Joseph Davis House

Joseph Davis House
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
42°15′55″N 71°48′23″W / 42.26528°N 71.80639°W / 42.26528; -71.80639
Area	less than one acre
Built	1884 (1884)
Architect	Peabody & Stearns
Architectural style	Shingle Style
MPS	Worcester MRA
NRHP reference No.	80000574[1]
Added to NRHP	March 05, 1980

The Joseph Davis House is a historic house at 41 Elm Street in Worcester, Massachusetts. The Shingle style house was built in 1884 to a design by the Boston architectural firm of Peabody & Stearns, and is one of the most elaborate of that style in the city. It was built for Joseph Davis, the son of prominent Worcester lawyer Isaac Davis, and was home for many years to William Rice, president of the Washburn and Moen Company The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.^[1] It now houses professional offices.

Description and history

The Joseph Davis House is located in a mixed residential-commercial area west of downtown Worcester, at the northwest corner of Elm and Linden Streets. It is a sprawling 2+1⁄2-story frame structure, whose central core has a gambrel roof somewhat obscured by numerous projections and dormers. A large ell extends the building to the rear, which has a main gabled ridge parallel to that of the core block. The exterior is finished in a variety of wooden clapboards and shingles, some of the latter cut in decorative patterns. A single-story shed-roof porch extends across the right side of the front façade, supported by Tuscan columns; it has a gable in front of the main entrance, adorned with applied woodwork.^[2]

The house was built in 1884 for Joseph Davis, the son of Isaac Davis, and grandson by marriage of Levi Lincoln Jr. The house was built adjacent to the Lincoln mansion (no longer standing). Davis lived there until 1890, selling the property to William Rice, who became president of the Washburn and Moen Company the following year. Washington and Moen, later United States Steel, was one of Worcester's leading industrial employers. The property remained in the Rice family until 1953.^[2]

See also

• Isaac Davis House
• National Register of Historic Places listings in northwestern Worcester, Massachusetts
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Worcester County, Massachusetts

References

• v
• t
• e

Peabody & Stearns

Buildings

Colorado Cutler Hall (1877–1880) Glen Eyrie† (1881–1882) Antlers Hotel (1883) Connecticut John Rogers Studio (1878) Georgia Dungeness† (1896) Plum Orchard (1898) Maine Union Church of Northeast Harbor (1887) Drexel Estate (1903) Bangor High School (1912) Bangor Public Library (1912) Massachusetts Boylston Hall† (1870) Bussey Institute (1870–1871) Matthews Hall (1871) Smith Academy (1872) Cathedral Church of St. Paul† (1873) J. Murray Forbes House† (1873) Frances M. McKay House (1875) Hotel Alexandra (1875) R. H. White Department Store (1877) Bromfield School (1878) Smith College Gymnasium (1879) Dupee Estate (1880) Shepherd Brooks Estate (1880) Saint Paul's Church† (1880) Union Club of Boston† (1880s) Saint Mary of the Assumption Church and Rectory (1880–1886) John Payson Williston Observatory (1881) Second Harrison Gray Otis House† (1882) Henry Bradlee Jr. House (1882) First Congregational Church Parsonage and Carriage House (1883) Kragsyde (1883–1885) Bayley House (1884) Joseph Davis House (1884) Wigglesworth Building† (1884) Groton School (1884–1902) Elm Court (1885) Divinity Hall† (1886) Saint Paul's Rectory (1886) King's Chapel† (1886–1922) Divinity Library (1887) First Parish Church (1888) Fiske Building (1888) Hasty Pudding Club (1888) Rev. William Lawrence House† (1888) Exchange Building (1889–1891) Wheatleigh (1893) Russia Wharf Building (1897) Christ Episcopal Church and Parish House (1897–1902) Town Stable† (1898) Worcester City Hall (1898) Trinity Episcopal Church† (1898–1899) Newell Boathouse (1900) Chickering Hall (1901) Dudley Station (1901) Middlesex School (1901–1917) Soldiers' Memorial Library (1901) Dorchester Heights Monument (1902) Cotting School (1903) Norfolk Couunty Registry of Deeds (1905) Springfield Fire & Marine Insurance Co. (1905) Whitinsville High School (1905–1907) Union Trust Company Building (1907) Weld Boathouse (1907) Statue of George Frisbie Hoar (1907–1908) Egleston Substation (1909) Lechmere Viaduct (1910) Roslindale Substation (1911) Custom House Tower (1911–1915) George Thorndike Angell Memorial (1912) St. James Theatre (1912) Cambridge Memorial Flagstaff (1913) Mary E. Wells School (1916–1917) Minnesota James J. Hill House (1887–1891) Duluth Union Depot (1890–1892) Missouri St. Louis School of Fine Arts (1879) Unitarian Church of the Messiah (1880) Dr. George Ashe Bronson House (1885) Security Building (1890–1892) New Hampshire New Hampshire State House† (1910) New Jersey Lawrenceville School (1884–1895) Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal (1889) New York Union League Clubhouse (1880) Pennsylvania Harvey Childs House (1896) Joseph Horne Department Store (1898–1900) East Liberty Market (1900) Rhode Island The Breakers (1878) Vinland Estate (1882–1883) Rough Point (1887–1892) Rockhurst (1891) Fairholme† (1896) Providence Journal Building (1906) Vermont Daniel Webster Robinson House (1885–1886) Washington, D.C. Volta Bureau (1893) West Virginia Pinecrest (1892) Wisconsin First Unitarian Society Church (1885) Key: † Denotes addition, alteration, or remodel

Architects

Robert Swain Peabody John Goddard Stearns Jr. George A. Fuller Pierce P. Furber John Scudder Adkins Francis Richmond Allen Robert Day Andrews Charles L. Bevins Clarence H. Blackall Warren R. Briggs Henry Budden John Hutchins Cady Henry Ives Cobb Charles Collens Charles Sumner Frost Edward T. P. Graham Charles R. Greco S. Wesley Haynes Burnham Hoyt Charles Wilson Killam Westray Ladd Ellis F. Lawrence Ion Lewis Louis Christian Mullgardt Orlando Whitney Norcross Frederick Lincoln Savage A. C. Schweinfurth Julius A. Schweinfurth Timothy Walsh Joseph Morrill Wells Edmund M. Wheelwright Edmund Russell Willson Arthur H. Vinal

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