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About Melrose
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Melrose's rich history becomes clear once you visit or see some of
the historical and impressive houses that range from the late sixteenth
century to the present. We have spent time researching houses in the area
that have architectural, historical, and cultural significance. Please
enjoy reading about your house or houses you've always
admired.
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| Address:
255 Upham Street
Year built: 1703
Style: The Upham house is
of first period colonial architecture. It has a colossal center fireplace
with back to back openings along with a bee hive oven, summer beams in the
two main floor rooms, pine floors and doors, and original mortise and
tenon construction.
Who: The house was built by
Phineas Upham (1682-1766) after he married his wife, Tamzen Hill. In this
house, the couple raised their seven sons and six daughters.
Renovations: In 1913, the
Upham posterity sold the house to the Melrose Historical Society. A year
later, the Society embarked on an intensive refurbishing and restoration
project. In this project, they replaced all the rooms’ ceilings, placed
six feet exposed beams in three rooms, shingled the roof, repaired the
outer walls, and replaced the sills and windows. After these renovations,
the house was turned into a tea parlor, along with a museum that
demonstrated early
Melrose
history and a gift shop.
Now: The Upham Family
Association has owned the house since 1940. The house is open for tours as
well.
Interesting
Facts: One of the members of the Upham family (James B. Upham) wrote the
Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag in 1888. Also, the Phineas Upham House is
listed on the National Historic Register.
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Address:
409 Lebanon Street
Year built:1702
Style: This particular Lynde house is an example of a first period colonial
house. It has wide plank floors, wide plank walls in one room, carved
wainscoting, hand made doors, two of its rooms have floors with stenciling
from the early 1800s that are well preserved, and in some of its six over
six windows, there is still the original glass. Other features include hand
hewn beams, wide floors boards, hand made nails, wooden pegs, and a stone
root cellar thought to be used as a salt box.
Who: Joseph Lynde was the son
of Thomas Lynde and Margaret Martin. The
Lyndes were the first permanent settlers of
Melrose, with their first house being built in approximately 1645 on
Sylvan Street, by Ensign Thomas Lynde.
The Lynde family owned the southern third of
Melrose
for two centuries.
Now: The Lyndes owned and lived in
the house until very recently
Interesting Facts: One story of this
house is that the Lyndes invited General Lafayette while he was touring
the
United States
in 1825 to stay over night.
Lafayette
was pleased because seven of the Lyndes fought in the Revolutionary War.
Also, this house is listed on the National Historic Register.
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Address:
244 Main Street
Year
Built: 1760
Style:
Colonial. This house also contains the original fanlight.
Renovations:
On
April 10, 1819
, the Lynde family barely escaped with their lives from a
terrible fire. After, the house was partially rebuilt by
Warren
’s father, Benjamin,
Renovations include new siding, and a change in the original (clapboard)
exterior wall fabric.
Now:
Miss Janice M. Murphy now lives there.
Interesting
Facts: Deacon Thomas Lynde, an ancestor of the original owner, was the
first settler of
Melrose
. The house was owned and farmed by the Lyndes until the
1920s. The Lyndes were prominent in the life and development of
Melrose.
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Address:
407 Washington Street
Year
built: Approximately 1700
Style:
Center Entrace Colonial
Who:
Captain John Lynde (son of Ensign Tomas Lynde) built this house for his
son, Thomas Grundy.
Renovations:
Some refurbishings include new timber beams, columns, and wooden rafters.
Now:
The current owner of the house is Mrs. Virginia Winslow.
Interesting
Fact: In 1869, Grundy bought one of
Melrose
’s first fire engines and
turned his house into the Wyoming House Co., one of the town’s first
firehouses.
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Address: 344 Vinton
Street
Year
Built: 1790
Style: Colonial
Who:
The Vinton House was built by Ezra Vinton in 1790, on the site of an
earlier house that had been victim to a disastrous fire. Ezra's brothers,
Thomas and Timothy Vinton, both owned and worked on farms nearby. All
three were called into duty to march to Lexington
in Captain Samuel Sprague's Company of Minutemen on
April 19, 1775. Two of the Vintons married Green family daughters. Until the 1840s, all
three Vinton farms, as well as the Green
family farms, accounted for nearly all
the land that is now Melrose Highlands.
Renovations:
The stone and granite foundation can be
dated from the original 1750 house, as well as the barn. The exterior of the
house features some of the original clapboards that are hand-tapered where they
butt and overlap, a large center chimney and a partial hip roof. A
total of five fire places and two chimneys were added to the original
structure. There is an old granite millstone, over four feet wide, re-used as
the front door step.
