Preservation Society Celebrates Historic Place

The Barrington Preservation Society celebrated on Friday morning, Dec. 20, the addition of a historic Nockum Hill property to the National Register of Historic Places.

The property, which sits at 153 George St., is known as the Allen-West House. It is owned now by Jason Lawrence, who grew up in the house previously owned by his parents. 

“This is just the first step,” said Bonnie Warren of the preservation society. “We want to educate all of Barrington about the history of Nockum Hill. People in Barrington don’t know their history.”

The historic property sits within a stone’s throw of where the first Baptist Church in North America was founded, and the former horse paddock where North End Holdings proposes to erect a condominium complex.

Both Warren and Van Edwards, who drafted the application to get the Allen-West House on the national register, are hoping that when people recognize just how historic Nockum Hill is they will fight to keep out what they consider inappropriate development in that part of Barrington. That would actually like to turn the area into a state park.

"It's a lot better than what's coming," said Lawrence, referring to the condos that he will be looking at from his living room window.

The National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate and protect America's historic and archaeological resources, Edwards said. In short, it is the official register of America’s most historic properties. 

“The Allen-West House, built ca. 1760, not only preserves an exceptional amount of 18th-century detail, it is the last surviving building of the vibrant agricultural community that was Nockum Hill,” he said.  

The east and west wings of the house are not quite that old. The kitchen was added in 1848 and a glass-enclosed room was added in the 1950s. But the house still has wide-plank floors, plank board paneling, hand-cut molding and hearths that date back to the 18th century -- even if a fireplace insert juts out from the hearth in the living room. 

See the photos of the Allen-West House.