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Home My WebLink AboutForm B 14 Commerce rd Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form. 12/12 FORM B − BUILDING MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Photograph Photo 1. 14 Commerce Road, looking north. Locus Map Recorded by: C. Hartfelder, M. Andrade, V. Adams, T. Jonsson; PAL Organization: Town of Barnstable Date: February 2020 Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number 301-016 Hyannis BRN.V BRN.2451 Town/City: Barnstable Place: (neighborhood or village): Barnstable Village Address: 14 Commerce Road Historic Name: Abbie Davenport House Uses: Present: Single Family Dwelling Original: Single Family Dwelling Date of Construction: 1953 Source: BCRD 1953:C15344 Style/Form: No Style Architect/Builder: Unknown Exterior Material: Foundation: Concrete Wall/Trim: Wood shingles/Wood Roof: Asphalt shingles Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Shed, mid- to late 20th c. Major Alterations (with dates): Windows replaced, late 20th c. – early 21st c. Condition: Good Moved: no yes Date: Acreage: 0.24 acres Setting: The building occupies a square parcel on the north side of Commerce Road, at the northwest side of the intersection with Sunset Lane. It is set back from the street with a manicured lawn to the south and a heavily wooded area to the east. An asphalt driveway leads from the road to a garage located north of the house. Hedges line the house and trees dot the property. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BARNSTABLE 14 COMMERCE ROAD MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 BRN.V BRN.2451 Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked, you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION The Abbie Davenport House, 14 Commerce Road (1953, BRN.2451) is a south-facing, one-story, four-by-two-bay, rectangular, wood-frame astylistic building, constructed in 1953. The building has a side-gable roof surfaced in asphalt shingles. The walls are clad in wood shingles with plain wood trim, and rest on a concrete block foundation. The south (facade) elevation has the primary entrance in the center, flanked by one window to west and paired windows to the east. The entrance contains a modern door with a metal and glass storm door, in a plain wood surround, and is accessed by a short run of wood steps. All fenestration consists of replacement, one-over-one, vinyl sash set in simple wood surrounds. The building is an example of a typical mid- twentieth-century vernacular residence that retains its massing, form, fenestration pattern, and cladding. Alterations made to the building since its construction include replacement of windows with vinyl sash in the late twentieth to early twenty-first century. A shed was constructed northwest of the house in the mid-to-late-twentieth century. It is a south-facing, one-story, one-by-one- bay, rectangular, wood-frame building. HISTORICAL NARRATIVE The Harbor Area (BRN.V) northeast of Barnstable Village on Barnstable Harbor was associated with several maritime industries from the late nineteenth century, including tidal grist mills, shipbuilding, saltworks, and fishing. Shipping by way of packet sloops and schooners provided a market for raw material trade as well as freight and passenger transportation between Barnstable and Boston (Meyer 1985). Much of the area then called “Common Fields” was acquired by Alfred Crocker in 1871 (BCRD 1871:106/80). In 1910, the area north of Commerce Road was mostly undeveloped, containing only six properties (Walker 1910). Between 1928 and 1939, the area transitioned between developers and in 1939 was subdivided into over 200 small lots by Elizabeth Cobb of Barnstable, with assistance from Whitney & Bassett, Engineers, of Hyannis (BCRD 1928:460/365, 1932:491/36; BCRD Land Plan 1939:17993). Cobb was married to George Cobb (1879–1936) (Find A Grave 2010). The subdivision included almost the entire area north of Commerce Road to Barnstable Harbor between Millway Road and Bay View Road. In 1948, Bowmar’s Inc. acquired the subdivision, excluding 29 previously sold parcels (BCRD 1949:C10740). In 1949, Louis A. Byrne (1891–1955), a general contractor, and his wife Margaret of Dennis, MA, purchased 39 lots in the development, including Lots 171 and 172 which make up the present Parcel 301/016 (14 Commerce Road) (BCRD 1949:C11170; U.S. Census 1940). In 1950, the parcel and 34 others within the subdivision were sold to James Sproul, a lumber vendor and Treasurer of Barnstable Bay, Inc., and his wife Maizie, also of Dennis, MA, who transferred ownership to Barnstable Bay, Inc., presumably a developer, in the same year (BCRD 1950:C11671, 1950:12397). In 1953, Abbie R. Davenport (nee White) (1893–1994) of Harwich Port purchased the 14 Commerce Road parcel from Barnstable Bay, Inc. (BCRD 1953:C15344) Davenport presumably had the Abbie Davenport House, 14 Commerce Road (1953, BRN.2451) constructed as a summer residence that same year (Find A Grave 2010). Davenport sold the property back to Barnstable Bay, Inc. in 1956. In 1957, the property was purchased by Oliver W. (1915–1980) and Margaret Verrill (1920–2005), both of Barnstable (BCRD 1956:C19533, 1957:C21208; Find A Grave 2019). The property was sold to the present owners Herbert and Miriam Kronish in 1985 (BCRD 1985:C102487). The Kronishs are from Needham, MA and likely use the house as a seasonal residence or income-producing property (Barnstable Assessor 2019). BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES Barnstable Assessor. Online Property Database. https://townofbarnstable.us/Departments/Assessing/Property_Values/Property- Look-Up.asp, accessed November 2019. Barnstable County Registry of Deeds (BCRD). Registry and Land Court Records. https://search.barnstabledeeds.org/ALIS/WW400R.HTM?WSIQTP=SY00 accessed November 2019. Deyo, Simeon (ed.). History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts 1620-1637-1686-1890. New York, NY: Blake & Co., 1890. Find A Grave. “Abbie Davenport,” 2010. Find A Grave Memorial ID 49137065. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/49137065/abbie-davenport, accessed February 2020. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BARNSTABLE 14 COMMERCE ROAD MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 2 BRN.V BRN.2451 ___. “George Cobb,” 2010. Find A Grave Memorial ID 54534425. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/54534425/george-cobb, accessed February 2020. ___. “Oliver Wendell Verrill,” 2019. Find A Grave Memorial ID 196467610. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/196467610/oliver-wendell-verrill, accessed February 2020. Hales, John G. Plan of the town of Barnstable, Barnstable County. Stamped: Mass Archives, maps & Plans, 1831 Johnson, Lennart Eben. Barnstable Town Record. Barnstable, MA, 2007. https://archive.org/details/barnstabletownre01bcjohn/page/n325, accessed November 2019. National Environmental Title Research, LLC (NETR). Historic Aerials of Barnstable, MA. 1938, 1969, 1971, 1977, 1994, 1995, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016. https://www.historicaerials.com/viewer, accessed November 2019. United States Bureau of the Census (US Census). Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940 (T627, 4,643 rolls). National Archives and Records Administration Washington, D.C., ancestry.com database. Walker Geo. H. & Co. Massachusetts State Atlas, Plate 009. Boston, MA, 1880, 1891, 1900, 1904, 1909. Walker Lithograph & Publishing Co. (Walker L&P). Map of Barnstable County. Boston, MA, 1905, 1910, PHOTOGRAPH Photo 2. 14 Commerce Road, looking northeast.