National Register of Historic Places

Billings, Frederick, House

Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Listed
April 12, 1982
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
82001923

About this property

The Frederick Billings House is an historic house in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Built in 1846, it is one of west Cambridge's first examples of residential housing with Italianate features. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The Frederick Billings House stands in a residential area northwest of Porter Square, on the northeast side of Orchard Street between Blake and Beech Streets. It is a 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure, with a side-gable roof and clapboarded exterior. A single-story porch extends across the front, supported by tapered round columns. The gable eaves have decorative brackets, and the ground floor windows on the front are topped by lintels adorned with small brackets. Two-story ells extend the original main block to the rear. The house was built in 1846, not long after Orchard Street was platted for development. It was one of the first houses with Italianate styling to be built in the city (along with the adjacent John Aborn House), coming just one year after the style was introduced. The house was built by Joshua Fernald, a local master carpenter, and was located for convenient access to the Fitchburg Railroad depot (now the Porter MBTA station). The front porch is a later (1890s) addition. National Register of Historic Places listings in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Location

45 Orchard St.
Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts
42.39177, -71.12058

Categories

ARCHITECTURE
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

Aborn, John, House
Industrial
0 mi
Watson, Abraham, House
Industrial
0.1 mi
St. James Episcopal Church
Industrial
0.1 mi
Russell, Philemon, House
Industrial
0.1 mi
John Winthrop Chambers, The
Industrial
0.1 mi

Nearby Battles

Siege of Boston – Cambridge Lines
1775Revolutionary War
1.4 mi
Skirmish at Menotomy (Arlington)
1775Revolutionary War
2.4 mi

Questions about this property

When was Billings, Frederick, House listed on the National Register?

Billings, Frederick, House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 12, 1982.

What type of historic resource is Billings, Frederick, House?

Billings, Frederick, House is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Billings, Frederick, House?

The period of significance for Billings, Frederick, House is recorded as the industrial era.

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