Fowler-Clark-Epstein Farmstead

Last updated
Fowler-Clark-Epstein Farmstead
USA Massachusetts location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location487 Norfolk St.,
Mattapan, Boston, Massachusetts
Coordinates 42°16′47″N71°5′20″W / 42.27972°N 71.08889°W / 42.27972; -71.08889 Coordinates: 42°16′47″N71°5′20″W / 42.27972°N 71.08889°W / 42.27972; -71.08889
Arealess than one acre
Builtc. 1786 (1786)
Architectural styleGeorgian
NRHP reference No. 100005089 [1]
Added to NRHPMarch 16, 2020

The Fowler-Clark-Epstein Farmstead is a historic house and farm complex at 487 Norfolk Street in Boston, Massachusetts. Possibly built sometime between 1786 and 1806, the house on the property is one of the city's oldest surviving farmhouses. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2020. [1] It is now home to the Urban Farm Institute, a local nonprofit organization.

Contents

Description and history

The Fowler-Clark-Epstein Farmstead stands on about one-half acre in what is now a predominantly residential area of northern Mattapan, at the southwest corner of Norfolk and Hosmer Streets. The farmstead includes the main house and a carriage house/barn, set further back from the street than the surrounding later construction. The main house is a 2+12-story frame structure, with a gabled roof, central chimney, and clapboarded exterior. Its main facade is five bays wide, with projecting gabled entry vestibule sheltering its center entrance. Single-story additions extend to one side and the rear. The interior follows a typical center-chimney plan, with a narrow staircase winding around the chimney stack, and rooms on either side of the chimney. [2]

The house's construction date is uncertain. The land on which it stands was inherited by Samuel Fowler in 1786, at which time it only had a barn standing. By 1806, when he died, the property included a "mantion house", which was either built or moved there. Boston has only four documented surviving farmhouses built before 1806. An 11-acre parcel including the house was purchased in 1837 by Mary Clark, whose family probably built the extant carriage house/barn in the 1850s. The Clarke family retained ownership until 1940, and in 1941 the property was purchased by Jorge and Ida Epstein. The Epstein family retained ownership until 2015, when it was acquired by Historic Boston, a preservation nonprofit. Most of the land of the farm was subdivided and sold of by the early 20th century. [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

Spencer–Peirce–Little Farm United States historic place

The Spencer–Peirce–Little Farm is a Colonial American farm located at 5 Little's Lane, Newbury, Massachusetts, United States, in the midst of 231 acres (93 ha) of open land bordering the Merrimack River and Plum Island Sound. The farmhouse, dating to c. 1690, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1968 as an extremely rare 17th-century stone house in New England. It is now a nonprofit museum owned and operated by Historic New England and open to the public several days a week during the warmer months; an admission fee is charged for non Members.

Westphalia is a small unincorporated community in Falls County, Texas, United States located 35 mi (56 km) south of Waco on State Highway 320. Westphalia has a strong German and Catholic background. The Church of the Visitation was, until recently, the largest wooden church west of the Mississippi River. Westphalia is mainly noted for its historic church and convents, but also for its meat market and for its annual church picnic, which is one of the largest in the area. Westphalia is also known for the Westphalia Waltz.

Hulet Clark Farmstead United States historic place

The Hulet Clark Farmstead is located along South Plank Road north of the hamlet of Westtown, in the Town of Minisink, New York, United States. It is a 75-acre property along both sides of the road, consisting of a farmhouse, barn, chicken coop and other outbuildings. While he did not build the house, Clark, a longtime Minisink resident who served the town in several different capacities in the first half of the 19th century, would be most associated with it.

Freegrace Marble Farm Historic District United States historic place

The Freegrace Marble Farm Historic District encompasses a historic farmstead in Sutton, Massachusetts. Although most of its buildings date to the 19th century, the farm has retained the form of a typical 18th-century farm, including a substantial portion of the land granted in 1717 to Freegrace Marble, one of Sutton's earliest colonial settlers. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

Shaker Farm United States historic place

Shaker Farm is a historic farmstead on Dublin Road in Richmond, Massachusetts. The property is notable as the subject of a book by the Andrewses, The Fruits of the Shaker Tree of Life, in which they document the property's condition and restoration. The farmhouse was built c. 1795 by Daniel Hand of New Lebanon, New York, and exhibits a number of examples of Shaker craftsmanship. The Andrewses acquired the property in 1937, and devoted the rest of their lives to collecting, documenting, and promoting Shaker heritage. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. As of 1995, the property continues to be owned by Andrews descendants.

Ross Farm (Northampton, Massachusetts) United States historic place

Ross Farm is a historic farmhouse at 123 Meadow Street in Northampton, Massachusetts. Its importance rests in its significance as the site of a utopian community that operated there from 1841 to 1845, and for its use as a site on the Underground Railroad. Once part of a 300-acre (120 ha) parcel, the property has been reduced to 2.25 acres (0.91 ha), whose only significant structure is the farmhouse which was built in 1825.

