace trim in the left-hand room and particularly the wide board feather-edged sheathing in the right-hand chamber are noteworthy and up-to-date examples of late First Period finish. On the basis of these features and the minimal chamfering of the frame, Cummings felt that the house was built after Joseph Andrews of Boxford acquired the property in 1718, although earlier there was a single cell house on the site owned in 1693 by John French Sr.
EXTERIOR DESCRIPTION The French-Andrews house is 5 bays wide, 2 1/2 stories in height and one room deep with a lean-to added in 1919 and a rear ell dating from the 1950's. Originally a double cell, central chimney, plan house, the structure was restored in 1919 under the direction of George Francis Dow to its present First Period appearance. Diamond-paned, leaded glass casement windows were installed and the chimney rebuilt from the attic floor with a decorative exterior pilaster modeled after the one on the Parson Barnard House in North Andover. The simple doorway has a small hood. MAJOR FIRST PERIOD FEATURES First Period features are found in all four front rooms and the lobby. During the 1919 restoration later finishes were removed and the framing exposed. Remaining original finish was carefully preserved and new finishes matching the old ones were installed in many areas.
The frame is a particularly massive one, the summer beams and tie beams being c. 8 inches wide and 12 inches deep. The framing system includes bridging Staple to Inventory form at bottom INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Canmmity : TOPSFIELD MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Office of the Secretary, Boston Property Name: French-Andrews Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below. (longitudinal) summer beams and transverse tie beams. In both upstairs and downstairs rooms, front, rear and end beams show peg holes for the studs which flanked the original windows. The original windows at the center of each wall were approximately 28 inches wide. Joist spacing in the first floor ceilings is 21 inches on centers, while those of the second floor are spaced 25 inches on centers.
In the left-hand room, the large kitchen fireplace with rear ovens appears to retain its original trim. Boards with a wide bead at the edge cover the jambs and lintel of the fireplace which is recessed about 8 inches, and is 58 inches high by 107 inches wide. The chimney girt and post are covered with boards also finished with a broad bead in this case almost a quarter round, at the edge. The rest of the framing is exposed. The summer beam has 2 inch wide flat chamfers and taper stops, while the girts are plain. The horizontal feather-edged sheathing which covers the outer walls was presumably installed during the restoration in 1919. In the lobby, vertical feather-edged sheathing enclosed the staircase, again presumably restoration finish of 1919. Cummings noted that posts for interior doors are framed into the chimney girts and tie beams, a very conservative construction technique.
The door posts are molded along the outer edge. In the right-hand room, the summer beam is decorated with 2 inch wide flat chamfers and taper stops. Vertical feather-edged sheathing on the walls and the trim of the fireplace in this room was installed in 1919. In the left-hand chamber, early plaster is preserved on the outer walls. The vertical sheathing of the fireplace wall was put in during the restoration. The summer tie beam and chimney tie beam have flat chamfers and taper stops. In the right-hand chamber, the summer tie beam is also finished with flat chamfers and taper stops. In both chambers other framing members have minimal flat chamfers or none at all. Posts are dear waliwded he fightseand seaerer prese esftsdgisa unen vere wide horizontal boards with feather edges each more than 30 inches wide and 18 feet long.
This original wall was apparently the source for the design of the restoration finish in the rest of the house. The front and side walls of the right-hand room are covered with horizontal feather-edged dating from 1919. The inner wall which has no fireplace is finished with vertical feather-edged sheathing. The attic displays a principal rafter, common purlin roof. In the cellar, there are two massive spanning beams each similarly decorated with 2 inch wide flat chamfers but for unexplained reasons running in different directions. There is a large fireplace with ovens in the right-hand cellar.
Much of the firebox appears to have been rebuilt during the 1919 Because of the slope of the land, the right-hand cellar is at ground Staple to Inventory form at botton INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Carmmity : TOPSFIELD Form No: 61 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Office of the Secretary, Boston. Property Name: French-Andrews House Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below. HISTORICAL INFORMATION The house is associated with the early preservation movement, having been restored in 1919 under the supervision of George Francis Dow for Thomas Emerson Proctor. Dow, who was restoring the Parson Capen house further down Howlett St. at the same time was associated for many years with the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities.
