The Oliver Ames Jr. House, Easton, MA

The Oliver Ames Jr. House, Easton, MA. 1862 Photo: Joel Abroad

The Ames house in Easton, MA, was built by Oliver Ames Jr. a member of a prominent local family who owned a shovel factory and was involved in the Union Pacific Railroad. It was designed by George Snell, an English architect who opened a firm in Boston in 1850. The house is clapboarded with wooden corner quoins and follows the symmetrical plan. It certainly reflects Ames' family stature in Easton. The house has several fancy features. On the first floor, the window hood moldings are typical bracket and cornice types; a wooden belt course separates the first and second floors. On the second floor, the windows are segmental arched with brackets, pediments, and carved doodads inside the pediments (people loved their carved doodads). One odd aspect is the tiny sills on the windows, which look almost comically undersized. The main porch is very deep with square columns with chamfered corners. It looks like it could be a port cochere. The central window on the front and side facades are double tombstone windows with a fantastic curving pediment over them that curves from the corners to a point. This shape almost looks Eastern European baroque, but can be found in Italianate houses, even though it's decidedly un-Italian. The cornice has paired brackets and is simple, with a thick architrave board and a panel, making it a paneled cornice. A central pediment breaks the cornice and has a small fanlight window.

A neat feature of the house is how the side facade is so well finished. It has a projecting central bay that echoes the central bay on the front (except it has a bay window). The stunning feature of the house is the cupola. The cupola has brackets and inverted brackets at the corners, giving it a flowing, almost exotic, look. Elaborate carvings top the triple arched windows. The hip roof curves up to an attachment at the center which serves as the base for the finial. It has pediments on four sides. This looks a bit pagoda like, since the roof moves up in stages. It's a wonderful cupola that rounds of an interesting house. Images of the lovely interior can be found here.

The Henry Goulding House, Worcester, MA

The Henry Goulding House, Worcester, MA. 1850 Photo: Wikimedia

The Henry Goulding House, built in 1850, is a beautiful specimen of design in Worcester. Subtle and sober, it has a powerful appearance on the street, and it seems to aspire to Anglo-Italianate designs, although certain elements are decidedly outside of that vein. The house follows the symmetrical plan and appears to be stuccoed. As we have seen, the restrained cornice, with closely spaced brackets is typical of Anglo-Italianate, but this house does not employ a full entablature, since it's missing both a full frieze and architrave. The cornice is given rhythm by small panels inserted between the brackets, making it a paneled cornice. The hood moldings are again restrained as in Anglo-Italianate, consisting of a cornice on brackets. The shallow slope of the pediments on the first floor windows suggest Greek Revival influence, which favors shallow pediments over steep pediments. The porch is decidedly unclassical in inspiration (although it also has a sober cornice), consisting of two small arches and a large trefoil center arch in the center with defining moldings that suggest columns. This shape is reflected by the triple arched Palladian design of the door and its side lights. The porch looks to be made of wood laid flush, no doubt to simulate stone and stucco facing. The balustrade is particularly fine on the first floor, with interlocking ellipses. The house is currently the Swedish Lutheran Home for the Aged, the fate of many an Italianate mansion. The mass to the right of the house looks like later additions for that purpose.

70 Thompson Street, Springfield, MA

70 Thompson St. Springfield, MA. 1870s?

This house which stands at the corner of Thompson Street and Bay Street is in need of rehabilitation. I think it is a particularly lovely example that could be quite the eye catcher if restored well. Given that the surrounding restored homes are so lovely, I think this has a good chance of surviving. The house follows the side-hall plan with a hipped roof. The porch is quite lovely with its flat topped trefoil arches. The cornice is simple, as we have come to expect with Springfield, with paired brackets and large dentils (this city loves its dentils!). Greek Revival elements remain in this house; the sidelight and transom door is a Greek Revival/Federal form as are the shallow pediments atop the window surrounds. What impressed me about this house was the side facing Bay Street, a major thoroughfare. On a projecting bay, a two story box window breaks the simplicity of the design by jutting through the cornice with a curving roof that is topped with a rounded pediment. This type of dramatic play with architectural members, particularly that the pediment has long horizontal moldings on the sides, tells me this might be a house from the 1870s. Also noteworthy is the side porch which is recessed into the façade, which livens up the view from the main street. This house seems to have companions on Thompson Street.

