FORM B - BUILDING 1>~ In Area no. Form no.

MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL C01\DUSSIO:\

Office of the Secretary, State House, Boston u; (\~
'% ~ <:./;
r~TO\vri'7 d!arl~2$.0ugh
~ "~ '\,A
A~ress~ H~reth ~treet
(10
Nam~arlborough City Hospital

Present use Two Tenament

Hr. RaymondT. Lemay c/o

Present owner C. Dewey 13 Greendale Av

3. Description: ,2!cStozirlYood Frame

Date Circa 1870

Source Pub. Local Histories

Style Anti-Bellum
4. Map. Draw sketch of building location Architect None
in relation to nearest cross streets and ---------------
other buildings. Indicate north. Exterior wall fabric Wood Clapboard

Outbuildings (describe)_N_o;;...n_e _

Other features Portico around

o front

windows
entrance,

are arched
two attic

Altered Date
-------- -----

t
Moved Date

5. Lot size:

:J
o A
M
o n
0 One acre or less

Approximate frontage
X Over one acre

50 Feet

n rE D 0 Q tJ
o
o
Approximate distance of building from street

30 Feet

o S :
T
1/I1tR.

0
REAl
a '-0--0-0--
AV E 6. Recorded by Ernest

Organization Marlborough

Date 6/15/78
Commission
Ginnetti

Historical

n
°l (over)

•
 7. Original owner (if known) 0'71 vestp.r B]1ckl in

!:(e s idence
Original use
Subsequentuses (if any) and dates Two Tenament after ne.~"hosri tal built

8. Themes (check as many as applicable)

Aboriginal Conservation Recreation

-- Education X Religion
Agricultural --x.-
Architectural Exploration/ science/
The Arts settlement invention X
-- Industry Social!
Commerce --
Communication Military humanitarian X
Communitydevelopment
--x- Political Transportation

9. Historical significance (include explanation of themes checked above)

The Marlborough City Hospital was incorporated Feb. 27, 1890 by a

commitee of 17 prominent citizens of ~1arlborough. In September 1891
the Sylvester Bucklin house was purchased and. preparations made. for
occupancy. The institution was opened to the public in 1893, and
remained so until August 1894, when on account of non-support the
doors were closed for ten years, when there was a revival of interest
lC and the board. of trustees by hard and faithful wor-k secured the
neccessary amount of funds to place the Hospital in such a financial
k condition as wouLd at.Low it to start on a firm foundation.
'.

10. Bibliography and/or references (such as local histories, deeds, assessor's records,
-early maps, etc.)

Historical Reminiscences of Marlborough, Ella Bigelow, Marl. 1910.

History of Marlborough Mass, Charles Hudson, Boston 1862.

-",...:t. -',
__••.
,
:r
FORM B - BUILDING Assessor's number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number

Massachusetts Historical Commission 70-390 I Marlborough I K 83

80 Boylston Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02116

To\VTI MarlborOllgh
/
Place (neighborhood or village) _

Address ?] Hildreth Street

Sylvester F Bucklin House

Uses: Present IOlllti-lIuit dwelling

Original dwellin 0' then hospital

-'
Date of Construction fa 1840's

SOUTre Maps: style

Style/Form Greek Revival,fItalianate

. Archi teet/Builder __ n...,.k

.•.•
ll ••.• D.•..•
o-u\?><~·n'--' _

Exterior Material:

Sketch Map Foundation granite and brick

Draw a map of the area indicating properties within
it. Number each property for which individual Wallfflim wood clapboard
inventory forms have been completed. Label streets,
including route numbers, if any. Attach a separate Roof asphalt shjn~le
sheet if space is not sufficient here. Indicate north.
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures _

none

Major Alterations (with dates) IDost windows

cornerboards replaced Main entl)'

altered (see p ?) Open attic porch at rear

Condition __ "'"g.•..•
o~o~d _

Moved [X] no [ ] yes Date N/A

Acreaze
~ less than one acre

Recorded by Anne Forbes _ Setting In ] Qtb-C residential area, facing west

Organization for Marlboro Hist COIDIll oyer foot of Main St earkiuO' b lot of telephone

Date 4/1 <:;/94 company bllilding to \Vest

BUILDING FORM

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION [ ] see continuation sheet

Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings
within the community.

