Oakes, Edward, House

Located at the southeast corner of Sylvia Road and Main Street, the Edward Oakes House is a rectangular-plan, timber-frame building, two-and-one-half stories high with a massive central chimney. The house rests on a new foundation of poured concrete and is enclosed by a steeply pitched gambrel roof to which an eighteenth-century lean-to ex- tension has been added. The house's exterior is covered with unpainted, stained clap- boards and is trimmed with undecorated corner boards. Windows throughout contain double- hung 6/6sash. The house's facade (north) is symmetrical containing a center-entry flanked by two windows on each side at the first storey and five windows at storey. The heads of second-storey windows are set into the base of the cornice.

The entry is approached from a modern, brick stoop. The entry surround is a modern restoration and con- sists of two pilasters which support a wide entablature and moulded cornice with dentils. Set within this surcound are two three-pane side lights, each of which is set above a panelled base. Set between the side lights is a raised-panel door with six panels. This entry replaced an extensively altered Greek Revival style doorway of which only the side lights and stiles, but no decorative trim or door, remained. Endwalls (east and west) contain five windows each. These windows are of varying sizes and are arranged asymmetrically, two at both the first and second stories and one centered beneath the ridge pole at the attic storey.

The house's rear (south) elevation has been completely reconstructed,as it had been covered by a twentieth-century brick addition until 1976, when this addition was demolished in preparation for moving the house. ." 2: 0 ":m ii= is The Oakes House's interior retains many eighteenth-century features.

(in one paragraph) Builder/Architect Builders unknown 0oD1 DODeE Although moved from its original site, the Edward Oakes House possesses integrity of design, materials and workmanship. The house's simple exterior, central chimney, gambrel lean-to roof and interior woodwork mark it as Medford's best preserved example of vernacular eighteenth century architecture. Although this vernacular house-type enjoyed a wide local popularity during the eighteenth century, most other examples have been destroyed, leaving the Oakes House and the slightly later Jonathan Brooks House (2 Woburn Street, ca. 1781-91) as Medford's best examples of the type. The Oakes House is belleved to have been built in 1728 or 1729 by Edward Oakes, the son of Thomas Oakes and Sarah Tufts of Malden.

In 1720, Edward Oakes married a woman named Joanna (last name not given) and by the late 1720's, the couple seems to have moved Sakos was tom conorable and a toncovterer. to Medford. In 1730, Oakes is listed as a taxpayer in Medford; subsequently, in 1733-1734, oakes was town constable and a fenceviewer. During this period, Oakes' brother, Thomas, also became active in town affairs, serving as a selectman, woodcorder and constable. upon oakes's death in 1753, his house was divided between his widow who occupied the western half and his son, Samuel, who occupied the eastern half.

Locally prominent descendants of Rdward oakes include Jonathan oakes, a Revolutionary War soldier and one of Medford's fifty-nine minutemen who set out for Lexington in 1775; Jonathan Oakes is mentioned in local histories as having lived in an "old house" on Riverside Avenue between the original site of the Edward Oakes House and the Peter Tufts House. Originally located at 460 Riverside Avenue on land which Edward Oakes bought from Peter Tufts, the Oakes House stood between the Peter Tufts House (ca.