Dow made careful observations of the structure during restoration, recording the presence of both horizontal and vertical which resembles the surviving original finish to the extent that it is sometimes difficult to tell new from old. Most of what appears to be new sheathing, however, has an extra small molding on the feather-edge. Possibly Dow was sophisticated enough to add the extra molding as a label so that the new sheathing could be readily distinguished from the old. Further research in SPNEA's archives should be undertaken to document this important early restoration. REFERENCES 1. Abbott Lowell Cummings, Massachusetts and its First Period Houses, Boston: Colonial Society of Massachusetts, 1979: 187-188. John H. Iowne, "Topsfield Houses and Buildings," Ihe Historical Collections of the Iopsfield Historical Society 8(1902): 22. HABS drawings. 2.
Cummings, Framed Houses of Massachusetts Bay, 1625-1725. (Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1979): 153. 3 Staple to Inventory form at botton NPS Form 10-800-8 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number Page OMB Approvel No. 1024-0018 1/24/90 Multiple Resource Area Thematic Group Name State Nomination/Type of Review First Period Buildings of Eastern Massachusetts TR 21. Foster, Stephen, House S4'22. Foster, William, House 23. Fowler, Rea Putnam, House Date/Signature Entered in the Eaer aia Reior f'Roper DelmBzun 8/4/50 Attest ubataativa Borlar fokeeper Attest Entered in the Nat1ozad Boglatox/Keeper pethL Sauge 11/ ReluseaByen 3/1/70 Attest 24. French--Andrews House Entered in the #ationel Begister. ykeéper Attest AelareAgen 3/9/20 s~'25.
Friend, James, House Eubatentiva Berie JrKeeper Entered in the Attest Beesl Savage t9. 26. Frye, Samuel, House Hatdonad Boglatox kbeper SelmnAgu 3/4/90 Attest jM27. Fuller, Joseph, House Rebotaeia Brsn Saopos Bath fl. Savage 9/40 Attest 28. Fuller, Lieut. Thomas, House entered in tne saterod RetstorJkeeper AlelorenByun314k2 Attest 29.Giddings, George, House and Barn Entered in the Akeeper deluresbgu 3/2/20 Nat1onal Register Attest 30.Giddings--Burnham House Subatantiva Bertus Jokeeper BithX.
Sevase 3/190 Attest UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET REQUESTED ACTION: NOMINATION PROPERTY French--Andrews 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 OF4THDALST:200/90 3/10/90 DATE OF WEEKLY LIST: REFERENCE NUMBER: 90000263 NOMINATOR: STATE REASONS FOR REVIEW: PDIL: REQUEST: N SAMPLE: COMMENT WAIVER: N «ACCEPT _RETURN ABSTRACT/SUMMARY COMMENTS: N SLR DRAFT: N NATIONAL: REJECT -3/2/20 DATE intered in the Hational 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 OTHER COMMENTS USGS maps photographs _presentation Questions concerning this nomination may be directed to Phone Signed Date 86 Howett Stree Tapsfeeldi French-Andreus Aouse dle, Howlett Road Exterion vew 1985 Ist perióll Buling, ef FE.
Ma MPA Topsfuld, it Tresch- Andreus touse 86 Howlett Roced rykt-hard.ram 1985 Ast Periid Buldings af E. Ma MRA Topstield, TA French-Andreus t 8le Howlett Road rear wall, right-hand 1985 Ist trid Burklinesof Er Ma, MRA 75:15 Topsteld. TA French-Andreus Ho. Ste Howlett Roud detul fireplace trum 1985 Ast perad Billhngs of the MRA Topsteld, IA Frerch-Andreusto. 86e tewlett Road rear cocner past 1985 Ist Percd Duldines af Fo Ma, 49 75:13 Topsfeld, French-Andreus House Sle Howlett Road Left-hand room 1985 1 Peral Buldings qf E. Ma. MRA Please refer to the map in the Multiple Property Cover Sheet for this property Multiple Property Cover Sheet Reference Number: 64000281