This house, which apparently underwent some alterations in the second half of the nineteenth
century, is the oldest and one of the largest in the immediate vicinity. Probably built in the 1840's.
it appears to have been updated from the Greek Revival style to the Italianate sometime after 1860.
It is a large 2 Iil-story, gable-end house with a two-story rear wing and a symmetrical, three-bay
facade. One-story polygonal bay windows, possibly added some years after the house was built,
project from both the north and south sides, and a two-story shed-roofed addition abuts the rear
south side. A high, paneled and corbeled interior chimney rises from either side of the main roof; }

a simpler chimney is located in each of the rear wings. Although most of the windows are modern ,;
replacement sash, a pair of six-over-six- sash round-headed windows appears under the main facade
gable. The center facade entry, with has been altered by the filling in of the top section of its divided
sidelights, has a large glass-and-panel door and a deep Italianate hood supported on a pair of massive
square, chamfered posts. A side porch on the south side of the rear wing has narrower posts of the
same type. Modillions and paired saw-cut brackets adorn the entry cornice, as they do the lintel over
the doorway; similar paired brackets appear at the main roof cornices. Other architectural trim
includes a water-table board at the granite foundation, and very narrow cornerboards, which appear
to be later replacements. The south wing has a high brick basement, with segmental-arched window
openings.

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE [] see continuation sheet !

i
Explain hi5t01Y of the building. Explain its associations with local (or state) history. Include uses of the
building and the role(s) the owners/occupants played within the community.

This house draws its early significance from its association with the Rev. Sylvester F. Bucklin, who
lived here for many years. It was later important as the first location of the Marlborough City
Hospital.

The Rev. Sylvester Bucklin was ordained in 1808 as the first pastor of the official First Parish of
Marlborough, the new organization of the old Congregational church, which was instituted that same
year, after the Second, or "West" Parish had been formed. His was the first ministry for which the
town no longer paid for either the church expenses or the salary of the minister. He was dismissed
from the church in 1832, but remained an active citizen of Marlborough for the rest of his life. He
served as State Representative from Marlborough in 1835-36. Considered the major founder of the
Marlborough Fire Department, he was the original foreman of Torrent Engine Co. #1 in 1849, and
the department's Chief Engineer in 1854-55. Like many prominent citizens, he invested in real
estate, building the first brick store in town, and owning several rental houses. (Cont.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES l l see continuation sheet

Bigelow, Ella. Historical Reminiscences of Marlborough. 1910.
Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Marlborough. 1862.
Hurd, D. Hamilton. History of Middlesex County. 1890.
Maps and Atlases: Walling: 1853, 1857, 1871; Beers: 1875; Bailey & Hazen: 1878; Walker: 1889;
Sanborns.
Marlborough Directories.
Centennial '90: Marlborough the City. 1990.

[X J Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked, a complete.
National Register Criteria Statement form is attached.
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property

Masschusetts Historical Commission

80 Boylston Street Area(s) Form No.s
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 K 83

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE, cont.

The Rev. Bucklin apparently owned this house until his death in 1860. By 1871 it had been acquired
by the major landowner in the Church Street area, shoe-manufacturer Thomas Corey, whose large
mansion stood just to the west, overlooking Maple Street. He died in 1874, and his heirs continued
to own both houses into the 1890's. Associated with them were the much-reduced, but still sizeable,
grounds which stretched from Maple to Church Street and from Hildreth to the new section of Warren
Street.

In 1890, a group of seventeen local citizens formed a corporation to found the Marlborough City
Hospital. The first board of trustees included Dr. E.G. Hoitt, president, Frank A. Howe, Secretary,
and Dr. Hannah E. Bigelow, treasurer. The next year they purchased this house and converted it for
use as the first hospital building. It opened in 1893, but in August of 1894 it closed for lack of funds.
The institution remained closed for over ten years. It reopened in 1904 on a more sound financial
footing, and in 1910 the trustees purchased eleven acres of land on Union Street from the Silas
Simonds estate as the site for a new modern hospital. The hospital moved to the Union Street location
in 1912, where it has operated, with many expansions, since that time.
Massachusetts Historical Commission Community Property Address
80 Boylston Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 Marlborough 27 Hildreth Street
Sylvester Bucklin Housel
Marlborough Hospital

Area(s) Form No(s).

K 83

National Register of Historic Places Criteria Statement Form

Check all that apply:

[xl Individually eligible [ J Eligible only in a historic district

[ J Contributing to a potential historic district [J Potential historic district

Criteria: [x] A [] B [x] C [] D

Criteria Considerations: [] A [] B [] C [] D [] E [] F [] G

Statement of Significance by ----'Ao..=...

. ..;;;.F...;;;.o.;;.;rb~e=s _
The criteria that are checked in the above sections must be justified here.

