FORM.

A ~ AREA Assessor's Sheets USGS Quad Area Letter Form Numbers in Area

Massachusetts Historical Commission 55, 56 I Marlborough I 1 W 7_48_-_76_S _

80 Boylston Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 P~D ~ ~/t-J~0tlV1 ~

Town Marlborough

Place (neighborhood or village)

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--------------------
Maplewood Area

residential

Construction Dates or Period ca. 1870 to

early 20th c.

fair to good
"

·Major Intrusions and Alterations some visible

alterations: a few mid- to late-20th C. houses

· Acreage ca. 20 acres

...~:""': Recorded by Anne Forbes, consultant

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· Organization Marlborough Historical Comm.

• Date (month/day/year) 4/1/95

Streets included":

Kirby Street
Maplewood Avenue
Mountain Avenue
k..\ fU?::8 S'"ilLG<..-n" Pleasant Street, #s 273, 275, 281
Preston Street
SEE ATIACHED SHEET Russell Street

*boundaries include entire street, unless

otherwise noted

Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Swwy Manual instructions for completing this form
AREA FORM

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION [X] see continuation sheet

Describe architectural, structural and landscape features and evaluate in terms of other areas within the
community.

Twenty acres between Elm and Russell Streets, which includes the side streets of Kirby, Preston,
and Maplewood and Mountain Avenues, is a residential area of largely single-family houses that
represent various vernacular forms and styles of the 1870's through 1910's. Much of it is highly
altered, including the earliest street, Kirby Street, but Kirby is typical in the fact that the general
Jines of its closely spaced, 1 1/2- to 2 I/2-story, gable-end houses are still clearly visible in spite of
many additions and other changes. A few, including the Kirby House at #32, retain features typical
of the 1860's and early 1870's, such as 2-over-2-sash windows, some with molded, projecting lintels,
polygonal bays, and molded, boxed cornices.

Three Italianate vernacular houses on the east side of Maplewood Avenue, including the Wright
House at.#19, with a bracketed, overhanging cornice, two-story polygonal bay and heavy, bracketed
door hood on the facade, were built in the early 1870's. Constructed at about the same time was
the large Italianate "upright-and-wing" house at 6 Mountain Avenue. Standing on what was then
a lane at the rear of the L.P. Howe property at 235 Pleasant Street (see Form #122), it belonged
to his sister, Charlotte Stevens. (See Form #151.) It, too, retains its Italianate bracketed door
hood, which shelters a glass-and-panel door with a pair of round-headed lights. (Cont.)

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE [X] see continuation sheet

Explain historical development of the area. Discuss how this area relates to the historical development
of the community.

The area north of Elm Street between Pleasant and Mechanic Streets was one of several
neighborhoods north of the center that was largely built up with modest houses and cottages in the
latter part of the nineteenth century. The earliest street here was Kirby Street, apparently laid out
by Philip Kirby on the small farm that he had maintained since the 1860's. Six of the present ten
houses, most belonging to Mr. Kirby, and occupied by tenants with Irish surnames, were standing
here by 1875.

The last quarter of the century was a period when the local shoe industry was expanding rapidly,
especially in the nearby "West Village", and housing was needed for the families of the expanded
work forces at the nearby S.H. Howe, J.A. Frye, and Coolidge Shoe companies, in particular. (See
Area Form C.) Both S.H. Howe and John Frye owned considerable land in the area, and
subdivided parts of it into small building lots. It was apparently S.H. Howe, possibly with his
brother, Frank, who laid out the lower section of Maplewood Street in the early 1870's with sixteen
lots, where three houses were standing by 1875. (Cont.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES [ :I see continuation sheet

Maps, birdseye views, and atlases: 1871, 1875, 1878, 1879 (Pictolial Marlborough), 1889,
Sanborns from 1885.
Bigelow. Historic Reminiscences of Marlborough. 1910.
Conklin, Edwin. Middlesex County and its People. 1927.
Hurd. History of Middlesex County. 1890.
Marlborough directories and real estate valuations.

