The Adams-Magoun House is a historic house at 438 Broadway in

Somerville, Massachusetts Somerville ( ) is a city located directly to the northwest of Boston, and north of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a total population of 81, ...

. Built about 1783, it is one of the city's few surviving 18th-century buildings and its best-preserved. It 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 Adams-Magoun House stands on Winter Hill in central Somerville, roughly midway between

Magoun Square Magoun Square is a neighborhood centered on the intersection of Broadway and Medford Streets on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It is located between the neighborhoods of Ball Square and Winter Hill. It is a mixed-use urban ...

and the Winter Hill commercial district. It is set facing east on the south side of Broadway, between Bartlett Street and Glenwood Road. It is a 2½-story wood-frame structure, with a

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

d roof, two interior chimneys, and a

clapboard Clapboard (), also called bevel siding, lap siding, and weatherboard, with regional variation in the definition of these terms, is wooden siding of a building in the form of horizontal boards, often overlapping. ''Clapboard'' in modern Americ ...

ed exterior. The main facade is five

bays 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, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...

wide, with its entrance at the center, framed by

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 topped by a half-round

transom window In architecture, a transom is a transverse horizontal structural beam or bar, or a crosspiece separating a door from a window above it. This contrasts with a mullion, a vertical structural member. Transom or transom window is also the customary U ...

and gabled

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...

. The interior follows a typical center hall plan, and has retained a number of original features, including particularly ornate turned

baluster A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its cons ...

s on the main staircase. The house was built by Joseph Adams in 1783, and was the farmstead house for a farm of . It is one of a handful of 18th-century houses in Somerville, and its main entry transom window is believed to be one of the oldest of its type in the Boston area. Adams was married to Sarah Tufts, whose extended family owned large tracts of land in the town, including the tracts which eventually became

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

. She was the daughter of Peter and Anne Tufts. Their daughter, Sarah Ann Adams, married John C. Magoun (1797–1882), for whom

is named. Magoun was a local assessor, served on the

school committee A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional ar ...

as an overseer of the poor, and was a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in the

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

. At the time of Adams' marriage to Magoun, the farm extended from Broadway to the

Boston and Maine Railroad The Boston and Maine Railroad was a U.S. Class I railroad in northern New England. Originally chartered in 1835, it became part of what was the Pan Am Railways network in 1983 (most of which was purchased by CSX in 2022). At the end of 1970, B ...

, between Central and Lowell streets.

References

External links

* {{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Houses completed in 1783 Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Somerville, Massachusetts Georgian architecture in Massachusetts

Description and history

See also

References

External links