I FORM B - BUILDING Assessor's number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number

Massachusetts Historical Commission I 93-89-A I IMarlborough I AE 647

80 Boylston Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02116

Town Ma rIborough

Place (neighborhood or village) _

Marlborough Iunction

Address 56 Framingham Road

Historic Name Michael Burke House

Uses: Present dweJ1ing

Original dwe]]jng

Date of Construction ca 1895

Source maps; visual assessment

Style/Form Federal Revival

Architect/Builder unknown

Exterior Material:

Sketch Map Foundation granite block

Draw a map of the area indicating properties within
it. Number each property for which individual WaUffrim wood dapboa rd
inventory forms have been completed. Label streets,
including route numbers, if any. Attach a separate Roof asphalt shingle
sheet if space is not sufficient here. Indicate north.
:>< Outbuildings/Secondary Structures _
e ~ '.I'
"':;:0.- former gambrel-roofed carriage house, now
q'v: ~ t-*~1 on adjacent lot
Major Alterations (with dates) enclosed

~/1?
/-\2
©1o porch and wooden fire escape on north end,

C>2...y a few windmys replaced

'-1~ N
1t? Condition good
~
Moved [X] no [ ] yes Date __ N•...•.•••.
/A"'-- __

Acreage 1 89 acres

1ecorded by Anne Forbes Setting On large, open lot with stone wall

Organization for Marlboro His! Comm along front A few mature trees In residen-
tial area with many modern houses, a few
Date 119/95
, 19th-centuTV.. residences
BUILDING FORM

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION [] see continuation sheet

Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings
within the community.

Although at least one source claims that this house was built in 1887, it does not appear on the map
of 1889. Its style, in fact, would indicate a construction date in the mid-1890's. It is a massive two-
story, three-bay building with a hipped roof. On the facade, a pair of full-height rounded bays flank
the center entry. Another semi-circular bay projects from the rear southeast comer. Three tall brick
chimneys rise from the roof, which is also pierced by a three-part dormer over the center facade, and
a round-headed dormer over each side. Typical of the Federal Revival, the facade is dominated by
a Palladian window at the center of the second story, and by a tall, divided-light, round-headed
window in the upper part of each facade bay. There is a variety of other windows, including large
three-part l-over-l-sash (replacements for at the first story in the bays, and several single l-over-I's.
The main entry has a wide paneled door surrounded by oversized leaded sidelights and transom.
It is sheltered by an entry porch and balcony with elaborately fumed posts and balustrades,
supported on paired Tuscan columns. An open, hip-roofed porch on the south end of the house
is also supported on Tuscan columns.

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE [ ] see continuation sheet

Explain history of the building. Explain its associations with local (or state) history. Include uses of the
building, and the role(s) the owners/occupants pla..ved within the community.

At the end of the nineteenth century, several wealthy Marlborough businessmen built large country
estates on the former farmland at Marlborough Junction. Oren P. Walker built a mansion
(demolished) on Maple Street opposite the factory he founded to make carriages, and later
automobiles, and entrepreneur and leather-dealer Frank Billings built his residence just to the south,
at 93 Framingham Road. (See Form #648.)

This house was built for liquor-dealer Michael Burke, whose store was located on Main Street. The
son of an Irish immigrant, Michael Burke, Sr., in spite of his profession as a liquor dealer at a time
when temperance-minded residents were still closely regulating the sale of alcohol, Michael Burke
developed a reputation as a civic-minded citizen. He donated $1,000 for the building of the library,
served on the City Hall Building Commission, and gave the city a five-acre playground, complete with
benches and a fountain.

After the death of Mr. Burke and his wife, Florence, his nephew, Carroll Daly (Daley) became the
owner of the house.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES [] see continuation sheet

Maps and atlases: 1900.
Bigelow, Ella. Historical Reminiscences of Marlborough, Mass. 1910.
Marlborough Directories.
The Marlborough Enterplise. 1O/31n7.
Marlborough Historical Society: Moineau Photo Collection

[J Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked, a completed
National Register Criteria Statement form is attached.
I FORM B - BUILDING Assessor's number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number

Massachusetts Historical Commission I I Marlborough I AE 648

80 Boylston Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02116
Marlborough

lace (neighborhood or village) _

Marlborough Junction

93 Framingham Road

Frank Billings House

Present c1we1ljng

Original dweJ]jng

Date of Construction __ .....•.