[] Recommended as a National Register District. If checked, you must attach a completed

National Register Criteria Statement [orm.
, INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property

Marlborough Maplewood Area

Massachusetts Historical Commission

80 Boylston Street Area(s) Form Nos.
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 W 748-765

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE, cont.

During the 1880's, John A. Frye, who had acquired nearly a hundred acres in the vicinity for a
progressive dairy farm, "Hillside Farm", and by then had moved to Frank Howe's former property
at 207 Pleasant Street (see Area Form U), created Russell and Preston Streets and Mountain
Avenue, and extended Maplewood to its present length. In spite of the fact that the huge barns,
silo, and other outbuildings of his farm occupied the heart of the area until the 1920's, by that time
most of the 45 lots that he had laid out from Pleasant Street down Russell, Preston, and the upper
end and west side of Maplewood had filled with houses, Although John Frye had initially owned
at least seven of the houses, like S.H. Howe, he sold off most of his properties over the years.

The establishment of other manufacturing businesses, some of them support .industries to the shoe
factories, increased the need for workers' housing in and near the West Village. In 1896, for
instance, the construction of the a.H. Stevens paper box factory at the comer of Maplewood and
Elm (demolished) sparked more residential building in the area.

Housing construction continued here through the early years of the twentieth century, and by 1925,
the neighborhood was virtually complete. The south end of Preston Street, which had originally
turned west to Pleasant Street via "Preston Court", just south of 187 Pleasant, was cut through to
Elm Street in the 1910's, and the huge Craftsman-style Frye family greenhouse complex was built
across the line where Preston Court had been. (See Form #642, with 643 and 644). Russell Street
was also extended east to Mechanic Street at that time, although because of the wetlands located
there, building on the eastern section today still consists of only four modem houses.

The buildings discussed above and listed on the Area Data Sheet represent some of the most
historically or architecturally significant resources in the area. There are several more historic
properties located in the area, however. See Area Sketch Map for their locations.

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INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property

Marlborough Maplewood Area

Massachusetts Historical Commission

80 Boylston Street Area(s) Form Nos.
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 W 748-765

ARCHITEcruRAL DESCRIPTION, cont.

One of the most well-preserved of the neighborhood's larger Italianate buildings is one that was
moved from Pleasant Street--the large cruciform-plan, three-bay, 2 1/2-story gable-end house at 24
Preston Street. Its side-hall entry retains its double-leaf, glass-and-panel door and wide bracketed
hood, and most of its windows are still the original 2-over-2-sash. The orientation of this house,
facing south, with its side to the street, is due to the fact that it faced the former Preston Court (see
below).

By 1890 other house types, in addition to the predominant 1 1/2- to 2 1/2-story gable-ends, were
beginning to appear. A two-story, five-bay side-gabled house with a pair of ridge chimneys at 15
Maplewood was built during the 1880's, and the area's only Second Empire building, a little mansard
cottage with a long wing, was apparently moved by I.A. Frye to "lot 911 (88 Preston Street) of the
subdivision on his farm. During the 1890's, on upper Preston Street John Frye built several virtually
identical two-story gable-ends on brick foundations, most designed with a corner wraparound porch
and second entry in a short side bay. The most intact example is 102 Preston, which illustrates the
unboxed roof line, 2-over-2-sash windows, and wraparound porch with turned posts and saw-cut
brackets that all these houses would have originally displayed.

