Abraham Hill House

The Abraham Hill House is an historic First Period house in Belmont, Massachusetts, United States. Probably built in the early 18th century, it is one of the oldest buildings in the town. Its construction history shows changing residential trends over two hundred years of history. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.[1]

Abraham Hill House
Abraham Hill House
Location388 Pleasant St.,
Belmont, Massachusetts
Coordinates42°24′10″N 71°10′6″W
Arealess than one acre
Builtc. 1725 (1725)
Built byAbraham Hill
Architectural styleColonial
MPSFirst Period Buildings of Eastern Massachusetts TR
NRHP reference No.90000164[1]
Added to NRHPMarch 9, 1990

Description and history

The Abraham Hill House is located northeast of downtown Belmont, on the southeast side of Pleasant Street (Massachusetts Route 60) between its junctions with Prospect Street and Scott Road. It is a 2-1/2 story wood frame structure, with a gabled roof and clapboarded exterior. It is oriented with a gable end to the street, and its main facade on the side. The facade is three bays wide, with asymmetrical positioning including a slightly off-center entrance. Two brick chimneys rise from the interior through the rear roof face. There are 4 rooms to each floor in the main house. Each room has a fireplace. The kitchen had an extension from the chimney to ovens. On the left side of the house, the rear section extends beyond the side wall, a feature known regionally as a "Beverly jog". A single-story ell extends to the rear (northeast) side of the main block.[2]

The house is one of the oldest houses in Belmont, if not the very oldest. Its construction date is claimed by local historians to be 1693, but architectural analysis places its construction later, c. 1725–1750. It was enlarged significantly in the 1790s by Abraham Hill's son James, who was born in the house. Alterations included the conversion of the house from a central chimney plan to a central hall plan. It remained in the Hill family until 1942.[2] The stockade fence was added in the 1960s. The ground floor windows are only 3-4' from the sidewalk. The hand hewn floor boards were about 2' wide of a yellowish orange color after waxing

See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. "NRHP nomination and MACRIS inventory record for Abraham Hill House". Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved 2014-04-07.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.