The Edwin Bassett House is a historic house in Reading, Massachusetts. It is a well-preserved Greek Revival house, built in 1850 by Edwin Bassett, the first Reading shoemaker to install a McKay stitching machine, a device that revolutionized and led to the industrialization of what was before that a cottage industry. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.[1]
Edwin Bassett House | |
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| Location | 115 Prescott Street, Reading, Massachusetts |
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| Coordinates | 42°31′7.57″N 71°6′51.83″W / 42.5187694°N 71.1143972°W |
| Built | 1850 |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival |
| MPS | Reading MRA |
| NRHP reference No. | 84002482[1] |
| Added to NRHP | July 19, 1984 |
Description and history
editThe Bassett House is set on the north side of Prescott Street, a residential through street to the west of Reading's central business district. Facing south, it is a 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure, three bays wide, with a front-gable roof and clapboard siding. Its Greek Revival features include corner pilasters and a wide frieze that encircles the house, and a fully pedimented gable, which is not usually found on period houses in Reading. A single-story hip-roofed porch extends across the front facade, supported by Doric columns. The house follows a typical side hall plan; its entry is flanked by flat pilasters.[2]
Prescott Street was laid out in 1845 on what had previously been farmland. This house was built in 1850 by Edwin Bassett, a maker of shoes for children and infants, a common product for local shoemakers in what was then a cottage industry. Bassett was the first in Reading to install a McKay stitching machine, significantly improving the process by which shoes were made. The machine had a revolutionizing effect in Reading, where the process of shoemaking would become increasingly industrialized.[2]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
- ^ a b "NRHP nomination for Edwin Bassett House". Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved 2014-02-17.