At 52 Thompson is this house with an identical neighbor. The Greek revival window surrounds seem to be very similar (though they are eared), although the round arch porch might tell us that it is a bit older. This cornice features several small brackets rather than long pairs. Springfield seems to be a city of conservativism in design as exemplified in the houses I have posted.

One more thing, I just had to post this house on Thompson Street, although it is a Second Empire. It's just one of the coolest examples of the small mansarded cottage I have seen.

101 Westminster St, Springfield, MA

101 Westminster St, Springfield, MA. 1880s?

This house on Westminster Street in Springfield is a part of the neighborhood along Bay Street that is experiencing some major rehabilitation. This house particularly caught my eye because of its period appropriate paint scheme of straw and green. The house follows the symmetrical plan, has a hipped roof with a large cupola that has a somewhat steeper pitched roof. The cornice is of the paneled type with paired brackets and dentils. The house features a porch that crosses the front façade,  with a simple decorative motif and elongated brackets. The bay windows on the side look like they are later additions, probably from the 1890s or early 1900s. I do not know this house's age, as I don't know the age of many of the homes in Springfield. Unfortunately, every house isn't labeled with a plaque with information. Real estate listings (the house was rehabilitated beautifully and auctioned in 2011) say it was built in 1901, but that is far too late for a building of this type. The simplicity of much of the decoration, the fact it lies in a primarily Queen Ann neighborhood, and the Queen Ann front door and elaborate chimney tell me that it might be a product of the 1880s or very late 1870s. Italianates, as we have seen, were still being built that late, although decoration was simplified in accordance with changing tastes, especially after the exuberance of the 1870s. It could also be an older house that was remodeled. At any rate that's my guess (there will be a lot of guessing with Springfield). If anyone does have some information about it, please let me know!

I wanted to post a picture of this interesting Queen Ann, also on Westminster, to give you an idea of the surrounding houses. It has been beautifully restored.

123/125 Mulberry Street, Springfield, MA

123/125 Mulberry St. Springfield, MA. 1850s?

This house on Mulberry Street in Springfield is part of a recognized historic neighborhood. A block away from Union Street, this house is also part of the constructions by wealthy people near Maple Avenue. The house follows the symmetrical plan, but lacks a cupola. The house features double windows on the front façade, with tombstone windows in the center bay on the second floor. What caught my eye on this house were the eared window surrounds, which simulate Greek Revival shallow pediments with corner anthemia, or palmettos. That shows that this house must be an earlier example since it is transitional in its detailing from Greek Revival to Italianate. Of course, these examples here are highly stylized. Springfield's Italianates seem particularly plain and simple, and I wonder whether restraint was an important priority to the city's designers. There are windows wedged into the cornice as well for the third floor; the central one of these has an eared surround which might have topped the others.

The cornice is simple and features a band of frieze molding and rather large dentils. The columns on the porch are an unfortunate replacement and look to be Colonial Revival, from the 1890s or so. They do seem silly supporting such a heavy entablature; originally they were probably thick square columns with chamfered edges. The original doors with arched windows seem to still be in place, a nice feature. Since the central second story tombstone windows are elongated, I would guess the porch originally had a balcony on top, a good restoration project for the owners. The house also features a side porch which is visible on this site. This house's back view is on the Springfield Cemetery, a surprisingly well maintained place. While we might balk today at having a cemetery view, Victorians did not think much of looking at some graves. Cemeteries were conceived of as parks, were romantic, and pleasant places. People in the 19th century often held picnics at the cemetery! Agewise, I would say this house is probably from the 1850s or early 1860s because of the tombstone windows, the Greek Revival window surrounds, and the general detailing. It is definitely not from 1903, as the website says.