Architectural style Shingle Style Designated NHSRHP October 31, 2005 Year built 1894 | NRHP Reference # 06000142 Area 4 ha Added to NRHP 15 March 2006 | |
 | ||
Location 13, 18, 25, 36 Cottage Rd.; 14, 38 Starr King Rd., Jefferson, New Hampshire | ||
Waumbek cottages historic district top 6 facts
The Waumbek Cottages Historic District encompasses a collection of high-quality summer resort houses in Jefferson, New Hampshire. Located on Cottage Road and Starr King Road, these six "cottages" are all that survive of a large late-19th century resort complex that once included a hotel and eleven cottages. All are fine examples of the Shingle style of architecture, with Queen Anne Victorian touches. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.
Contents
Description and history
The town of Jefferson, founded in 1796, became recognized as a tourist destination in the mid-19th century, in part through the writings of Unitarian minister Thomas Starr King. He convinced a local hotelier to build a larger hotel, called the Hotel Waumbek, in 1860. The availability of railroad transportation greatly increased the tourist trade in subsequent decades, and the hotel was repeatedly enlarged. By the 1890s it was one of the state's grand hotels, with 500 rooms. During the 1880s, a trend began in these resort properties to build separate houses for some of the hotel guests, and other long-time guests also purchased adjacent properties from real estate promoters to build their own, while taking advantage of the hotel's amenities. At the Hotel Waumbek, these trends resulted in the construction of eleven separate "cottages" near the hotel between 1889 and 1900. A major fire in 1928 destroyed the hotel and three cottages, two more were demolished later in the 20th century.
The historic district is located on Cottage Road and Starr King Road, on the southern flank of Mount Starr King north of U.S. Route 2 and just east of the village center of Jefferson. The landscape and setting feature spectacular views of the White Mountains to the south. The cottages are surmised to have been designed, based on similarity to other work, by Alfred Barlow, who designed a major addition to the hotel. All of the cottages are in the Shingle style, with Queen Anne-style porches.