The McFarland-Sanger House, Hopkinton - Part 1 of 2

The McFarland-Sanger House is one of those rare small houses that has survived into the 21st century. The building is in excellent condition, in the sense that while it has been expanded several times, the interior has seen few alterations. The building is currently owned by the Town of Hopkinton. They received it from a developer, who was planning to demolish the building to make room for a 55+ condominium community. Today, the condos nearly swallow the small house on its quarter-acre of land. The house is on Lumber Street, a rural road in Hopkinton that was historically well-traveled. The area has seen more development in recent years, as large tracts have been sold off and parceled into subdivisions. The town has done little to the building besides removing an ell and maintaining the building's envelope. A new roof was put on several years ago, some windows were replaced, and the building was painted.

The small room at the end may seem like an addition, but it is actually the oldest part of the house.

When the house was first built around the middle of the 18th century, it was a one-room building. This space today is the area furthest from the road, the little space at the west end of the building that seems tacked on. One-room buildings were not unusual for the 1750s, and in fact one- and two-room houses were incredibly common even into the early 1800s. However because they were so small, they were often demolished to make way for a bigger building, or subsumed by additions. Although the original one-room McFarland-Sanger House was added to, the interior was barely touched, making the original space easily visible today.

The single-room space, roughly 13' by 18', was entered from a door on the south wall. It may seem strange that the house is placed perpendicular to the road, but the house was placed so that its main facade faces south and takes advantage of the warming winter sun - 18th century green design! This was a common practice until the beginning of the 19th century, when houses began to be oriented towards the road, regardless of direction.

When you enter the McFarland-Sanger House, you are immediately greeted by the side of a massive fireplace and a set of open stairs up to the half-story. The fireplace is made of stone and parged with concrete, and is very large. It also shows signs of several additions for ovens and stoves, as heating and cooking methods have changed several times since the 1750s. It is unclear if the house originally had a stone fireplace, but it would not be unheard of, especially in a town like Hopkinton that is built on ledge.

The house was built with hand-hewn timbers using traditional timberframing methods. Six posts (the black squares shown above) made up the vertical structure of the house - one at each of the corners and two in front of the chimney, to create a chimney bay. The posts are one indication of the building's early date. They are "gunstock" posts, meaning they are larger at the top and taper about halfway down. This allows for more space to support the difficult joinery at corners, where there would be two beams as well as a rafter coming in from the top. Gunstock posts were being phased out by the end of the 18th century, as new joinery methods and smaller timbers came into common use. The posts were held together by a front and rear plate (the long timbers that span the front and rear of the house), a side girt at either end of the house, and a summer beam, which ties the house together (the beam extending from the front of the chimney bay to the west wall). Above in the attic are six pairs of rafters supporting the roof. Visible on the rafters are builder's marks, Roman numerals used to match up pieces that needed to be joined together. Typically, a house joiner would lay out all the pieces of a house, assemble the joints individually, mark the pieces that went together, disassemble everything, and then reassemble it as a house. It was a long process, but it insured that the house fit together perfectly.

Four hatch marks are visible on each of these rafters, alerting the house joiner that they go together. The six pairs of rafters were pegged together at the top; the peg is visible at the junction of the two pieces.

Who were the McFarlands and Sangers? My original research got tied up in probate records in the middle of the 19th century, so I have not been able to trace deeds back into the 18th century. However it is believed, based on maps and later deeds, that one of the earliest residents of the house, if not the builder of the house, was Ebenezer McFarland (1751-1837). His father Robert McFarland was one of the first settlers of Hopkinton. Ebenezer was active in town politics and was one of the founders of the town's Methodist society. He married Elizabeth Gibson (1752-1847) in 1774, and the couple had eight children. McFarland was probably a farmer, as there was little industry in Hopkinton in the 18th century.

This is the first of two posts about the McFarland-Sanger House. Next I will detail the later additions and more recent history of the building. Stay tuned!

The Odd Fellows Home, Worcester - Lost

The Romanesque Revival style Odd Fellows Home was opened in 1892 to serve as a home for aged members of the fraternal order. A 1902 Classical Revival wing expanded the building’s capacity. Sited on a hilltop overlooking Worcester, the Odd Fellows Home provided sweeping views of the city for its residents. A much-loved local landmark, the building’s five-story clock tower was visible from around the city. One of a number of hospitals and institutions built on the outskirts of Worcester at the end of the 19th century, the Odd Fellows Home occupied this grand building for nearly 100 years until the organization opened a modern facility next door in 1990. After a portion of the building served as a church for a few years, the building was left vacant and deteriorated from a lack of maintenance. The current owner purchased the Odd Fellows Home with the intent to demolish the building and replace it with a single-story nursing home. The demolition was completed during July and August of 2014.