1L.L89..t...S""""- _

< , :... )'0.·. " ~;

Marlborough Enterprise
.~y .
. ,
Queen Anne/Colonial Revival
., unknown

Exterior Material:

Sketch Map Foundation DIbble

Draw a map of the area indicating properties within
it. Number each property for which individual Wanrrrim synthetic siding
inventory forms have been completed. Label streets,
including route numbers, if any. Attach a separate Roof asphalt shingle
sheet if space is not sufficient here. Indicate north.
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures _

none

Major Alterations (with dates) some IDmor

changes to pottjes and windows

Condition fair

Moved [X] no [ 1 yes Date __ N_I_A _

Acreage 49 acres

"ecorded by Anoe Forbes Setting On large lot with wide, open front

Organization for Marlboro His! Camm yard; mature trees jn front of house along cir-
cular drive. Residential area with many
Date 7/9/95 modem houses, a few 19th-C residences
BUILDING FORM

ARCIDTECfURAL DESCRIPTION [] see continuation sheet

Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings
within the community.

One of Marlborough's largest houses of the 1890's, the Billings House is also the only example of
its type in the city. It is a very long 2 1/2-story residence, 9 by 4 bays, with a combination hipped
and gabled roof. (The upper gable ends stop short of the first and second story end walls, which are \
thus covered with a short section of hipped roof.) A tall chimney pierces the lower roof plane of (
the north end. Abutting the southwest rear comer of the house is a gable-end carriage house with
a facade that repeats the stepped-back gable motif. Its diagonal-board, strapped door is typical of
the 1890's.

Although the style and form of the house are consistent with the Queen Anne era of the 1890's, the
house is not ornate, and what detail there is shows a combination of Queen Anne interest in texture
and form, and the classical vocabulary of the early Colonial Revival. There are two main facade
entries-the southernmost has a pedimented hood supported on a pair of Tuscan columns, and
another near the north end has a glassed-in vestibule. A screened sunporch on doubled square
columns extends from the north end of the house. The windows are 6-over-6-sash, with shutters.
A horizontal band rings the building between first and second stories, and, in a reference to the
Shingle Style, a curved, shingled hood appears over a double shuttered window in the north gable.

\,
)
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE [ ] see continuation sheet )
Explain 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.

At the end of the nineteenth century, several wealthy Marlborough businessmen built large country
estates on the former farmland at Marlborough Junction. In 1891 Oren P. Walker built a mansion
(demolished) on Maple Street opposite the factory he founded to make carriages, and later
automobiles, and liquor-dealer Michael Burke followied with an elegant residence at 56 Framingham
Road (see Form #647.) This large house was the home of entrepreneur and leather-dealer Frank
Billings. In 1881 he had capitalized on the need for Marlborough's shoe-manufacturers to both
acquire and dispose of surplus leather, and founded the Marlborough Leather Exchange. It eventually
became a facility for trading in surplus stock, machinery, and supplies, as well.

Over the years Mr. Billings was also involved in other enterprises. He built a bleaching works nearby
at Marlborough Junction in the 1890's, manufactured women's shoes for a time, and in the first decade
of the twentieth century, undertook the production of shoe heels in the Wood-Willard Building on
Lincoln Street. (See Area Form H.)

In later years this house was the home of a mayor of Marlborough, Frank Walker.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES [] see continuation sheet

Maps and atlases: 1900.
Bigelow, Ella. Historical Reminiscences of Marlborough, Mass. 1910.
Marlborough Directories.
Hurd, D.H. History of Middlesex County. 1890.

[] Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked, a completed
National Register Criteria Statement form is attached.