National Register of Historic Places

Chaffee-Moloney Houses

Rutland, Rutland County, Vermont
Listed
November 19, 2001
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
01001240

About this property

The Chaffee-Moloney Houses are a pair of brick residences (one single-family, one a duplex) at 194 and 196-198 Columbian Avenue in Rutland, Vermont. Built in 1885, they are fine examples of Queen Anne/Eastlake style, and are significant for their association with Thomas W. Moloney, an Irish-American attorney who played a major role the city acquiring its charter. The house were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001. The Chaffee-Moloney Houses stand on the west side of Rutland city, on the south side of Columbian Avenue, between an industrial area to the south and a residential area to the north. Both houses are 2+1⁄2-story brick structures. The duplex stands to the right; it has a gabled roof, with a low cross gable above the entrances. Its front is six bays wide, with a spindled porch sheltering the two entrances at the center. The left house is roughly L-shaped, with a hip roof across its main body and a projecting gable section on the right side. A porch extends across the front and around the left side, set on a foundation of rough-cut limestone blocks, with turned posts on stone piers and spindled balustrades in between. Both houses were built in 1885 by Frederick Chaffee & Son. The duplex was occupied by a succession of middle-class families until 1925. The single-family was purchased by Thomas W. Moloney in 1892, at which time it was enlarged to its present size, although the front porch was added later. The house is the only known property associated with Moloney to survive. Moloney lived there from 1892 until his death in 1917, and was a prominent local attorney who played a leading role in the development of the city charter. In the 1890s he was a Democratic candidate for Governor of Vermont, and United States Senator. In 1925 the duplex was converted for use as the "girls colony" of the Brandon State School, whose main campus was for mentally handicapped boys. Both the duplex and the Moloney house, which was vacated by the family after Moloney's wife died in 1936, were purchased by the state in 1944. A connector (since removed) was built between the houses in 1952. Its use by the Brandon State School ended about 1958, and the two buildings have since been converted into affordable housing units. National Register of Historic Places listings in Rutland County, Vermont

Location

194 & 196-98 Columbian Ave.
Rutland, Rutland County, Vermont
43.60754, -72.99178

Categories

ARCHITECTURECOMMUNITY PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENTLAWEUROPEANPOLITICS/GOVERNMENT
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

Watkins School
Industrial
0.2 mi
St. Peter's Church and Mount St. Joseph Convent Complex
Industrial
0.5 mi
Baxter, H. H., Memorial Library
Industrial
0.6 mi
Rutland Downtown Historic District
Listed
0.7 mi
Longfellow School
Industrial
0.7 mi

Nearby Battles

Battle of Hubbardton
1777Revolutionary War
12.2 mi
Battle of Hubbardton Jul 7 1777
1777Revolutionary War
12.7 mi
Battle of Hubbardton (American retreat)
1777Revolutionary War
14.9 mi

Questions about this property

When was Chaffee-Moloney Houses listed on the National Register?

Chaffee-Moloney Houses was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 19, 2001.

What type of historic resource is Chaffee-Moloney Houses?

Chaffee-Moloney Houses is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Chaffee-Moloney Houses?

The period of significance for Chaffee-Moloney Houses is recorded as the industrial era.

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