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Address:
301 West Foster Street
Year
built: 1798
Style:
Federal
Who:
Phineas Sprague IV was the first owner of the dwelling. The Spragues were
the original settlers of
Charlestown
in 1630. The family was
given many grants of land in
Malden
, and they owned much of
Melrose
.
Now:
James F. McArdle currently resides there.
Interesting
Facts: This house is the only remaining Sprague house in
Melrose
. In the 1800s, this area
was known as “The Village,” which was the cultural center of
Melrose
. Also, Captain Blaney’s
Company assembled across the street from the house on his way to
Lexington
and
Concord
during the Revolutionary
War.
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Address: 26 Ashmont
Street
Year Built:1900
Style: Queen Anne-Victorian
Now: The
house is currently being used as a residence.
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Address:
36 Ashmont
Street
Year
Built: 1895
Style: Queen Anne Victorian
Renovations:
The house was completely renovated.
Now: Now
the house is residential.
Interesting
Fact: The house was ranked fifth on the Melrose Victorian
Society Tour in 1983.
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Address:
25 Bellevue Avenue
Year
Built: 1904
Style: Late Victorian
Who: Carl
hamway first owned the house.
Now: The
house is still residential.
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Address:
35 Bellevue Avenue
Year
Built: 1889
Style: Mansard
Who: H.
Woodman
Now:
People still live here today.
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Address:
65 Bellevue Avenue
Year
Built: 1899
Style: Italianate
Now:
People sill reside there today.
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Address:
71 Bellevue Avenue
Year
Built: 1896
Style: Victorian
Now: The
house is still occupational.
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Address:
9 Brown
Street
Year
Built: 1900
Style: Victorian
Who:
George N.
Sergeant first owned the house.
Now: The
house is residential.
Interesting
Facts: The house was built on top of a hill.
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Address:
3 South Cedar Park
Year
Built: 1894
Style: Victorian
Now: The
house is currently acting as a residence.
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Address: 5 Chestnut
Street
Year Built: 1859
Style: Victorian with clapboard exterior wall fabric
Who: Mr. Houghton, a man involved in agriculture,
community development, and transportation, was the first owner of the
house.
Renovations:
While the house was not altered or moved, its stable was turned into apartment houses.
Now: E. Marsolais
currently resides there.
Interesting Fact:
The Houghton family built the house and
stable for horses, but the stable was later turned into apartment houses.
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Address: 63 Clifton
Park
Year Built: 1880
Style: Queen Anne/
Shingle with wood shingles
Who: Mrs. M. W. Tainter, who owned a considerable
acreage in area, owned the hose.
Renovations:
Some changes were made in the 1960s to convert the house into a two-family residence.
Now: The
house is now a two- family abode.
Interesting Fact: The
house is set on high ground and shaded by trees.
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Address: 62 Cottage
Street
Year
Built:1848-50
Style: Greek Revival
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Address:107
East Emerson Street
Year
Built: 1885
Style:
Queen Anne Victorian
Who
: Mary Alice and George first Parks lived here when they were not working on the sea
as merchant sailors.
Renovations:
By 1965, the house was no longer occupied and was petitioned to be
destroyed. Three years later, the house was bought by Edwin and Marie Wood
and restored to its former grace and dignity.
Now: The
house remains in pristine condition to this day.
Interesting
facts: In 1908, a raging fire destroyed the main roof. The roof was
rebuilt and its back ell (a wing of a building at right angles to the
main structure) was added.
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Address:101
West Emerson
Street
Year
Built:1889
Style:
Colonial Revival
Who: The
original owner is unknown, but in the early 1900s the house was
bought by Dr. George Wheeler. Dr. Wheeler used the house as an office and
home.
Renovations:
The interior was renovated in the mid 1940s.
Now: The
house is now owned by the O'Briens.
Interesting
Facts: One resident of the house, Ruth Whales, ran a telephone answering
service out of her house and was remembered for her deep love for cats,
known to have at least ten at any given time.
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Address:
198 West Emerson Street
Year
Built:1890
Style: Victorian
Who: William
S. Soule was a prominent
Melrose
citizen and was appointed “overseer of the poor." At age twenty
nine, Soule was
wounded in the civil war and took up photography. He traveled west, taking
people's portraits. Some were published in his book Will Soule: Indian Photographer at Fort Sill
,
Oklahoma.
