Wight, Oliver, House

The Oliver Wight House, c. 1789, is a timber-framed 2 1/2 story dwelling of high style, late Georgian design. The structure retains much of its original appearance and stand on its original site west of Sturbridge Center (NR - 11/9/77). However, its setting has changed drastically during this century, and all of its outbuildings have been lost. It now stands amidst the commercial congestion of Route 20, and serves as the focal point of the neo-colonial style Old Sturbridge Village Motor Lodge. Despite these disruptive factors, the motel complex is attractively landscaped, and its units were sympathetically sited to minimize encroachment upon the original building.

The Wight House is set well back from Route 20 with a broad expanse of trimmed lawn and Additionally, a row of mature maples lines one side of the drive leading from the highway. The freestanding structure has a square, central hall plan with twin interior chimneys rising through an unusual, steep, gable on hip roof. It stands on its original foundation which is dry-laid field stone, fragmentarily parged with clay, and capped with dressed granite at grade level. Ihe cellar 1s excavated oniy beneath the rear (east) half of the house, with a crawl space beneath the tront. sheathed with clapboards which appear to be largely original, or early replacements, and are fastened with large-headed wrought nails.

Trim consists of a wide, molded EEEZE water table, beaded cornerboards and a modillion cornice with a row of fine dentils Windows contain 12/12 double hung sash which may be original, and are set in simple frames; at the first story they have projecting caps, while at the second, they are set into the cornice.

/Architect Oliver Wight Statement of Significance (in one paragraph) The Oliver Wight House possesses integrity of location, design, materials and workmanship as well as associations with the settlement of eighteenth century Sturbridge. It is an excellent and well preserved example of high style, late Georgian design, particularly the Worcester County type which features gable on hip or hip on hip roofs. Additionally, its hallway exhibits extensive murals attributed to Rufus Porter. Thus, the Wight House meets criterion C of the National Register of Historic Places. The house was built c.

1789 by Oliver Wight (1753-1837), one of three brothers who built homes during the final decades of the eighteenth century in tnat portion of sturbridge which became known as Wightville in the nineteenth century. The home of one brother, Alpheus Wight, also survives, but in a much altered condition; that of a third brother, David, burned c. 1929. Oliver Wight was a cabinet maker by trade. An oil portrait of him, painted about 1790 (collections of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, Williamsburg, Va.) depicts an apparently successful and self-satisfied young man, dressed most stylishly in the costume of the period, and holding a walking stick.

In the early nineteenth century the house was sold to Ebenezer Howard who kept a hotel there, but it was returned to the Wight family in 1863 when it was purchased by George Wight. It remained in the Wight family until 1936 when it was purchased by Albert B. Wells for Old Sturbridge Village. The Oliver Wight House is an outstanding local example of high style Georgian architecture, and one which preserves almost all elements of its original design. It is a 2 1/2 story timber frame house with a nearly square, central hall plan.