With the coming of the twentieth century, more styles and house-types slowly brought more
architectural variety to the neighborhood. A large gable-end duplex with two-story, inset corner
porches on turned posts was built on John Frye's lot #2 at 275 Pleasant Street during the 1910's.
In the 1920's, the lower west side of Maplewood Avenue was filled in with two 1 1I2-st01Yside-
gabled houses with shed-roofed facade dormers at 22 and 24 Maplewood, a three-bay, side-gabled
Colonial Revival house with 6-over-1-sash windows at #40, and an American Four-Square at #44.
At the north end of Maplewood, at #122, built ca. 1925, is the area's best example of a Craftsman
Bungalow, a long 1 1I2-story gable-end type, with gabled facade bay, overhanging eaves with
triangular braces, and double-hung windows with four vertical panes in the upper sash. Two more
1920's Craftsman cottages, with the same type of windows and braces, are located at 13 and 19
Preston Street. These are of the side-gabled type, with the roof, pierced by a gabled dormer,
extended over a facade-width front porch. The short porch posts at #19 are of the "battered"
profile often seen in Craftsman cottages. Next door, at #21 Preston, is a hip-roofed version of the
Craftsman bungalow, with exposed rafter-ends at the eaves, and lozenge-paned upper sash in the
double-hung windows. Another altered one stands on John Frye's lot #1, at 281 Pleasant Street.

One of the last significant houses to be built, #67 Maplewood Avenue, is a large hip-roofed, two-
st01Y double-house or small apartment block, constructed during the 1930's on the site of a former
house.
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property

Marlborough Maplewood Area

Massachusetts Historical Commission
80 Boylston Street Area(s) Form Nos.
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 W 748·765

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INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property

Marlborough Maplewood Area

Massachusetts Historical Commission

80 Boylston Street Area(s) Form Nos.
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 W 748-765

AREA DATA SHEET

NOTE: Although the inventory includes the entire area outlined on the Area Sketch Map, only resources
which are mentioned in text of the Area Form have been given inventory numbers and are listed on the Area
Data Sheet. As a rule, these represent the most historically or architecturally significant resources in the area.
There are many more historic properties located within the area, however. (See Area Sketch Map for their
locations. )

MHC# Parcel # Street Address Historic Name Date Style/type Condition

748 56-30 32 Kirby Street Philip Kirby House ca. 1860's Italianate Fair
vernacular

749 56-35 15 Maplewood Ave. ca. 1890 vernacular Fair

750 56-33 19 Maplewood Ave. Wright House early 1870's Italianate Fair/good

751 55-179 22 Maplewood Ave. 1920's vernacular Fair

752 55-180 24 Maplewood Ave. 1920's vernacular Fair

753 55-179 40 Maplewood Ave. 1920's Col. Revival Fair

754 55-184 44 Maplewood Ave. 1920's Four-Square Good

755 55-203 67 Maplewood Ave. 1930's Col. Revival Fair

756 55-219 122 Maplewood Ave. ca. 1921 Craftsman Fair/good

757 55-138 6 Mountain Ave. Stevens House early 1870's Italianate Fair/good

764 55-146 275 Pleasant Street 1910's Col. Rev. Fair

duplex

765 55-226 281 Pleasant Street 1920's Craftsman Fair

758 55-171 13 Preston Street ca. 1921 Craftsman Fair

759 55-170 19 Preston Street ca. 1921 Craftsman Fair/good

760 55-169 21 Preston Street ca. 1921 Craftsman Fair

761 55-133 24 Preston Street ca. 1880 Italianate Fair/good

762 55-153 88 Preston Street ca. 1870's Mansard Fair

cottage

763 55-150 102 Preston Street ca. 1890's Queen Anne Fair/good
cottage
 INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property

Marlborough Maplewood Area

Massachusetts Historical Commission

80 Boylston Street Area(s) Form Nos.
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 W 748-765
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Marlborough Maplewood Area

Massachusetts Historical Commission

80 Boylston Street Area(s) Form Nos.
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 W 748-765

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Marlborough Maplewood Area

Massachusetts Historical Commission

80 Boylston Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02116

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Marlborough Maplewood Area

Massachusetts Historical Commission

80 Boylston Street Area(s) Form Nos.
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 W 748-765

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