Below are photographs of the Odd Fellows Home during a visit with the current owner in 2012.

Crown Hill Local Historic District

            The City of Worcester recently designated a 40-acre area of Crown Hill a local historic district.  This provides both recognition and protection for the historic buildings within the district.  Crown Hill is one of the city’s oldest residential neighborhoods, with the city’s highest concentration of Greek Revival buildings.  The Crown Hill Local Historic District is bound roughly by Pleasant, Irving, Austin, and Newbury Streets, and includes 152 buildings and 21 vacant parcels or parking lots.  Local historic districts are one of the most important tools at a preservationist’s disposal.  They are used to help preserve an area of a city or town that has retained a significant amount of its historic fabric and character.  Designating these areas as a local historic district helps to prevent inappropriate changes that might negatively impact the area’s historic nature.

             Although the Crown Hill area was subdivided at the beginning of the 19th century, major development did not occur until the second half of the century.  The area’s location just outside of Downtown Worcester made it an ideal site for a middle-class residential district.  As a result, many of the buildings are high style examples of popular mid- and late-19th century styles, such as Greek Revival, Italianate, Second Empire, and Stick Style.  Crown Hill declined, like much of the rest of the city, throughout the 20th century.  Some of the buildings were subdivided into apartments, while others were demolished and replaced by parking lots and modern structures.  Preservation Worcester (then the Worcester Heritage Society) began working in the area in the 1970s, buying properties, rehabilitating them, and reselling them with preservation restrictions to insure their future preservation.  This spurred other local property owners into action, and today the area’s historic character remains visible throughout the district.  Only a small number of buildings have been significantly altered, and few infill buildings disrupt the historic streetscape.  Out of the 152 buildings within the proposed district, only 19 are considered non-contributing, or non-historic.

            Local historic districts provide a local-level review process with the goal of preserving the district’s historic character.  There are over 200 local historic districts in Massachusetts, and Worcester has two other districts: the Massachusetts Avenue Local Historic District was established in 1975, and the Montvale Local Historic District was created in 1993.  The Worcester Historical Commission oversees all three of the districts.  The Oxford-Crown Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976, and this district was expanded in 1980.  However National Register listing provides little real protection for buildings.  Creating the Crown Hill Local Historic District ensures that there is local review of changes in the district.  The new district is also larger than the area covered by the National Register listing, allowing for review of more properties and thus having even more of an impact.  Local historic district regulations apply to non-historic structures and vacant parcels, enabling the Worcester Historical Commission to make certain future development in the neighborhood is in keeping with its historic character.  While there are various federal and state statutes that provide protection for historic buildings, these are limited in their reach.  Aside from preservation restrictions on individual buildings, local historic districts provide some of the best protection for historic buildings.

            The enabling legislation that allows for the creation of local historic districts, Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 40C, was passed in 1960.  This legislation outlines the process by which a city or town may create a local historic district and how the district will operate.  First, City Council creates a study committee; this committee is tasked with examining the historic resources of the area under consideration, and then writing a bylaw to present to City Council.  This bylaw discusses the boundaries of the district as well as the guidelines the local historic district commission will follow in reviewing changes within the district.  In the case of Crown Hill, a study committee was created by city council in September of 2008 at the request of Crown Hill residents.  Following the enabling legislation, a survey of the proposed area’s historic resources is undertaken, ensuring that the study committee is fully educated as they write the bylaw.  A survey of Crown Hill was done in 2010, updating and expanding upon existing information about the area; this survey is now available on the City’s website.  The Massachusetts Historical Commission must approve the study and bylaw before they can be presented to City Council.  Crown Hill’s study and bylaw were approved late last year, and the Worcester Historical Commission voted to pass them on to City Council.  The bylaw passed City Council on March 12, creating the Crown Hill Local Historic District.

            As mentioned earlier, a small section of the proposed Crown Hill Local Historic District is also a National Register of Historic Places district.  There are some important distinctions between these two types of districts.  While the Crown Hill Neighborhood Association has been very active in the creation of the local historic district, local historic districts can be designated without the input or approval of the district’s residents.  This allows a city’s government to protect an area of the city for the greater good, giving local historic districts a greater purpose; their regulations are to preserve the past not only for current residents, but also for future generations.  In the case of a National Register district, however, a majority of property owners must consent to the listing.  What kinds of changes the two districts review also differs.  Properties in a National Register district will only undergo a review process if the work to be done to a property involves federal or state licensing, permitting, or funds.  Since most homeowners do not need or use any of these things when they renovate or rehabilitate their house, National Register listing has little direct impact on an area.  But for local historic districts, generally any changes that are visible from a public way can be reviewed.  It is important to note that only changes will be reviewed; routine maintenance does not fall under the local historic district commission’s purview.

