Plimpton--Winter House

The Plimpton-Winter House, built in 1868, is located in Wrentham, a small town 25 miles southeast of Boston at the headwaters of the Charles River. The Ital ianate-style house sits about 1,000 feet southwest of the town common on South Street, a major roadway in Wrentham since the 17th century. Formerly a residential neighborhood near the center of town, the area in which the Plimpton-Winter House is located is gradually changing to conmercial use as the town grows increasingly suburban. The Plimpton-Winter House is now the Wren tham Branch of the Foxboro Savings Bank.

To the south is the Thomas Proctor House, a Second Empire-style structure erected in 1867 that now houses the Ross Funeral Home, while across the street are the radically altered Greek Revival/Italianate style building that now serves as Wrentham Cooperative Bank (ca. 1870), and the Rev. David Avery House (Federal-style, ca. 1788), which now serves as the rectory of the St. Mary's Catholie Church. To the north of the Plimpton-Winter House stands the Colonial Revival-style Wrentham Town Hall, built in 1955 on the site of two late 19th century residences. To the west and south of the property lies a neighborhood that is still predominantly residential in character. The square, half-acre lot on which the house sits slopes gradually to the rear.

The house is set back about 30 feet from the street on a small lawn. Old photographs show that the house was once surrounded by carefully landscaped gardens and fronted by a semicircular drive. Today, however, the building is approached by a curved brick walkway leading from the two dr iveways (entrance and exit) that now lie on either side of the house and lead to a parking area in the rear.

(in one paragraph) The Plimpton-Winter House retains integrity of location, mater ials, design, and workmanship, as well as association with two prominent Wrentham bus iness Massachusetts. Its fully realized design was probably taken from a patternbook. The house thus fulfils Criteria B and C of the National Register of Historic Places on the local level. Incorporated in 1673, Wrentham was until the late 19th century an agricultural conmunity with a tiny town center and outlying farm cottages. With some moderately successful industrialization (straw works), Wrentham's growth was slow but steady throughout much of the 19th century. Therewas a light concentration of conmercial and institutional building at the town center and residential structures nearby.

Most of the latter are vernacular expressions of the Greek Revival and Second Bmpire styles, with later Queen Anne and Colonial Revival examples as well. There were few high-style dwellings erected in the center; the Plimpton-Winter House is one of the few examples, and is one of the only Italianate-style houses in town. The house was built for Francis N. Plimpton (1828-1913), an employee of the National Bank of Wrentham (now South Shore National Bank) from ca. 1845 to ca. 1910. Plimpton, a native of nearby Foxborough, began his banking career as an assistant cashier. By the time he built the nominated property, he held the position of Director of the bank, a post he held for forty years.

addition, Plimpton served as a justice of the peace, was Wrentham's treasurer for 44 years, and was an active member of the town's Democratic party. His interest in horticulture was well known locally and the gardens of the nominated proper ty were said to be among the finest in town when he lived there. The house was bought by Murray Winter in 1915, two years after Plimpton's death.