Wheeler Family Farmstead Historic house in Massachusetts, United States

The Wheeler Family Farmstead is a historic farm complex at 817 South Main Street in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. The farmhouse has elements dating to the 1730s, including evidence of building methods used by Dutch settlers of the Hudson River valley, and has been successively modified in each of the following centuries, with the last significant work occurring in the 1920s. All of the surviving farm buildings in the complex are at least 90 years old, and some date to the 19th century. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011, and is now the museum and headquarters of the Great Barrington Historical Society.

Salem Cross Inn United States historic place

The Salem Cross Inn is a restaurant on a working farm at 260 West Main Street in West Brookfield, Massachusetts. It is located in the White Homestead, a c. 1740 Georgian style house built on the site of a c. 1707 house which now stands elsewhere on the property. The property has been listed twice on the National Register of Historic Places, in 1975 and 1978.

Leavitt Farm United States historic place

Leavitt Farm is a historic farmstead at 103 Old Loudon Road in eastern Concord, New Hampshire. It consists of three 19th century farm buildings, including the c. 1847 Greek Revival farmhouse, a large c. 1888 shop and barn, and a 19th-century privy which has been converted into a well pumphouse. These buildings were built by Jonathan Leavitt, a farmer and blacksmith, and were later owned by his son Almah, a sign painter. In the 1980s the property was used by the Concord Coach Society as a headquarters and museum facility. The shop building in particular is notable for its adaptive reuse, and for its second floor ballroom space, an unusual location for that type of social space. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Appleton Farm Historic house in New Hampshire, United States

Appleton Farm is a historic farmstead at 76 Brush Brook Road in Dublin, New Hampshire. It has housed Del Rossi's Trattoria for many years. It was built in the 1780s by the son of one of Dublin's early settlers, and remained in the family until 1950. The house and adjacent barn were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

Asa Morse Farm Historic house in New Hampshire, United States

The Asa Morse Farm, also known as the Friendly Farm, is a historic farmstead on New Hampshire Route 101 in Dublin, New Hampshire. The main farmhouse, built in 1926 on the foundations of an early 19th-century house, is a good example of Colonial Revival architecture, built during Dublin's heyday as a summer retreat. The farmstead was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

Kennedy Hill Farm Historic house in New Hampshire, United States

The Kennedy Hill Farm is a historic farmstead on Kennedy Hill Road in Goffstown, New Hampshire. The property exhibits 150 years of agricultural history, with a well-crafted c. 1800 farmhouse built using regionally distinctive joinery skills. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

John Elkins Farmstead Historic house in New Hampshire, United States

The John Elkins Farmstead is a historic farmstead at 155 Beach Plain Road in Danville, New Hampshire, United States. The property includes one of Danville's finest examples of a 19th-century connected farmstead, with buildings dating from the late 18th to late 19th centuries. The property encompassing the farm buildings was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.

Elm Farm (Danville, New Hampshire) Historic house in New Hampshire, United States

Elm Farm, alsk known as the Sargent Farm, is a historic farm property at 599 Main Street in Danville, New Hampshire. Established about 1835, it has been in agricultural use since then, with many of its owners also engaged in small commercial or industrial pursuits on the side. The main farmhouse is one of the town's best examples of Gothic Revival architecture. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

Atherton Farmstead United States historic place

The Atherton Farmstead is a historic farm property at 31 Greenbush Road in Cavendish, Vermont. The farmhouse, built in 1785, is one of the oldest in the rural community, and is its oldest known surviving tavern house. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.

Martin M. Bates Farmstead United States historic place

The Martin M. Bates Farmstead is a historic farm property on Huntington Road in Richmond, Vermont. Farmed since the 1790s, the property is now a well-preserved example of a mid-19th century dairy farm, with a fine Italianate farmhouse. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.

Josiah and Lydia Shedd Farmstead United States historic place

The Josiah and Lydia Shedd Farmstead is a historic farm property at 1721 Bayley-Hazen Road in Peacham, Vermont. Established in 1816, the property evokes a typical 19th-century Vermont hill farm. Its oldest surviving buildings, the main house and two barns, survive from the second quarter of the 19th century. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.

Woodbridge Farmstead Historic house in Connecticut, United States

The Woodbridge Farmstead is a historic house at 495 Middle Turnpike East in Manchester, Connecticut. Built about 1835, it is a well-preserved example of a Greek Revival farmhouse, with a history of ownership by a single family extending over more than 150 years. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.

Woodbridge Farm United States historic place

The Woodbridge Farm is a historic farm property on Woodbridge Road in Salem, Connecticut. The property was developed by Nathaniel Woodbridge in 1791, and it had more than 200 years of cultivation, and many decades of ownership by the Woodbridge family. The property includes an early farmstead, remade in the early 20th century into a Colonial Revival country house. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.

Langford and Lydia McMichael Sutherland Farmstead United States historic place

The Langford and Lydia McMichael Sutherland Farmstead is a farm located at 797 Textile Road in Pittsfield Charter Township, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006. It is now the Sutherland-Wilson Farm Historic Site.

References

  1. 1 2 "Weekly listing". National Park Service.
  2. 1 2 "MACRIS inventory record for Fowler-Clark Farm". Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved 2020-03-30.