Brown--Maynard House

The Brown-Maynard House is located on a 46,617-sauare-foot rectangular lot on the north side of Tenth Street in Centralville, an urban residential neighborhood of Lowel1 on the north bank of the Merrimack River. Sited on a slight incline, the freestanding two-story house abuts early- to mid-20th century houses to the west, north, and east, and Tenth Street to the south. A cut granite-block retaining wall with entrance posts and steps edges the sidewalk. The neighborhood consists primarily of modest 20th century dwellings erected on land formerly associated with mid-19th century estates or in agricultural use. The nominated property originally consisted of two acres, reduced to its present size by 1862.

Erected circa 1852-1853, the Brown-Maynard House is characteristic of the Italianate style. It is sauare in plan with two rear wings. The foundation is partially exposed granite block, and the walls are sheathed with clapboards; corners are accented with paneled pilasters. The shallow hip roof features a sauare bracketed belvedere with three round-head windows on each side. At the cornice level are paired pendant brackets. Fenestration is regularly spaced. Original six-over-six double-hung sash is enframed by molded window caps on modillions, louvered shutters, and sills with modillions. The primary feature of the south (front) and west elevations, four and five bays respectively, is the verandah supported by eight Doric columns.

It extends the full width of the south elevation and the front three bays of the west, which are recessed to The main entrance to the building is within the recessed portion: an octagonal paneled door enframed by an etched glass transom and partial sidelights, set within a fluted door surround. The adjacent windows are elongated.

(in one paragraph) Builder Architect Unknown The Brown-Maynard House possesses integrity of location, design, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. It is an exceptional example of a wel1-designed and wel1-preserved Italianate-style house, built during a period of extreme arowth and rising affluence in Lowell. The property's historical significance lies in its associations with Lowell's industrial and commercial profited directly from the city's prosperity in the mid to late 19th century. The building thus meets criteria A and C of the National Register of Historic Places on the local level. Until the early 19th century, Centralville was a sparsely settled agricultural community within the Town of Dracut.

Two local entrepreneurs, foreseeing the possibilities for residential subdivision, petitioned the General Court in 1825 for a bridge to link Centralville with the developing town of Lowell. Over the next several decades, the land closest to the river was slowly built up with modest housing and tenements whose residents included skilled laborers and mill workers. Tenth Street, originally the colonial route to Methuen, was on the outer edge of the subdivision. Here, and on the elevated sites north and east, a number of substantial, stylish houses were built during the mid 19th century. Together with a less imposing Italianate-style house at 104 Tenth Street built in the 1850s, the Brown-Maynard House was among the first residences constructed on the street.

It remained somewhat isolated well into the 20th century, when a number of modest single-and two-family residences were built as infill. The Italianate style was popular in Centralville as elsewhere in the third auarter of the 19th century. Most examples, however, were modest side-hall-plan, 1 1/2 or 2 1/2-story buildings with front-facing gable and perhaps a polygonal bay on the front facade.