The Windsor Road Historic District is a residential
historic district
A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...
just north of the village of
Waban
Waban (16041685) was a Native American of the Nipmuc group and was thought to be the first Native American convert to Christianity in Massachusetts.
Life
Waban was born about 1604 at Musketaquid, near the present town of Concord. While there i ...
in
Newton, Massachusetts
Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately west of downtown Boston. Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages, without a city center. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of Ne ...
.It includes 48 houses on Windsor, Kent and Hereford Roads, a cul-de-sac subdivision adjacent to the village center and the Brae Burn Country Club, which was mostly developed between 1888 and 1920.
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 v ...
in 1990.
Description and history
The Windsor Road area was among the landholdings of William Strong, a farmer and real estate developer, who acquired in 1875. He actively promoted the construction of the Circuit Railroad (now the
MBTA Green Line D branch
The Green Line D branch (also referred to as the Highland branch or Riverside Line) is a light rail line in Newton, Brookline, and Boston, Massachusetts, operating as part of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Green Line. Th ...
), which arrived in 1888, and formed the nucleus of Waban village. Strong laid roads out on his land, and between 1888 and 1907 fifteen houses were built on Windsor Road. By 1950, the area was built out by the addition of another twenty houses, and by construction of the Brae Burn Country Club.
[
Windsor Road extends northward from the center of Waban village, and turns west before ending at a dead end adjacent to the country club. Kent and Hereford are spur roads between Windsor Road and the country club. The district is in size, and includes a total of 48 residences on large landscaped lots. Several of these houses were designed by architects, including Strong's own house at 48 Windsor Road, built in 1896 to design by H. Langford Warren, and 102 Windsor, also designed by Warren. Both of these houses are Queen Anne in style, with Shingle overtones. The Colonial Revival is well-represented in the district, with fine examples at 55 Windsor (1897) and 63 Windsor (1903). There are also fairly early examples of Tudor Revival houses at 92 Windsor and 210 Kent Road. The district has only four houses that were built after 1950; none of them contribute to its historic significance.][
]
See also
*
References
{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
National Register of Historic Places in Newton, Massachusetts
Historic districts in Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts