FORM B - BUILDING Assessor's number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
Massachusetts Historical Commission 6C-22 Hudson 251; 252
Massachusetts Archives Building
220 Morrissey Boulevard
Boston, MA 02125
Photograph
(3" x 3" or 3-1/2" x 5", black and white only) Label photo on back with town and property address. Record film roll and negative numbers here on the form. Staple photo to left side of form over this space. Attach additional photos to continuation sheets.
Roll Negative (s)
V 33,34
Recorded by A. Forbes, consultant
Organization Bolton Historical Commission
Date (month/year) May, 1998
Town Bolton
Place
(neighborhood or village)
Address 269 Harvard Road
Historic Name Charles Workman House
Uses: Present dwelling
Uses: Original dwelling
Date of Construction ca. 1850
Source maps; visual evidence
Style/Form Greek Revival
Architect/Builder unknown
Exterior Material:
Foundation granite block
Wall/Trim wood clapboard
Roof asphalt shingle
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures ca. 1900 gable-end barn; 1-story 20th C. barn
Major Alterations (with dates) door replace- ment, ca. 1900. Modern picture window in gable and on west ell facade
Condition fair
Moved [X] no [ ] yes Date - N/A
Acreage 7.28 acres
Setting At corner of Golden Run Road.; opposite modern house. Front yard terraced with cut-granite retaining wall.
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
BUILDING FORM
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION
Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community.
According to map evidence, this house is one of Bolton's earlier examples of a typical side-hall-entry, gable-front cottage of the mid-Victorian period, which probably once had more Greek Revival detailing than it does today. This is a two-story version of the type, with a facade that is three bays wide at the first story, and now has a replacement "picture window" at the second. The building as a whole is nearly T-plan in design, with two long one-story ells, one extending out to each side; both ells pre-date 1898. A small shed-roofed outhouse abuts the gable end of the north ell.
Most of the windows in the house are turn-of-the-century 2-over-1-sash. The main cornice is unboxed, and the cornerboards have the wide proportions that were typical of the mid-nineteenth century. The main entry is a general vernacular Greek Revival type with four-light sidelights above lower aprons, flat pilasters, a frieze, and a simple projecting crown. The door is a modern type with a single upper light. A second entry in the west ell has a ca. 1900 door with a large square light above horizontal panels.
A "New England" style, gable-end barn (#252), in deteriorated condition, stands close to the road just north of the house. It is covered in asbestos siding and the remnants of a wood-shingle roof. A second, later one-story barn/wagon shed northeast of the house is said to have been built in this century, although a barn is shown in this position on the map of 1898. It is now one story, with a shed roof, but the proportions of its facade suggest that it may actually be the lower section of another New England barn. (An inspection of its structure should determine whether this is the case). It has a pair of vertical-board carriage doors with a four-pane stanchion window on either side, and a walk-in door at the south end of the main facade. Abutting the south side of this barn is a small ell with another walk-in door and a modern
casement window. This barn is clad in modern sheet metal siding.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
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 farmstead may represent one of the small farms that was divided out of the larger, earlier farms of the Houghton family for members of later generations. A large expanse of the northern part of Bolton extending north into Harvard was owned by Houghtons from the early days of the town of Lancaster in the mid-seventeenth century. By the middle of the nineteenth century, several smaller farms had been created for the descendants of those first settlers. This house is first shown on the map of 1857, under the name of S. Houghton.
By 1870 the owner is shown as Charles Workman. He was a Civil War veteran, and may also have been one of several returning soldiers who settled down to farming upon their return from the war. He was one of the charter members of Warren Post 172--Grand Army of the Republic in 1884. He was here until the end of the 1890's, but is not listed in the directory of 1903.
According to deed research by historian Esther Whitcomb, Francis Fletcher, a Houghton descendant and owner of the farm at 307 Harvard Road (see Form #253), bought this farm, with 22 acres, sometime between 1900 and 1910. He also owned other acreage in Bolton; as he is listed as owning 112 acres in 1903, it is likely that he had acquired this property by then.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Maps and atlases: 1857 (S. Houghton); 1870 (C. Workman); 1898 (C. Workman).
Bolton street directory, in The Hudson Directory. Various years.
[ ] Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
If checked, you must attach completed National Register Criteria Statement form is attached.
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