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Joseph Holmes House

Cambridge, Massachusetts Registered Historic Place stubsHouses completed in 1801Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Joseph Holmes House, 144 Coolidge Hill Road, Cambridge, MA IMG 4526
Joseph Holmes House, 144 Coolidge Hill Road, Cambridge, MA IMG 4526

The Joseph Holmes House is an historic house at 144 Coolidge Hill Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame house was built in 1801 by John Holmes, father of Joseph Holmes. It was originally located on Appian Way in Harvard Square, and was moved to its present location in 1929, at which time an ell was also added. It is a well-preserved yet unpretentious Federal-style house, a rarity in "Old Cambridge", where such houses were once quite common. This house is not particularly pretentious, with a five-bay facade and center entrance, and is set sideways on its narrow lot.The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

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Joseph Holmes House
Shady Hill Road, Cambridge

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 42.371666666667 ° E -71.14 °
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Address

Shady Hill Road

Shady Hill Road
02163 Cambridge
Massachusetts, United States
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Joseph Holmes House, 144 Coolidge Hill Road, Cambridge, MA IMG 4526
Joseph Holmes House, 144 Coolidge Hill Road, Cambridge, MA IMG 4526
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Nearby Places

Elmwood (Cambridge, Massachusetts)
Elmwood (Cambridge, Massachusetts)

Elmwood, also known as the Oliver-Gerry-Lowell House, is a historic house and centerpiece of a National Historic Landmark District in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is known for several prominent former residents, including: Thomas Oliver (1734–1815), royal Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts; Elbridge Gerry (1744–1814), signer of the US Declaration of Independence, Vice President of the United States and eponym of the term "gerrymandering"; and James Russell Lowell (1819–1891), noted American writer, poet, and foreign diplomat. The house, originally on a 100-acre estate, was built in the Georgian style about 1767 by John Nutting for Lt. Governor Thomas Oliver, member of a wealthy merchant family in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Abandoned by the Loyalist Oliver at the outset of the American Revolutionary War, the property was confiscated by the state of Massachusetts. It was purchased by Elbridge Gerry, who used it as his family residence until his death in 1814. The house was sold by his heirs to the Lowell family, and was the birthplace and residence of James Russell Lowell for most of his life. During Lowell's ownership significant portions of the original estate were sold off, and his heirs sold the house to art historian and Harvard professor, Arthur Kingsley Porter. He bequeathed the property to the university, which now uses it as the official residence of its president. Architecturally the house has retained most of its Georgian character, and has had only modest exterior additions and modifications. Although it was decorated in a Victorian style by the Lowells, Harvard restored the interior to a more traditional Georgian style when it took over the property. The house is not open to the public. In addition to the property owned by Harvard, the National Historic Landmark District encompasses the adjacent Lowell Park, a state-owned park which was once part of the original Oliver estate.

Old Cambridge Historic District
Old Cambridge Historic District

The Old Cambridge Historic District is a historic district encompassing a residential neighborhood of Cambridge, Massachusetts that dates to colonial times. It is located just west of Harvard Square, and includes all of the properties on Brattle Street west of Mason Street to Fresh Pond Parkway, all of the properties on Mason Street and Elmwood Avenue, and nearby properties on Craigie Street. The district includes five National Historic Landmarks: Elmwood, the Reginald A. Daly House, the Oliver Hastings House, the Mary Fiske Stoughton House, and the Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site, as well as several other houses listed separately on the National Register. The district follows the general route of the Watertown Path, an early colonial road that supposedly followed a Native American trail. This portion of the way became known as Tory Row during the American Revolution, because many of the fine mansions lining it were owned by Loyalists. In the 19th and early 20th centuries it continued by a fashionable location, and now features a number of architecturally significant buildings. It includes 215 contributing buildings and one other contributing sites over an area of 52 acres (21 ha). One included building is the Cambridge Historical Society's offices, which are in the NRHP-listed Hooper-Lee Nichols House, located at 159 Brattle Street.The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1983. It abuts a number of other historic districts, including the Cambridge Common Historic District, the Ash Street Historic District, and the Berkeley Street Historic District.