Built 1846 (1846) NRHP Reference # 82001923 Area 4,047 m² Added to NRHP 13 April 1982 | MPS Cambridge MRA Opened 1846 Architectural style Italianate architecture | |
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Location 45 Orchard St., Cambridge, Massachusetts Similar Lechmere Canal, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard Square, Cambridge Common, Semitic Museum | ||
The Frederick Billings House is an historic house on 45 Orchard Street 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.
Description and history
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.