Photographs from the nomination case file, National Park Service records.
Clark Houses
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in
1978. A historic map-sheet match is not published yet. The record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.
From the record
“The Historical and Natural History Society at South Natick was started in 1870. Its name indicates the intent of its founders, - scientific investigation and local historical research.”
History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County (1880). Machine-read text.
one of 1100 National Register listings in Middlesex County · listed in 1978 · category: Building · one of 3 National Historic Landmarks in Middlesex County.
National Register reference number.78000453- the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
HE neighbor towns of Natick are, on the east Neediiam and Diiver in Norfolk County, Sher- Imrii to the south, Franiingham west, and Wayland north. Lake Cochituate, the Long Pond of our fathers, but resuming its Indian name when it became Boston's water-supply, is a noteworthy natural feature. Charles River crooks through South Natick; and on the edge of Dover Pcgan Hill rises four hundred feet. Natick has three villages : the compact, populous Centre, on the Boston and Albany Railroad, seventeen miles from the city ; Felchville, a mile north ; and two miles southeast tlie original settlement, South Natick. Population, by the census of 1875, 7,419.
History is silent as to the exact time of removal from Nonantum; but on coming to Natick they laid out three parallel streets, two on the north, and one on the south side of the water, and divided the land into fifty lots more or less. That would show a population of two hundred probably. A few houses were built, but Gookin says they liked wigwams better as being warmer and more portable. Then for the general good a fort was constructed, ditched, banked, and stockaded; round and capacious.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 129 fires within 5 miles of Clark Houses between
1995 and 2020, burning about 56 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 7 were recorded as arson.
Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted
here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
Reported cause
Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
45
Debris and open burning
43
Recreation and ceremony
12
Arson/incendiarism
7
Power generation/transmission/distribution
6
Natural
4
Smoking
4
Misuse of fire by a minor
3
Railroad operations and maintenance
3
Fireworks
1
Equipment and vehicle use
1
The most recent of
them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service
that recorded it.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. Museums hold 1,431 specimens
collected within 10 miles of Clark Houses between 1898 and
1975: 1,043 Animalia, 193 Fungi, 187 Plantae, 4 Chromista, 4 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown.
Collected by A. B. Seymour, A. E. Feldman, A. F. Newton and others. Each is a
physical object with a catalogue
number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was
collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be
concluded from a species being absent.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
10 workings within 5 miles of Clark Houses: 7 past producers, 1 plant, 1 producer, 1 unknown.
2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Iron, Peat. Distance is straight-line from the
map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring
settlement's page as well.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Natick, the town this property stands in, in 25 storm reports between 1998 and 2020: 15 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 3 flood, 2 lightning.
The reports record 4 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office
filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date
opens the federal record of that event.
Route 9 near the pumping station was flooded. The intersection of Speen and Timer Streets was closed due to flooding. A small car was stuck in the flood waters. The Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority train tracks were flooded near downtown Natick. The first floor of Coolidge Gardens on Cottage Street was flooded. Four cars were stuck in flood waters at the intersection of Route 9 and Wethersfield Road. The area near the Natick Mall was flooded with six to twelve inches of water.
No historic map-sheet match is published
for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs
a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.
Browse the county's mapped places while that work is
pending.
From the nomination file
2,738 words on record
When this property was proposed for the
National Register, someone wrote the case for it: what the building is,
and why it matters. That document is a federal record in the public domain.
It is quoted below word for word, never summarised. The text was read off the scanned case file by machine, so the
occasional stray character is the recogniser's and the 1970s
typewriter's.
Description of the property
The Clark Houses are located at 74 and 76 West Central Street near the center of Natick. West Central Street (Route 135) is the main road between Wellesley and Framingham. The two houses are situated in a residential neighborhood and are immediately surrounded by homes of many styles and ages. The two stand side by side and together occupy less than one acre of property landscaped by low bushes and topiary shrubbery. Both of the buildings were constructed in the late 19th century and represent coherent examples of the Second Empire style. The Edward Clark House, 74 West Central Street, is located on the corner of West Central and Forest Streets. The structure was built in 1870 for Edward Clark. It greatly influenced the design of later structures around it.
It is a three story T-plan Second Empire style building with a granite foundation. The house is sheathed in beaded clapboards painted a light umber. All trimwork is painted off white. Cornerboards and watertable are plain. The wide molded entablature has decorative scroll brackets supporting the overhanging eaves. The high mansard roof is covered with fish scale polychromatic floral pattern tiles. The molded roof has ornamental floral designs at the top of each roof corner. There is a center chimney. The building is symmetrical. Fenestration is varied in design and ornate. The three bay wide facade faces east toward the driveway off West Central Street and Forest Street beyond. It is dominated by a central projecting three story pavillion, one bay in width.
The pavillion is an open porch at the first story level. Four steps with iron railings lead to this entrance porch. Its triangularly pedimented roofline is supported by two sets of double columns.
BUILDER/ARCHITECT The Clark Houses are significant as two of the finer examples of the Second Empire/ mansard style in Natick. They are also significant for their association with Edward Clark, a local entrepreneur. Edward Clark was born in Natick in August of 1838. He was the son of Nathaniel Clark, builder of the Clark Block in Natick Center (N.R. nomination - Natick Center H.D.). Edward was established as a prominent Natick grocer by 1882. His business was housed in the Clark Block. He succeeded his father as town treasurer from 1889-1910 and while in office handled more than four million dollars. Edward was a director of the Natick National Bank, of which his father was a founder.
During his lifetime, he also served as the Water and Sewer Commissioner, a Trustee of the Morse Hospital, and the Treasurer of the Park Cemetery Association. He died in 1910.
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 78000453, 14 pages, held by the National Archives in Record
Group 79. See the
catalogue record.
Listed places nearby
6 within 8 miles
Other National Register properties close
enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both
positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties
to their map sheets.
Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.
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