As a large and well-preserved example of the updated Italianate style, unique in design among the
other extant Italianate houses in Marlborough, this house meets Criterion C of the National
Register, and for its association both with the Rev. Sylvester Bucklin, long-lived minister of the
Congregational Church and considered the "father" of the Marlborough fire department, as well as
for its function as the first location, in 1893, of the Marlborough City Hospital, it also meets
Criterion A.
FORM B - BUILDING Assessor's number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number

Massachusetts Historical Commission 71-93 I Marlborough I I K 205

80 Boylston Street
30ston, Massachusetts 02116

Town Ma rl harO! 19b

- ~ Place (neighborhood or village)

Address 153 Hildreth Street

Historic Name Hildreth (?)/Robinson HOJlse

Uses: Present dwelling

Original dwelling

ca 1810-25

Maps: style

Style/Form Federal

ArchitectlBuilder unknown

Exterior Material:

Sketch Map Foundation granite

Draw a map of the area indicating properties within
it. Number each property for which individual WalllTrim asbestos siding
inventory forms have been completed. Label streets,
including route numbers, if any. Attach a separate Roof asphalt shingle
sheet if space is not sufficient here. Indicate north.
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures _

f:\vo-car garage

Major Alterations (with dates) rear wIDg

removed between 1890 and 1910 20th-C

2-S porch on rear: modem shutters See p 2

Condition fair/aood
o

Moved [X] no [ ] yes Date _~N.....•.....

/A~ __

Acreage less than one acre

.ceccrded by Anne Forhe, Setting On open lot at carner of Hi)Jcrest In

Organization for Marlboro Hist Comm residential area of mixed date 20th-centlln'

Date 411'::;/94 Cape Cod catta~es and blJn~alows oppmjte

BUILDING FORM

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION [ ] see continuation sheet

Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of ocher
buildings within the community.

#153 Hildreth Street, the only Federal style house in the Hildreth Street area, is a classic two-story,
five-bay, hip-roofed building, with one large interior chimney at each end. A one-story, shed-roofed
ell extends to the southwest rear. The windows, which are 6-over-6-sash with molded surrounds, may
be of early date, but much of the house's detail appears to be the result of at least one update after
1850. The most prominent stylistic change, during the ItaJianate period, is the main, center entry, I
,J
which has a double-leaf glass-and-panel door with molded surround, sheltered by a flat-roofed
canopy on square, chamfered posts embellished with pierced, sawcut brackets. Small sawcut brackets
also adorn the hood's cornice.

This house once had a very large rear southwest wing, which was removed sometime after 1910.

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE [J see continuation sheet

Explain history of the building. Explain its associations with local (or state) history. Include uses of the
building, and the role(s) the owners/occupants played within the community.

Possibly built as early as 1810, this is the oldest house on Hildreth Street, and until nearly the end
of the nineteenth century it remained the westernmost in the area. Further research will be i
required to find for whom it was built, but by 1830 it was the farmhouse of the Robinson family,
and is shown under the name of J. Robinson in 1830 and 1835.

Future research may also reveal that this was the farm to which Dr. Benjamin Hildreth retired in
his later years to "cultivate the soil." While practicing as a physician he had lived on Main Street,
just west of the Thayer Tavern. The year of his retirement is not known, but he died in 1848 at the
age of 64.

After 1850 outer Hildreth Street became a major locus for homes and small farms owned by Irish
immigrants, among them the Donovans, Daceys, Ryans, Kenneys, Fitzgibbons and Fitzgeralds, A
substantial farm still stretched from this house west to Cook Lane as late as 1890, although in the
1880's and '90's much land in the area was being developed into houselots.

By 1875 the farm had been acquired by farmer John Donovan, whose family was here until at least
the end of the nineteenth century. Two members of the Donovan family, John, and John E.
Donovan, served in the Civil War with Company G of the Massachusetts 9th Regiment.

Listed under P. Donovan in 1879, by 1887 the property belonged to Michael Donovan, who did
teaming and jobbing as well as fanning.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES [] see continuation sheet

Bigelow, Ella. Historical Reminiscences of Marlborou~h. 1910.
Hudson.
Maps and Atlases: Hudson, 1830; Wood, 1835: Walling: 1853, 1857; Beers: 1875; Bailey
& Hazen: 1878; Walker: 1889.
Marlborough Directories.

[ X] Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked, a

completed National Register Criteria Statement/ann is attached.
Massachusetts Historical Commission Community Property Address
80 Boylston Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 Marlborough 153 Hildreth Street
Hildreth (?)Robinson House

Area(s) Form No(s).

K __ 20_5 _

National Register of Historic Places Criteria Statement Form

Check all that apply:

[x] Individually eligible [ ] Eligible only in a historic district

[ ] Contributing to a potential historic district [] Potential historic district

Criteria: [x] A [] B [x] C [] D

Criteria Considerations: [] A [] B [) C [] D [] E [] F [] G

Statement of Significance by ~A,-=-.__

F..•..
o.....
rb...•
e.....
s _
The criteria that are checked in the above sections must be justified here.

As the oldest building in the Church Street area, and as a rare and intact example in Marlborough
of a hip-roofed, end-wall-chimneyed Federal-style farmhouse, this building meets Criterion C. As
the oldest and clearest reminder of the agricultural origins of the Church Street area, and, especially,
if further research confirms that this was the farmhouse to which Dr. Benjamin Hildreth, the beloved
early-nineteenth-century East Village doctor, retired, it also meets Criterion A.