The Richard Sayles House is an historic house at 80 Mendon Street, in
Uxbridge, Massachusetts
Uxbridge is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States, first colonized in 1662 and incorporated in 1727. It was originally part of the town of Mendon, and named for the Earl of Uxbridge. The town is located southwest of Boston an ...
. It is a distinctive local example of
Federal period architecture executed in granite. It is further notable has the home from about 1859 onward of Richard Sayles, a local mill worker, executive, and later owner. It was added to 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 ...
on October 7, 1983.
Description and history
The house is located on the north side of Mendon Street (
Massachusetts Route 16), just east of the St. Mary Parish church complex. The house is a two-story stone structure, five bays wide, built out of ashlar granite and topped by a hip roof. Its front facade is symmetrical, with the entrance set at the center in a keystoned round-arch opening with a semicircular transom. The windows in the other bays have projecting sills and lintels, but are otherwise unadorned.
The house was built about 1820, and its first owner is presently unknown. It was purchased about 1859 by Richard Sayles, a leading figure in the
textile mill
Textile manufacturing or textile engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful good ...
s of Uxbridge. Sayles, a native of
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...
, was educated at Uxbridge Academy, and worked in the local mills 1841–47. By 1852, he had risen to supervise construction of the
Central Woolen Mill, which he and Israel Southwick leased 1859–61. In 1864, he purchased the
Rivulet Mill, which he owned, generally in partnership with others, until his death in 1887. Sayles was also a philanthropist, funding construction of the North Uxbridge Baptist Church despite his own Unitarian beliefs. The house was sold to the Calument Mill company after his death, and was probably used as worker housing.
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See also
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References
{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Houses in Uxbridge, Massachusetts
National Register of Historic Places in Uxbridge, Massachusetts
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Worcester County, Massachusetts
Federal architecture in Massachusetts