Download FORM B - BUILDING - Town of Northborough

FORM B − BUILDING
Assessor’s Number
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
USGS Quad
Shrewsbury
Area(s)
NBO.A
Form Number
NBO.239
Town Northborough
Place (neighborhood or village)
Northborough Center
Address 33 Church Street
Photograph
West and south (front) elevations, camera facing northeast.
Historic Name UNITARIAN PARSONAGE
Uses: Present
Residential
Original
Residential
Date of Construction 1875
Source Kent, p. 120.
Style/Form Queen Anne
Architect/Builder Not known
Exterior Material:
Foundation
Stone, cut
Wall/Trim
Aluminum siding
Roof
Asphalt shingle
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures
Attached barn.
Major Alterations (with dates)
Modern siding.
Topographic or Assessor's Map
Condition Good
Moved
X no ___ yes
Date
Acreage .18 acres
Setting
The building is part of the Church Street residential area,
just across the street from the Unitarian Meetinghouse, in
which most of the houses date from the second half of the
19th century.
Recorded by
Bruce Clouette, PAST, Inc., Storrs, CT
Organization:
Northborough Historical Commission
Date (month / year) March 2009
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
BUILDING FORM
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION … see continuation sheet
Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community.
The 2 ½-story house sits on a stone foundation faced with granite slabs; it measures 31 feet by 28 feet in plan. The house has a
gable-on-jerkinhead roof, with just a small triangle of gable (with a triangular window) facing Church Street above the front
slope of the jerkinhead part. A small brick chimney is found on the east slope of the roof. To the west of the house is a small
jerkinhead-roofed former barn, measuring 20 feet by 26 feet in plan; now a garage, the former barn is connected to the house by
a 1-story gable-roofed ell 17 feet in length. There is a 1-story glassed-in porch on the east side, toward the rear.
The façade (north elevation) has a pair of narrow windows on the left, an entry in the center, and a single narrow window on the
right. On the second story, there are a pair of narrow windows on the left and a single narrow window on the right. The attic
story has a pair of narrow windows. Windows have 1-over-1 sash.
The double-door entry is offset to the right under a hip-roofed porch; the stained panel-and-glass doors appear to be original.
The railing between the porch’s square chamfered posts consists of jig-sawn slats with a repeating vertical line of five small cutout and joined circles; a similar pattern is found in the porch’s skirting in front, though the sides of the porch have lattice
skirting.
This house has undoubtedly lost architectural detail because of the installation of siding. Nevertheless, it retains some interest
because of its porch detail and its unusual roof. The jerkinhead roof, imitative of the thatched roofs of Elizabethan England,
appears with some frequency in the 1870s, particularly in ancillary buildings on rural country estates, where it was thought to
create a picturesque appearance. The form was revived in the 20th century for some Craftsman-style houses.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE … see continuation sheet
Discuss the history of the building. Explain its associations with local (or state) history. Include uses of the building, and the role(s) the
owners/occupants played within the community.
This house served as the parsonage for the Northborough’s Unitarian parish for many years. Even after the splitting off of the
traditional Congregationalists and the rise of greater religious diversity, the Unitarian Church, descended from Northborough’s
colonial Congregational society, remained a central focus of the community’s social and religious life. The parsonage was built
in 1875 (Dutton gives the date as 1876), and its first occupant was Henry F. Bond, who served as minister from 1877 to 1882,
and his family. Northborough’s historian, Josiah Coleman Kent, minister from 1895 to 1921, also lived here after his marriage.
According to Dutton, the parsonage cost $3,000, exclusive of land, a goodly amount for the time.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
… see continuation sheet
Dutton, Henry F. “Northborough,” in History of Worcester County, Massachusetts. Boston: C. F. Jewett and Company, 1879,
II, 131.
Kent, Josiah C. Northborough History. Newton, MA: Garden City Press, 1921. Pp. 156-167.
Richards, L. J. New Topographical Atlas of Worcester County, Massachusetts. Philadelphia, PA: L. J. Richards & Co., 1898.
View of Northborough, Massachusetts, 1887. Library of Congress map collection, copy in the Northborough Historical Society.
… Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
If checked, you must attach a completed National
Register Criteria Statement form.
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
NORTHBOROUGH Unitarian Parsonage
33 Church Street
Area(s)
Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
NBO.A
NBO. 239
North (front) and west elevations, camera facing southeast.
Continuation sheet 1
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
NORTHBOROUGH Unitarian Parsonage
33 Church Street
Area(s)
Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
NBO.A
NBO. 239
Detail of entry, north elevation, camera facing southwest.
Continuation sheet 2