Inventory No: Historic Name: Common Name: Address: HRV.173 Rand, Jonathan House and Farm Taylor, William Jr. - Barnard, Ephraim House 44 Littleton County Rd City/Town: Village/Neighborhood: Local No: 23-20,21 Year Constructed: C 1830 Architect(s): Architectural Style(s): Use(s): Significance: Greek Revival Agricultural; Cobbler; Horse Or Cattle Farm; Orchard; Single Family Dwelling House Agriculture; Architecture; Industry Area(s): Designation(s): The (MHC) has converted this paper record to digital format as part of ongoing projects to scan records of the Inventory of Historic Assets of the Commonwealth and National Register of Historic Places nominations for Massachusetts. Efforts are ongoing and not all inventory or National Register records related to this resource may be available in digital format at this time. The MACRIS database and scanned files are highly dynamic; new information is added daily and both database records and related scanned files may be updated as new information is incorporated into MHC files. Users should note that there may be a considerable lag time between the receipt of new or updated records by MHC and the appearance of related information in MACRIS. Users should also note that not all source materials for the MACRIS database are made available as scanned images. Users may consult the records, files and maps available in MHC's public research area at its offices at the State Archives Building, 220 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, open M-F, 9-5. Users of this digital material acknowledge that they have read and understood the MACRIS Information and Disclaimer (http://mhc-macris.net/macrisdisclaimer.htm) Data available via the MACRIS web interface, and associated scanned files are for information purposes only. THE ACT OF CHECKING THIS DATABASE AND ASSOCIATED SCANNED FILES DOES NOT SUBSTITUTE FOR COMPLIANCE WITH APPLICABLE LOCAL, STATE OR FEDERAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS. IF YOU ARE REPRESENTING A DEVELOPER AND/OR A PROPOSED PROJECT THAT WILL REQUIRE A PERMIT, LICENSE OR FUNDING FROM ANY STATE OR FEDERAL AGENCY YOU MUST SUBMIT A PROJECT NOTIFICATION FORM TO MHC FOR MHC'S REVIEW AND COMMENT. You can obtain a copy of a PNF through the MHC web site (www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc) under the subject heading "MHC Forms." Commonwealth of Massachusetts 220 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, Massachusetts 02125 www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc This file was accessed on: Friday, February 08, 2013 at 11:43 PM
FORM B - BUILDING Assessors # 23-20,21 80 Boylston Street Boston MA 02116 USGS quad Hudson form # /73 Town area outlying ce outlying ress 044 Littleton County Road toric Name Rand Farm Present Original farm farm e of construction pre-183 0 rce Scourgie le Greek Revival Form 5-bay gable front Architect N/A Exterior Material: Roof asphalt Wall/trim clapboard Foundation granite Outbuildings multiple See rear of form for detailed description { Alterations ell,porch I See rear of form for detailed description Condition good Moved no Recorded by: Dempsey & FitzPatrick Acreage 32.167 a. Organization: Historical ^: r : r s Setting rural Commission iill/l I V Li l.j See rear of form for detailed description Date: March 1994 J UN 15 i<m
BUILDING FORM 44 Littleton County Road, Outlying ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION x see continuation sheet Situated in the Oak Hill section of, near the Boxborough border, the Rand Farm occupies 32 acres on the east side of Littleton County Road, just south of the juncture with Oak Hill Road. This gable-fronted, centerentry structure measures five bays in width at both the first-story and cornice level, and two piles in depth. The clapboard-sheathed facade is symmetrically fenestrated with a row of five shuttered 6/6 sash windows; a single window lights the tympanum. Due to the wide and shallow gable roof, the lateral walls are only a single-story in height. Slender brick chimneys rise from the center of both lateral roof slopes. A single window lights the first pile and two closely-spaced windows light the rear pile of the left lateral wall. A single-story, modern glazed porch traverses the building's rear wall. Several masses project from the right lateral wall; these include: the single-story, hip-roofed extension which projects from the wall's midsection; the long, single-story gable-roofed lateral ell, which projects from the wall's rear pile; and the small, late-20th-century gable-roofed ell. The hip-roofed projection is lit with a ribbon of 6/6 sash windows and contains a side-entry. The long lateral ell appears to date to the mid-19th century; its facade is lit with both paired and single 6/6 sash windows and an entry is located in the right bay. A recessed secondary ell, which rests on a concrete block foundation, projects laterally from the main ell. This early Greek Revival structure is minimally ornamented with plain corner boards, a pedimented door surround with side-lights, and peaked lintels. HISTORICAL NARRATIVE The residential component of the Rand Farm takes the five-bay, gablefront form, a house type common to Worcester County towns in the early- Republic era. This house is believed to have been constructed by Jonathan Rand in the early-19th century. It was occupied by his grandson, William Taylor, in the 1820s. The farm was acquired by Ephraim Barnard in 1836 and later passed to his daughter, Sarah, who married Fred Whitney. The Whitneys' son, Frederick, inherited the property in the early-20th century. The farm was noted for its apple production during his tenure. REFERENCES Nourse, History of, 1894. Savage, Memoirs of Old Days, 1924. Holman, Map of, 1831. Beers, Atlas of Worcester County, 1870. Richards, Atlas of Worcester County, 1898. Walling, Map of Worcester County, 1857. X Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. 3-ri3zh6.cl Kl^-floqal Rj^isiaj Cr>i sis» S-M4.n\jur>+ -form.
