Mary Fiske Stoughton House

Mary Fiske Stoughton House
Mary Fiske Stoughton House
Mary Fiske Stoughton House, from the northeast, before the 1900 alterations.
Mary Fiske Stoughton House is located in Massachusetts
Location: 90 Brattle St.
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Coordinates: 42°22′31″N 71°7′34″W / 42.37528°N 71.12611°W / 42.37528; -71.12611Coordinates: 42°22′31″N 71°7′34″W / 42.37528°N 71.12611°W / 42.37528; -71.12611
Built: 1882-83
Architect: H. H. Richardson
Architectural style: Shingle Style
Governing body: Private
NRHP Reference#: 89001246[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP: June 29, 1989
Designated NHL: June 29, 1989

The Mary Fiske Stoughton House at 90 Brattle Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is a National Historic Landmark and an icon of American architecture. Henry Hobson Richardson designed the house in 1882 in what is now called the Shingle Style, with a minimum of ornament and shingles stretching over the building's irregular volumes like a skin.

Soon after its completion, art critic George William Sheldon wrote, "few cottages of equal dimensions were ever planned, in this country or abroad, which show better results in point of convenience, spaciousness, and architectural purity."[2] In the 20th century, architectural historian Henry-Russell Hitchcock wrote, "This is one of his [Richardson's] most successful works and is, perhaps, the best suburban wooden house in America. It is comparable only to the finest of Frank Lloyd Wright's."[3]

Sketch plan showing the 1900 and 1925 additions. HABS 1967-69. North is to the top.

Mrs. Stoughton's son, the philosopher John Fiske, made major alterations in 1900: expanding the kitchen wing westward, and the whole rear of the house southward.

A 1925 alteration created a new kitchen as a projecting bay to the front facade, and a 3rd story was added to the east facade's bay window. Sometime after 1969, the kitchen wing was altered again, with the 1900 and 1925 kitchens merged and converted into a garage.

The house was added to the National Historic Register in 1989.[1][4]

Gallery

  • Stoughton House, between the 1900 and 1925 alterations.

  • Hall and Stair (note the curved windowseat of the tower). Photo: HABS 1965.

  • From Brattle Street. Photo: HABS 1965.

  • Stoughton House, 1967.

  • Stoughton House, 2009.

  • Stoughton House, 2009. The kitchen wing was converted into a garage sometime after 1969.

External links

References

  1. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2008-04-15. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html. 
  2. ^ George William Sheldon, Artistic Country-Seats (1886-87), Series 3, plate 36.
  3. ^ Henry-Russell Hitchcock, as quoted in Arnold Lewis, American Country Houses of the Gilded Age (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1982), plate 36.
  4. ^ NPS NHL info
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