The Ezra Rice House is a historic house at 1133 West Boylston Street in
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Massachusetts, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the list of United States cities by population, 113th most populous city in the United States. Named after Worcester ...
. It was built sometime between 1833 and 1845, and was a rare local example of transitional Federal and Greek Revival styling. Most of significant exterior details have been obscured or lost due to the application of modern siding. It was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 1980.
Description and history
The Ezra Rice House stands in a residential area in far northern Worcester, at the northwest corner of West Boylston Street and Wilbur Road. It is a -story wood-frame structure, with a gabled roof and exterior finished in modern siding. A full-height -story ell extends to the rear, joining the main block to a modern garage. The main facade, facing West Boylston Street, is three bays wide, with the main entrance in the rightmost bay, and windows placed irregularly in the two left bays. The entrance is the only portion of the exterior retaining significant Greek Revival features: it has flanking half-height sidelight windows, and is set in a slight recess flanked by pilasters and topped by a corniced entablature. The entry was virtually identical to that of the
Charles Newton House
The Charles Newton House is a historic house at 24 Brattle Street in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Description and history
The original owner of the house was Charles Newton, a farmer. The exact date of construction is not known, but it was most ...
(another period house in the city), and is derived from examples published by
Asher Benjamin
Asher Benjamin (June 15, 1773July 26, 1845) was an American architect and author whose work transitioned between Federal architecture and the later Greek Revival architecture. His seven handbooks on design deeply influenced the look of cities and ...
in 1830.
Due to the house's location remote from the city center, little is known of the property prior to 1851, when Ezra Beamon Rice is recorded as living here. Rice is likely a member of the Beamon family that was historically prominent in the affairs of
West Boylston, and is poorly documented in Worcester records.
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See also
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rice, Ezra, House
Houses completed in 1833
Houses in Worcester, Massachusetts
National Register of Historic Places in Worcester, Massachusetts
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Worcester County, Massachusetts
Federal architecture in Massachusetts
Greek Revival houses in Massachusetts