Elmwood (Cambridge, Massachusetts)
| Elmwood | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| National Register of Historic Places | |||
| National Historic Landmark District | |||
 The house in 2008 |
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| location | Cambridge , Massachusetts , United States | ||
| Coordinates | 42 ° 22 '30.7 " N , 71 ° 8' 19.5" W | ||
| surface | 4 Acres (1.6 ha ) | ||
| Built | circa 1767 | ||
| architect | Thomas Oliver | ||
| Architectural style | Georgian architecture | ||
| NRHP number | 66000364 | ||
| Data | |||
| The NRHP added | October 15, 1966 | ||
| As NHLD declared | December 29, 1962 | ||
As Elmwood (also James Russell Lowell Home and Oliver-Gerry-Lowell House ) is a historic house in Cambridge, Massachusetts known. It was listed as a National Historic Landmark District in 1962 and inscribed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966 . The house is named after its former owners Thomas Oliver , Elbridge Gerry and James Russell Lowell . However, it is not open to the public.
architecture
The building, constructed entirely of wood around 1767, stands on a former 40 hectare property with an unobstructed view of the Charles River , which is now largely built up and belonged to Watertown until 1754 . Only Lowell Park , northwest of the house, is open to the public today.
Elmwood was designed in the style of Georgian architecture and has three floors. The hipped roof is pierced by two chimneys and bordered by a balustrade supported by a cornice that supports itself on a multitude of consoles . The centrally placed main entrance is flanked by pilasters of the Tuscan order , which support a classically designed entablature with a strongly carved cornice. The window on the first floor directly above the entrance is framed by Ionic pilasters . The large-scale, three times indented inwardly around the window rests together with the pilasters on a plinth and upwardly from a crossbar with teeth sectional completed -Gesims.
Inside, four rooms on each floor are separated from one another by a corridor that runs the entire length of the house. The main staircase railing features balusters in three alternating patterns.
Historical meaning
The house is architecturally interesting because of its Georgian architecture and its good state of preservation, but historically mainly because of the personalities who lived there.
Elmwood was built around 1767 by Thomas Oliver , whose family owned extensive tracts of land in the West Indies . Oliver had become rich through inheritance and always refused to accept public office until he was proposed to the British Crown as the new lieutenant governor by Thomas Hutchinson in 1774 . In this capacity, he chaired the Mandamus Advisory Board ( English mandamus council ), which replaced the governor's previous advisory board.
On September 2, 1774, a mob was formed after hearing of British troops approaching from Boston. Oliver rushed to Boston and spoke to General Thomas Gage , who confirmed to him that such troop movements neither took place nor were planned. Though this likely prevented Thomas Oliver from breaking out of war in Cambridge - 7 months before the Lexington and Concord skirmishes - his home was surrounded by the angry people who demanded his resignation. Oliver bowed to the pressure, stepped back, and moved out of his house a few days later.
In 1775 the Continental Army converted the house into a hospital and used it accordingly until it was confiscated from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts after the withdrawal of George Washington's troops and sold to the privateer Andrew Cabot in 1779 .
In 1787 Elbridge Gerry bought the building, who became known, among other things, for refusing to sign the final document of the Philadelphia Convention . Still, he was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1789 and did not give up that position until 1793 to look after his farm and family with seven children. In 1797, Gerry was sent on a diplomatic mission to France by then US President John Adams , which ultimately led to the XYZ affair .
After his return, Gerry was nominated annually for governor from 1800 with the support of the Republicans, but won the elections only in 1810 and 1811. In 1812 he missed the re-election as governor, but became Vice President of the United States under James Madison . He took his oath of office on March 4, 1813 in Elmwood.
In 1818 the house was sold to Reverend Charles Lowell along with 4 acres of land, while the rest of the area was split up and sold to other interested parties. Lowell's son James Russell Lowell was born in Elmwood in 1819 and lived there until his death in 1891. Lowell was a professor at Harvard University and had a great influence on the American literature of his time, which was also written by Ralph Waldo Emerson , Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was coined. US President Rutherford B. Hayes also sent Lowell on diplomatic missions. In 1873 he wrote from Paris to Thomas Bailey Aldrich , who lived in Elmwood during his absence:
“It's a lovely old house, isn't it? It doesn't push you out. The house made you a terrible conservative before you knew it. I was born a Tory and will die a Tory too. Don't get too used to the house. I often wish I hadn't. I'm not happy anywhere else. "
In 1962, the building became the property of Harvard University as heir to A. Kingsley Porter, who had acquired it from Lowell's heirs. Today it is traditionally the residence of the university president and not open to the public.
See also
- List of National Historic Landmarks in Massachusetts
- List of entries on the National Register of Historic Places in Cambridge
literature
- Polly M. Rettig, Charles W. Snell: National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form. (PDF) United States Department of the Interior , National Park Service , January 8, 1975, accessed August 25, 2017 .
