National Register of Historic Places

Hill, Abraham, House

Belmont, Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Listed
March 9, 1990
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
90000164

About this property

The Abraham Hill House is a historic First Period house in Belmont, Massachusetts, United States. Probably built in the early 18th century, it is one of the oldest buildings in the town. Its construction history shows changing residential trends over two hundred years of history. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. The Abraham Hill House is located northeast of downtown Belmont, on the southeast side of Pleasant Street (Massachusetts Route 60) between its junctions with Prospect Street and Scott Road. It is a 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure, with a gabled roof and clapboarded exterior. It is oriented with a gable end to the street, and its main facade on the side. The facade is three bays wide, with asymmetrical positioning including a slightly off-center entrance. Two brick chimneys rise from the interior through the rear roof face. There are 4 rooms to each floor in the main house. Each room has a fireplace. The kitchen had an extension from the chimney to ovens. On the left side of the house, the rear section extends beyond the side wall, a feature known regionally as a "Beverly jog". A single-story ell extends to the rear (northeast) side of the main block. The house is one of the oldest houses in Belmont, if not the very oldest. Its construction date is claimed by local historians to be 1693, but architectural analysis places its construction later, c. 1725–1750. It was enlarged significantly in the 1790s by Abraham Hill's son James, who was born in the house. Alterations included the conversion of the house from a central chimney plan to a central hall plan. It remained in the Hill family until 1942. The stockade fence was added in the 1960s. The ground floor windows are only 3-4' from the sidewalk. The hand hewn floor boards were about 2' wide of a yellowish orange color after waxing National Register of Historic Places listings in Middlesex County, Massachusetts

Location

388 Pleasant St.
Belmont, Middlesex County, Massachusetts
42.40287, -71.16773

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

First Parish Church Parsonage
Civil War
0.4 mi
Prentiss-Payson House
Industrial
0.4 mi
Pleasant Street Historic District
Listed
0.5 mi
Hornblower, Edward, House and Barn
Industrial
0.6 mi
Red Top
Industrial
0.6 mi

Nearby Battles

Skirmish at Menotomy (Arlington)
1775Revolutionary War
1 mi
Battle of Menotomy
1775Revolutionary War
1 mi
Siege of Boston – Cambridge Lines
1775Revolutionary War
3.6 mi

Questions about this property

When was Hill, Abraham, House listed on the National Register?

Hill, Abraham, House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 9, 1990.

What type of historic resource is Hill, Abraham, House?

Hill, Abraham, House is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Hill, Abraham, House?

The period of significance for Hill, Abraham, House is recorded as the industrial era.

Can I research the history near Hill, Abraham, House?

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