The Wells House is a
historic house
A historic house generally meets several criteria before being listed by an official body as "historic." Generally the building is at least a certain age, depending on the rules for the individual list. A second factor is that the building be in ...
located in
North Adams, Massachusetts
North Adams is a city in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its population was 12,961 as of the 2020 census. Best known as the home of the largest contemporary ...
. Built about 1840, it is a locally rare surviving example of a Greek Revival farmhouse. It was added to the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in 1985.
Description and history
The Wells House is located in the West End of North Adams, at the southwest corner of West Main Street (
Massachusetts Route 2
Route 2 is a major east–west state highway in Massachusetts. Along with Route 9 and U.S. Route 20 to the south, these highways are the main alternatives to the Massachusetts Turnpike/I-90 toll highway. Route 2 runs the entire ...
) and Notch Road. It is a -story wood-frame structure, with a gabled roof, interior brick chimneys, and a clapboarded exterior. Its bays on three sides are articulated by two-story Doric pilasters, which rise to an entablature below the cornice. The gable ends on the sides are fully pedimented. The main facade is five bays wide, with the center entrance set in a recess with flanking sidelight windows and pilasters, and a transom window above.
The house was built in about 1840, and is one of the city's oldest Greek Revival buildings.
[ It was built for Orson Wells, who first settled in North Adams in the 1810s and established an acid production facility nearby.][ They also owned much land in the area, even as it industrialized; around the turn of the 20th century the family still owned of farmland. This land was eventually developed, but the Wells house remained in the family until 1968.]
See also
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References
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Houses in North Adams, Massachusetts
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Berkshire County, Massachusetts
Greek Revival architecture in Massachusetts