The book included photos of Native
Americans such as the Kiowa ,Witchita and Comanche. Soule lived and worked
in the West until 1874-75, when he returned to the
Boston
area. William S. Soule died in 1908, eighteen years after his house was constructed.
Now: Frank and Barbra Jackman
reside there today.
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Address: 816 Franklin
Street
Year
Built:1874
Style: Second Empire
Interesting
Facts: This red brick house has a Mansard style roof and
inside it has a unique multi-bracketed Frieze, (a sculpture on a wall).
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Address:
53 West Highland Avenue
Year Built:
1902
Style:
Shingle/Picturesque with Two
Story Turret
Who: Thomas W. Ripley,
an overseer of the poor and a highway
surveyor, owned the house.
Now: The
house is currently a single-family residence
Interesting Fact:
This house was bought in 1925 by Joseph
and Lucy Ripley, perhaps the relatives of the original owner, Thomas W.
Ripley.
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Address: 116
Hillside Avenue
Year Built: 1885
Style: Colonial Revival
Who: The
first owner of the house was Frank H. Damon, an accountant in
Boston.
Renovations:
The house has a restored demi-lure portico with Ionic columns and a restored carriage house.
Now: The
house is still a dwelling.
Interesting Fact:
The building features a rear porch with reeded columns.
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Address: 49 Lake Avenue
Year
Built: 1852
Style:
Victorian
Who: Mrs.
Samuel Rice was the original owner of the house. Here she
had five services held by Reverend William Monroe, which was
the start of the Trinity Episcopal Church in
Melrose.
Renovations:
The house originally contained wood, but it is now brick veneer.
Also, five fireplaces and three
chimneys have been added.
Interesting
Fact: The house was built during the large expansion of
Melrose
following the 1845 extension of the railroad from
Boston
to Melrose.
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Address: 13 Laurel
Street
Year Built:
1896
Style:
Victorian
Who: The
house's first owner was
Seth L. Brewer, a successful fruit dealer in
Gloucester.
Renovations: The
house was originally built as a single-family residence, but it was later
converted into a two-family house with a recently added two car garage.
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Address: 27 Lincoln
Street
Year
Built:1905
Style: Colonial Revival
Who: The
first owner, George W. Jepson, was a coal business owner.
Renovations:
The house used to have a porch, but it no longer does.
Now:
The house is now a two family and is still in good condition.
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Address: 33
Sewall Woods Road
Year Built:
1895
Style: Richardsonian
style
Who: The
house was first owned by Arthur L.
Smith, owner of A. L.
Smith Iron Works in
Chelsea.
Renovations: During World War
II, the house was converted into a three-family residence. In the 1960s,
the house was restored to a single-family home.
Interesting Fact:
This house was among one of first houses built across
from
Sewall Woods.
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Address:
114 Trenton
Street
Year Built: 1874
Style: Eclectic
Now: The
house's present owner is Mark
Shaw.
Address: 122 West Wyoming Avenue
Year Built:
1870
Style: Italiante Victorian
Who: The
owner, Lewis G. Coburn, was well known in the Melrose community due to his
occupation as the Melrose Tax Collector and an original incorporator of
Melrose Savings Bank since its organization. Mr. Coburn was also a businessman of high
standards, a treasurer for
Wyoming Lodge, and a merchant in
Boston
for fifty years.
Renovations:
Some refurbishing include a garage house with a hip roof.
Interesting Fact:
The house is one of the prominent examples of
Italiante Victorian in the city.
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Address: 33 Warren
Street
Year Built:
1890
Style: Victorian
Who: The Forester
family first owned the house.
Renovations: A window
was added to the steep angularly
gable.
Now: The
house still belongs to Forester Family.
Interesting Fact:
The Foresters have lived there for over
a century.
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Address: 783 Franklin
Street
Year
Built:1840
Style: Gothic Revival
Who:
Captain Boyd
was the original dweller of the house. He commanded a ship and sailed the world,
selling and
dealing merchandise and trading goods. He drowned February 12, 1861, on his
ship The
Ajax
in Kingston Harbour, Dulbin,
Ireland.
Renovations:
After a major fire in the1920s, the garage was altered. In the 1970s, the windows were retro fitted.
Interesting
Facts: The house was originally part of Stoneham.
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Address: 49
East Wyoming Avenue
Year Built: 1890
Style: Colonial Revival-Adams
Who: Frank L. Washburn
owned the house.
Renovations:
Its exterior cladding was replaced by vinyl or
aluminum within the last ten years.
Interesting Fact: At the turn of the century,
East Wyoming
was one of the most prestigious areas before the country club east side.
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