Acton Historical Society Blog: Newport Under The Rafters

Press release from the Acton Historical Society:

11/19/2021

The plans were undated, unsigned, and gave no indication of whom they were created for.  One, a drawing of the exterior of the house, matched none in Acton, and the other’s first-floor details indicated that the owner’s wealth far exceeded that of any of Acton’s early residents.  The plan included a hall measuring 54’x 30’, a drawing room (34’ x 19’), morning room (almost 28’ x 12’), library (27’ x ~19’), dining room (31’ x 19’), billiard room (24’ x 19’), kitchen (~25’ x 18’), servants’ hall (20’ x 16’), butler’s pantry, cook’s pantry, housekeeper’s parlor, scullery, “Man’s Room,” and a gun & fishing rod room.  Perhaps John S. Hoar had a very wealthy client somewhere, but there was no clue where the house was.Sometime later, our donor was visiting the Breakers in Newport, RI and was inside the Children’s Playhouse on the property.  Framed on the wall, he saw a reproduction of a first-floor plan that looked astoundingly like the plan found in West Acton.  It came from the first Breakers, built for Pierre Lorillard in 1878 and purchased by Cornelius Vanderbilt in 1885.  The building had been designed by prominent Boston architects Peabody & Stearns.  The first Breakers burned in November 1892 and the enormous villa designed by Richard Morris Hunt replaced it.  All that is left of Peabody & Stearns’ work on the property is the 1886 “Toy house” built by Cornelius Vanderbilt “for the pleasure of his children” soon after they moved in. (Newport Mercury, July 3, 1886, p. 1)Looking at the drawings at Jenks Library, we had a mystery on our hands.  Was it truly the first Breakers?  If so, what were the plans doing in West Acton?  Were these perhaps an architect’s rejects or extra copies for the builder?  Was there a connection between the Hoar family and the builder/architects of the original mansion?  Had someone given the plans to John S. Hoar simply because he was a builder who would be interested in them?  Did he use them as inspiration for his own work? Not confident that we would be able to answer all of those questions, we started with identifying the house.  Photos of the first Breakers are available online; despite slight differences, the house pictured looks to be the same as in the drawing.  We wanted to compare our first-floor plan to the one used to build the Lorillard Breakers.  The book Peabody and Stearns: Country Houses and Seaside Cottages by Annie Robinson has photographs of the house and a reproduction of the first-floor plan which was also featured in The American Architect and Building News Volume 4, No. 132, July 6, 1878, in an illustrative spread between pages 4 and 5.  Newport Mercury Peabody and Stearns: Country Houses and Seaside Cottages The American Architect and Building News illustrative spread between pages 4 and 5 Newport Mercury Our Plan's First-Floor Details. Clockwise from Top Left: An Unknown Route to the Attic original blog post follow-up Newport Mercury Concord Enterprise Boxborough: A New England Town and Its People Boxborough: A New England Town and Its People Boston Globe Boston Daily Globe digitized 1897 catalogue for a Special Exhibition 1908 Year Book of the Boston Architectural Club 1908 Year Book of the Boston Architectural Club Concord Enterprise Commercial and Financial New England Illustrated Commercial and Financial New England Illustrated Finally, a Connection Appears Architectural Record Newport Mercury Photos Courtesy of Library of Congress letterhead from that date Boston of Today, A Glance at Its History and Characteristics Boston of Today, A Glance at Its History and Characteristics Boston of To-day

This press release was produced by the Acton Historical Society. The views expressed here are the author’s own.