FORMA-AREA Assessor's Sheets USGS Quad Area Letter Form Numbers in Area

5U7
44, 57 I Marlborough I z 44,.'\1061-1080

.>,::Town Marlborough

'.'~:Place (neighborhood or village)

Name of Area Howe Farm Division

,Present Use residential

,'Construction Dates or Period 17th- to early

20th cen tu ry
Overall Condition _

fair

Major Intrusions and Alterations much visible

alteration; some mid- to late-20th C. houses

Acreage approximately 30 acres

Recorded by Anne Forbes, coDsultant

Organization Marlborough Historical Comm.

Date (month/day/year) 5/3/95

Streets included*:

Bolton Street (e. side, #s 91-225)

Chandler Street
Fowler Street
~(o etld. -ic SEE AITACHED SHEET State Street
CA-t'l1~tL6It 51'. Stevens Street (#s 28 through 197)
Union Street (#5 14-50)

"boundaries include entire street, unless

otherwise noted
AREA FORM ..
ARCHITEcruRAL DESCRIPTION [X] see continuation sheet
Describe architectural, structural and landscape features and evaluate in terms of other areas within the
community.

The architectural character of the thirty-acre neighborhood north of Lincoln Street, stretching north
to Union between Bolton and Stevens Streets, reflects its relatively late date of development. In spite
of considerable alteration (very few houses here have escaped changes in form and siding, or
replacement of windows and doors,) the area still accurately presents a varied mix of modest tum-of-
the-century gable-ends and some of the most popular vernacular house-types and styles of the early
twentieth century. Interspersed with the late Queen Anne houses are small Craftsman Bungalows,
American Four-Squares, Colonial Revivals and Cape Cod cottages, a few English Revival cottages and,
on Chandler Street, three duplexes of hip-roofed "two-decker" design.

The area's oldest building, the Howe Homestead at 29 Fowler Street, is a center-chimney, five- by two-
bay vernacular Georgian farmhouse, typical of the second half of the eighteenth century. Part of it,
however, is said to date to the third quarter of the seventeenth century. (See Form #44) Across from
it, at #34 Fowler, is a three-bay 1112-story cottage of the "Cape Cod" type, which may date to ca. 1930,
or may be a much older house that was moved from another location. (Cont.)

(
I
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE [X] see continuation sheet
Explain historical development of the area. Discuss how this area relates to the historical development of
the community.

As the industrial and commercial development of Marlborough center expanded in the latter part of
the nineteenth century, modest residential neighborhoods spread northward into the farmland bisected
by Bolton and Stevens Streets. Coinciding with rapid expansion in the local shoe industry, a protracted
"building boom" began right after the Civil War and continued through the 1890's. This area north of
Lincoln Street between Bolton and Stevens, however, remained open long after other former farms near
the center. It was the last sizeable area north of Main Street to be subdivided for residential
development, and, even after it had been divided into houselots, much of it was still vacant when the
boom subsided.

Until the late 1880's, the whole area was part of what was once a 165+-acre farm belonging to
members of the John Howe family. Descendants of the first white man to settle in Marlborough, their
family homestead at 29 Fowler Street is believed to incorporate John Howe's original small house of
the third quarter of the seventeenth century. (See Form #44.) The building was also an early tavem
(apparently the first in Marlborough). Late in the nineteenth century, the house, with all the land in
the north part of this area, belonged to Ephraim Howe, and a wide strip north of Lincoln Street
belonged to shoe-manufacturer Abel Howe. (Cont.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES [ ] see continuation sheet

Maps, birdseye views, and atlases: 1803, 1830, 1835, 1856/57, 1871, 1875, 1878, 1879:
(Pictorial Marlborough), 1889, Sanboms from 1920.
Bigelow. Historic Reminiscences of Marlborough. 1910.
Marlborough directories and tax valuations.

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

National Register Criteria Statement form.
I~'ENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property

Marlborough Howe Farm Division

Massachusetts Historical Commission

80 Boylston Street Area(s) Form Nos.
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 Z 44, 507, 1061-1074;
1076-1080

ARCHITECfURAL DESCRIPTION, cant.

Three nineteenth-century houses on Bolton Street are also among the oldest in the neighborhood.
#225, a side-gabled, 2 1I2-story five-bay house with a sidelighted entry, may date to the middle of the
century, and could be another relocated building. Two others were constructed in about 1870: the
tall T-plan 2 lI2-story house of J. Burke at 91 Bolton (also included in Area I) has a two-light glass-
and-panel door and openwork porch posts that are characteristic of that time; the Shields House at
#103 Bolton, a two-story gable-end, is much more altered. A twin-chimney, 2 lI2-story side-gabled
house at #117 was built by Michael Ring in the 1880's, probably as a rental house.

State Street was opened at the end of the 1880's, and a line of seven three-bay gable-end houses was
standing on the north side by 1900. All are altered, but some retain some vernacular Queen Anne
decoration, including a decorative verge board at #75, and porches with bracketed, turned posts at
#s 67 and 73. Another, built on the south side in 1894, at #18, has a wraparound porch on turned
posts, and the "half-turned" type of balustrade that was popular in the neighborhoods north of Main
Street at this time. State Street also has two good examples of a multi-unit house-type that was built
at scattered locations throughout this part of town in the 1890's--the four-bay, side-hall-entry, 2 1/2-
story gable-end. Both of those located here, #s 54 and 72, retain their turned-posted facade porches.
#54 has a glass-and-panel door with colored-glass panes; #72 has a slightly older type of entry, with
a large double-leaf glass-and-panel door. A third four-bay gable-end, also with turned-posted porch
and double-leaf door, was probably the first house built on Chandler Street, at #57. The most stylish,
and also the best-preserved, late Victorian house in the neighborhood, #108 Stevens Street, is a little
Queen Anne two-story gable-end with clapboard and patterned-shingle siding, two porches on turned
posts, one with a "half-turned" balustrade, the other with a geometric one. It also has the popular
incised verge boards with heavy corner brackets, and a glass-and-panel door with colored glass panes.