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property Address 44 Littleton County Road, Outlying 80 Boylston Street Boston, Massachusetts 02116 ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION (continued) A low dry-laid stone wall fronts the house's narrow set-back which has been landscaped with mature foundation plantings. A cobble-stone parking area is situated in front of the right lateral e l l. The farm's outbuildings consist of a low gambrel-roofed stable and a gable-fronted garage; both stand to the left and rear of the house. The one-and-a-half-story, vertical-sided garage contains two garage bays; its rear gable-roofed extension contains a third garage bay in its elevated foundation. A small pond is situated to the rear of the house and fields extend to the west and north. A large pole barn is centered in the northern field.
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Massachusetts Archives Building 220 Morrissey Boulevard Boston MA 02116 Community Property Address 44 Littleton County Road Form #173 Augmented by CWD 1996/97 Narrative History, continued. Deed research by Elvia Scorgie appears to have confirmed the traditional chain of ownership for this property. An early house on the property was constructed by 1737 when Josiah Howe sold his forty-acre farm and buildings to Jonathan Rand. Rand gave a half acre of land and its improvements to his son Silas in 1762, "to help him in settling in the world." By 1798, Silas turned over the farm to his son, Jonathan. Jonathan then sold the property to William Taylor Jr. in 1830, and six years later Taylor sold the forty-five-acre farm and two houses to Ephriam Barnard. On the Holman Map of 1831, and with this deed reference, two houses are established on the property. By 1857 the northern house was gone and this house remained. The early construction date thus established for the house suggests that the current building represents a remodeling and/or expansion during Ephriam Barnard's ownership. Like so many of 's farms as described in the late 19th century, Barnard's combined mixed grain and animal husbandry with shoemaking. To his then fifty-and-one-half acre farm, Barnard had added twelve acres of woodland and eight acres of pasture, and he kept a horse, two oxen, seven cows, two two-year-olds, and two swine. In addition to the house, Barnard had a barn and a shoemaker's shop, and kept a carriage and two wagons. The most traditional elements of this farm complex, the oxen and the shoe shop, were gone by 1882. In 1883, after Barnard's death, the farm was leased or acquired from the other heirs by daughter Sarah P. Barnard and her husband Frederick A. Whitney. They continued to keep small numbers of cows on the fifty-five acre home farm, adding a small number of fowl by 1920, but abandoning animals, and with them his barn, by 1930. That same year the farm was sold to Elwyn W. Harris, and during his tenure the parcel diminished by four acres to fifty-one acres. Harris was married to historian Ida A. Harris, editor of the 1940 history which updated Nourse's History. The Harrises also owned another farm on Littleton County Road, located to the south of 146 Littleton County Road and now Carlson orchard land, which was devoted to orchard under their tenure; this is confirmed on the WPA land use map of 1939. They eventually added a garage, an apple house, and a hen house to the plant, continuing the apple culture established by Whitney. The property was held by Harvey A. Ford and his wife Beverly during the 1950s and 1960s, when its size continued to diminish, to forty-six acres in 1955, and to 39.8 acres in 1969; the Fords kept no animals. By 1974 and through 1982, the property was held by Priscilla E. Potter, who added a 6.167 acre parcel of land to her holdings, as well as a swimming pool, barn, and stable; the apple house and hen house were lost after 1960. Potter reports no animals in 1974. The property is now a horse farm. References, continued. Harris, Ida, "Here and There in the Easterly Part of," typescript at the Historical Society, no date. Scorgie, Elvira. Research files at the Historical Society. Tax Valuations, 1866, 1870, 1882, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1945, 1960, 1969, 1974. WPA State Planning Maps, 1939. JUL 2 5 1597
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property Address Massachusetts Archives Building Form # 220 Morrissey Boulevard Boston MA 02125 Area
80 Boylston Street Boston, Massachusetts 02116 Community Property Address 44 Littleton County Road Area Form# 173 Check all that apply: X Individually eligible. Contributing to a potential district. Eligible only in a historic district. Potential historic district. Criteria: X A B X C D Criteria Considerations: A B C D E F G Statement of Significance by Claire W. Dempsey. The Rand Farm is a well-preserved farmstead that retains a small portion of its surrounding agricultural land. The farm was established early in the 19th century and was later associated with apple culture. The house is an example of the five-bay gable-front house, a type associated with northern Worcester County, and is one of a group of houses that testify to the area's continued prosperity in the mid-19th century. The Rand Farm meets criteria A and C at the local level. It retains integrity of location, setting, design, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association.