Location Taunton, Massachusetts MPS Taunton MRA Opened 1852 Architectural style Italianate architecture Architect Richard Upjohn | Built 1852 NRHP Reference # 84002116 Area 4,047 m² Added to NRHP 5 July 1984 | |
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Similar Watson Pond State Park, Lake Rico, Old Colony Historical Society, Wellfleet Drive‑In Theater, Lake Sabbatia | ||
The Fairbanks-Williams House is a historic house located at 19 Elm Street in Taunton, Massachusetts. Built in 1852, it is the city's only known residential work by the noted architect Richard Upjohn, and is a fine example of Italianate architecture. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
Description and history
The Fairbanks-Williams House stands in a residential area east of downtown Taunton, on the east side of Elm Street opposite its junction with Vine Street. It is a 2-1/2 story wood frame structure, with a cross-gabled roof and clapboarded exterior. It is a roughly T-shaped plan, with a central front-gable section, a section projecting right from its mid-section, and another projection to the left near the rear. Its roof has extended eaves with large modillion blocks, and windows are set in segmented-arch openings. The front entrance is sheltered by a porch whose sections have a similar segmented-arch valances, supported by chamfered square posts. Windows on the second floor have elaborate surrounds with a bracketed sill and gabled hood. The frontmost section of the main block has a first-floor polygonal bay, topped by a turret-like roof with modillioned eave.
The house was built for W.W. Fairbanks in 1852 and is the only documented residence in the city to be designed by noted architect Richard Upjohn, who designed several public buildings and churches in the area during the mid-1800s. It was later owned by Abiathar King Williams, a local textile manufacturer, from 1865 to 1890. Between 1910 and 1940, it was owned by Edward Lovering, president of the Whittenton Mills.