Most early-twentieth-century houses represented in this neighborhood date to the 1910's and 1920's.
There are a few Craftsman Bungalows on Bolton Street, and one each on Union, Chandler, and
State. All are altered. Four American Four-Squares were built on Bolton Street in about 1918, two
on Chandler and one on State Street, most on the rock-faced or rusticated concrete-block foundations
that were typical of the time. 42 State Street retains its exposed rafter ends and entry porch on short
Tuscan columns. Two examples of the little English Revival Cottage are also found here-vat #42
Union Street and 159 Bolton Street. Both have the steep gables that are a hallmark of the type.

The Colonial Revival is largely represented in this neighborhood by several simple, side-gabled two-
story houses. The best-preserved, #52 Chandler Street, has typical 8-over-l and 6-over-l-sash
windows, and a gabled entry hood on paired Tuscan columns. Several Cape-Cod cottages at the west
end of State Street, and two each on Union and Chandler Streets may also pre-date 1950. Chandler
Street also has the only examples in the area of early-twentieth-century duplexes. Three, all of the
hip-roofed "two-decker" type, with two-story facade porches, stand at the west end of the street at #s
86, 103, and 108.
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property

Marlborough Howe Farm Division

Massachusetts Historical Commission

80 Boylston Street Area(s) Form Nos.
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 Z 44, 507, 1061-1074,
1076-1080

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE, cont.

In the late 1880's Ephraim Howe laid out State and Fowler Streets through his property, and divided
the land along them and the adjoining section of Bolton Street into 69 narrow houselots. (Fowler
Street, which follows the line of the ancient lane from Stevens Street to the Howe homestead, was at
first intended to extend west all the way to Bolton Street.) State Street began to fill with houses by
the mid-1890's, but it developed only slowly after that. In the 1890's, Chandler Street was laid out
through the Abel Howe property in the southern part of the neighborhood, and only one or two
houses were standing there by 1900. As on State Street, the lots on Chandler, Union, and Stevens
Streets filled only gradually in the period between the two World Wars. Nearly all the lots on Bolton
Street, however, which was the major north/south route to Marlborough center, were built upon by
1929.

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.
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property

Marlborough Howe Farm Division

Massachusetts Historical Commission
80 Boylston Street Area(s) Form Nos.
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 Z 44, 1061·1080
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INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property

Marlborough Howe Farm Division

Massachusetts Historical Commission

80 Boylston Street Area(s) Form Nos.
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 Z 44, 507, 1061-1074;
1076-1080

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.) Starred properties (''') have an individual form.

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

507 57-255 91 Bolton Street J. Burke House ca. 1870 Italianate vernac.

1074 57-256 103 Bolton Street Shields House ca. 1870 Italianate vernac.

1073 57-288 117 Bolton Street ca. 1880's Italianate vernac.

1072 57-331 159 Bolton Street 1920's English Revival

1071 44-19 225 Bolton Street mid-19th C. Vernac. side-gable

1080 57-267 52 Chandler Street ca. 1930 Colonial Revival

1079 57-281 57 Chandler Street 1890's Queen Anne vernac.

1078 57-260 86 Chandler Street 1920's Two-decker

1077 57-286 103 Chandler Street 1920's Two-decker

1076 57-258 108 Chandler Street ca. 1870 Italianate vernac.

*44 57-345 29 Fowler Street Howe Homestead 3rd Oter 17th; vernac. Georgian
18th Century (Colonial)

1063 57-323 34 Fowler Street early 20th C. Colonial Rev.

(or earlier)

1064 57-302 18 State Street Harlan Creighton Hse. 1894 Queen Anne vernac.

1065 57-300 42 State Street ca. 1918 Four-Square

1066 57-299A 54 State Street ca. 1890's Queen Anne vernac.

1067 57-317 67 State Street ca. 1890's Queen Anne vernac.

1068 57-295 72 State Street ca. 1890's Queen Anne vernac.

1069 57-319 73 State Street ca. 1890's Queen Anne vernac.

1070 57-320 75 State Street ca. 1890's Queen Anne vernac.

1062 57-309 108 Stevens Street ca. 1890's Queen Anne vernac.

1061 44-24 42 Union Street 1920's English Revival

INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property

Marlborough Howe Farm Division

Massachusetts Historical Commission

80 Boylston Street Area(s) Form Nos.
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 Z 44, 507, 1061-1074, 1075-1080
 INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property

Marlborough Howe Farm Division

Massachusetts Historical Commission

80 Boylston Street Area(s) Form Nos.
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 Z 44, 507, 1061-1074, 1075-1080

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INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property

Marlborough Howe Farm Division

Massachusetts Historical Commission

80 Boylston Street Area(s) Form Nos.
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 Z 44, \11061-1080
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INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property

Marlborough Howe Farm Division

Massachusetts Historical Commission

80 Boylston Street Area(s) Form Nos.
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 Z 44,v 1061-1080
:)D7

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INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property
Marlborough Howe Farm Division
Massachusetts Historical Commission
80 Boylston Street Area(s) Form Nos.
Boston; Massachusetts 02116 Z 44;v 1061-1080
:)b1
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property
Marlborough Howe Farm Division
Massachusetts Historical Commission
80 Boylston Street Area(s) Form Nos.
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 Z 44, v 1061-1080
St>7

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