The Nathaniel Cowdry House is a historic house at 71 Prospect Street in
Wakefield, Massachusetts
Wakefield is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, incorporated in 1812 and located about north-northwest of Downtown Boston. Wakefield's population was 27,090 at the 2020 census. Wakefield offers ...
. Built about 1764, it is one of Wakefield's oldest buildings, built by a member of the locally prominent Cowdry family, who were early settlers. The house was listed on 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 1989.
Description and history
The Nathaniel Cowdry House stands on the north side of Prospect Street, a busy through road in a residential part of northwestern Wakefield. It is a -story wood-frame structure, with a
rubblestone foundation, side-gable roof, central chimney, and
clapboarded exterior. It is five
bay
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...
s wide, with a small shed-roof projection on the left side known regionally as a "Beverly jog". A slightly larger gabled ell projects to the right side. The main entrance has a simple Georgian surround with wide
pilaster
In classical architecture
Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...
s and a
cornice
In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...
d
entablature
An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...
. Interior features of the house include original batten doors with leather strap hinges, and a plaster ceiling.
The house was built about 1764, probably on the site of the house of Nathaniel Cowdry's ancestor William, one of the area's early settlers. The house was originally three bays wide and four deep, a local variant to typical Georgian design, and was later extended to be five bays wide. The house remained in the Cowdry family until 1866, and owned farmland in the area until about 1900; next door to this house stands the
Jonas Cowdry House, built by Nathaniel's son in about 1833.
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See also
*
* National Register of Historic Places listings in Middlesex County, Massachusetts
References
{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Houses completed in 1764
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Wakefield, Massachusetts
Georgian architecture in Massachusetts
1764 establishments in the Province of Massachusetts Bay