            As evidenced by both the condition of their houses and their efforts to get the district created, Crown Hill residents are very proud of their neighborhood.  Crown Hill has a high number of historic buildings, and many of these buildings still retain all of their trim and have few additions.  The district has seen little infill, with only a small percentage of buildings considered non-contributing.  The neighborhood is also significant as one of the oldest residential neighborhoods in Worcester.  For all of these reasons, Crown Hill was an ideal candidate for designation as a local historic district.  With the creation of the Crown Hill Local Historic District, a local review process will guard against any inappropriate alterations to the numerous historic buildings, helping to protect the neighborhood’s historic character into the future.

This article originally appeared in an edited form in the Fall, 2013 edition of Preservation Worcester's Preservation Matters newsletter.

Greenwood Memorial Pool and Bath House

One of my current projects is preparing a National Register of Historic Places nomination for the Greenwood Memorial Pool and Bath House in Gardner, Massachusetts. The building is city-owned, and up until 2012 was still an operating public pool. It was also used for a number of years by the Gardner High School swim team, which won numerous state championships while practicing at the pool. However the building has long suffered from maintenance issues, and in the fall of 2012 the city decided to close it. An early 1990s outdoor pool that sits to the west of the building is still opened and maintained by the city. Local preservationists hope to convince the city to reopen the pool, or to reuse the building while preserving its historic integrity. Since its construction in 1914, the building has been an important part of Gardner's landscape.

Beginning in the middle of the 19th century, Gardner developed a large furniture making industry. Today it is known as the Chair City and the Furniture Capital of New England. One of the men credited with jump-starting Gardner's furniture industry is Levi Heywood. He and his brothers founded the Heywood-Wakefield Furniture Company, which made furniture in Gardner well into the 20th century. Heywood's descendants were prominent philanthropists, donating numerous buildings to the city they called home. Among these were the Levi Heywood Library, the Heywood Hospital, and the Greenwood Memorial Pool and Bath House.

In 1914, Levi Heywood's grandson, Levi Heywood Greenwood, wrote a letter to the citizens of Gardner. In it, he proposed to build a bath house at his own expense, which he would then donate to the city, to be maintained by the city for the use of its citizens. Greenwood intended the building to be a monument to his parents, Alvin M. and Helen R. Greenwood. At Town Meeting in April of 1914, Gardner's citizens accepted Greenwood's offer, and the Greenwood Memorial Bath House was opened on July 6, 1915. The Bath House had been opened for three days before that, and 5,000 visitors came in just those three days. The Bath House was built on a 3.5-acre lot at the southern end of Crystal Lake. To its west, a low-lying area was maintained as an outdoor swimming pool. The bottom of this "pool" was paved with asphalt in the 1970s, and it was filled in after a modern in-ground pool was constructed just a little further west on the lot in the early 1990s.

The Bath House was an important addition to the city of Gardner. Even in the first few decades of the 20th century, many residents still did not have clean running water in their houses. The Bath House provided a cheap place for residents to get clean. It was common in industrial towns for those residents who had become wealthy to give back; Massachusetts is full of libraries and public buildings named for local philanthropists. Gardner was a thriving industrial city at the time, and the Bath House stands as a symbol of that industrial past. Throughout the 20th century, even as Gardner's industrial base began to decline, the Bath House was available for citizens to use for a very nominal fee. Even into the 1960s, the original 1915 fee for use was maintained.

The building was constructed at a cost of $80,000, and it was designed by the firm of Wiley & Foss of Fitchburg. It was done in the Classical Revival style, which was incredibly popular at the turn of the 20th century for public buildings. Important features include the Doric columns on either side of the main entry, the patterned brickwork at the front and sides of the building, and the carved exposed rafter tails visible at the eaves. One interesting feature of the building that ties it even more closely to Gardner's furniture industry is the way it was originally heated. When the Bath House was first built, the Heywood-Wakefield Furniture Company factory was just a few blocks away. To heat the pool, steam was pumped from the furniture factory to the Bath House basement.

Below is a gallery of the interior of the Greenwood Memorial Pool and Bath House

The entryway to the Bath House

The large wooden check-in desk takes up most of the lobby space. The women's locker rooms are behind the wooden door on the left.

The tiling was redone fairly recently, and the glass block windows were installed in the 1970s.

The edge of the pool, with spectator seating on the balcony above.

The western end of the pool. A large semi-circle window had been here, but was replaced with glass blocks in the 1970s. The door provides access to an outdoor catwalk that was over the original outdoor pool.

The view from the upstairs office space into the pool area.

The balcony walkway around the pool.

Some water damage has exposed the lath above the main stairs.

Stairs leading from the upstairs office area to the men's locker rooms.

A mural in one of the upstairs offices.

The condenser at the center of the photo once heated the building with steam from the Heywood-Wakefield Furniture Company factory.

Hopkinton Center Architectural Tour

Recently I gave an architectural walking tour on behalf of the Friends of Hopkinton 300th Anniversary Celebration. The tours lasted approximately an hour, and highlighted the different architectural styles visible throughout Hopkinton Center.

Hopkinton developed during the early part of the 19th century as a major manufacturer of boots and shoes. A local resident, Joseph Walker, invented the pegged shoe sometime in the 1810s; this was a way of attaching the sole and the upper of a shoe using small wooden pegs, and it made the process of making shoes much easier. By the middle of the century the process had been mechanized, and shoemaking had moved from small "ten-footers" on family farms to large factory buildings in the center of town. Unfortunately, several large fires at the turn of the 20th century destroyed much of Hopkinton's factory infrastructure. After the fires, many of the boot and shoe companies chose to relocate elsewhere, and the town saw little development until Interstates 90 and 495 made the town an outer suburb of Boston in the 1980s and 1990s. So while today Hopkinton's downtown does not have the large factory buildings that you might find in other historic manufacturing cities, many of the houses and shops of the workers and factory owners are still standing. My walking tour focused on these, and showed how the different styles in Hopkinton are representative of its development throughout the 19th century. Below are a few of the highlights from the tour.

8 Hayden Rowe Street - the Lee Claflin House

The Lee Claflin House on Hayden Rowe Street, just off of the Common, is one of the more impressive Greek Revival buildings in Hopkinton. It is a high-style example, with an end-gable layout, fluted Ionic columns, an elaborate door surround, and elongated first-floor windows. The house was built for Claflin by his son, Hon. William Claflin, who was governor of Massachusetts from 1869 to 1871. It is unclear if William ever spent any significant time in this house, but one of the librarians on tour mentioned that the homeowner has been doing some work on the building, and in one of the walls found a metal stamp or press with William's name on it.

28 Hayden Rowe Street - the Samuel Crooks House

Just a few houses down from the Claflin House is the Samuel Crooks House, another high-style example, but this time of the Italianate style. Hopkinton was still growing rapidly during the second half of the 19th century, when the Italiante style was popular. Its features include asymmetrical massing with a side entrance and projecting bays, elaborate woodwork at the eaves and around windows and doors, and large panes of glass in the windows. Because glass production had advanced so significantly by the middle of the century, later styles often feature one-over-one or two-over-two sash, such as seen here on the Crooks House.  Crooks and Claflin were both prominent Hopkinton factory owners who had money to spend on large and ornate buildings like these.

82-84 Pleasant Street - image from the town's 1980s survey

Because Hopkinton Center began to grow in the 1830s and 1840s, residents built a different form of housing than what you might find in other factory or mill towns, such as Uxbridge, Grafton, or Worcester. This double house on Pleasant Street from the 1850s is representative of what you might find in those towns, but is one of the only double houses remaining in Hopkinton Center. By the 1850s, much of Hopkinton Center had already been built up with smaller end-gable Greek Revival cottages, leaving little room for larger buildings such as this.

21 Hayden Rowe Street - the Greek Revival cottage form which is found throughout Hopkinton Center

One common feature on these smaller Greek Revival cottages is that they were often updated with Italianate features at the end of the 19th century. It is rare to see one of these houses in Hopkinton Center that does not have brackets at the eaves or a hood over the door. 

28 Main Street - the Hopkinton Supply Company Building

Hopkinton's only building listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the 1906 Hopkinton Supply Company building is representative of later development in Hopkinton. A fire at the turn of the century had destroyed much of the northern side of Main Street, resulting in a new Town Hall and a row of several new shops in the 1900s. The Hopkinton Supply Company was one of these new buildings, but it stands out from its neighbors for its construction - it is a mail-order building. The building was ordered from the George L. Mesker Company of Evansville, Indiana, shipped to Hopkinton, and assembled on-site. The whole building is constructed of galvanized pressed steel, another unique and interesting feature of the building. Because Hopkinton had little to no growth after the turn of the century, this is one of the few newer buildings in Hopkinton Center.