Day, Fred Holland, House

The Fred Holland Day House is located on a half-acre lot at the corner of Day and Bullard Streets, on a hill above the center of Norwood. The house is sited close to the Street in a mixed neighborhood of 19th and 20th century houses. The house was built in 1859.as a 2½ story Italianate style house with a mansard roof and cupola. It was extensively rebuilt during the years 1890-93. to its present appearance. The Fred Holland Day House is 2½ stories and the plan is roughly cross-axial. The central mass of the house is a 2½ story ridge roof section with the gable parallel to the street. On either side are 3½ story gabled wings which intersect asymmetrically. To the rear is a lower 2½ gabled wing. The first floor is a multi-toned beige brick with elongated stretchers.

The second and third floor elevations and gabled ends are stucco with rectilinear and curvilinear half timbering ornamentation. Fenestration throughout the house is varying case- ment and sash windows almost exclusively leaded. Across the facade is a low projecting porch that extends into port cochere on the south-east elevation. The main entrance is on the western end of the facade and on the eastern end of the the facade is a rectangular bay set with two sash windows. Above the entrance on the second floor is a projecting rectangular oriel. On the corner of the facade and southeast elevation are two three sided oriels that in combination give an impression of wrapping around the corner. The gabled end attic floor extends over the rectangular oriel of the second floor.

The wide angle of the gable is complimented by the simple linear barge boards and small pendant at the apex.

/ARCHITECT J. Williams Beal STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE The Fred Holland Day House is significant for its unique architectural styling, of the incredible reconstruction, and for its associations with the remarkable Mr. Day. The architect of the house, J. William Beal, worked principally in the Boston area. Among his other commissions were: the Plymouth County Hospital and Jail, the Repertory Theatre, Huntington Avenue, Boston, and the Walnut Street Congregational Church of Boston. Architecturally the house is a blend of several movements popular at the time of its reconstruction. While the stucco and half timbering ornamentation is obviously Tudor Revival, the plan of the house is pure Shingle Style. This is particularly evident in the "Great Hall".

Apparent too, is a definite influence from Wright's work of the period. This can be seen in the long low front porch and port cochere as well as the masonry. Fred Holland Day was renowned for his collection of materials on Keats, his photography, literary associations, and work in publishing. At the age of 26, Mr. Day traveled to Europe to study and write on the life of Balzac. Much of this was published in the Boston Transcript, the gentleman's newspaper. While in Europe, he became interested in keats. He traveled throughout England with Louise imogen Guiney searching for material on the life of keats. Mr. Day and Miss Guiney, with the aid of Charles Eliot Norton, Thomas Bailey Aldrich and others established a Keats museum in Hampstead, England. Because of his knowledge of Keats, Mr.

Day met Amy Lowell, who spent many hours at Day House researching her biography of Keats. When Mr. Day returned to America he undertook the re-building of his grandfather's house. Mr. Day established the publishing firm of Day and Copland in conjunction with Herbert Copland.