Leach - Perkins House
153 Main St
1830
Architectural Style
Federal
Significance
Architecture
Use Type
Single Family Dwelling House
Neighborhood
Bridgewater Town Center
Massachusetts Historical Commission Report
Architectural Significance
Built c. 1830- 1835, #153 Main Street is a commodious U-shaped house which is composed of a 2h story, central hall plan, 5 bay by 4 bay main block with at least two late 19th century rear additions. Clothed in wood shingle siding (originally clapboard), the house exhibits a handsome recessed central entrance with multipanel surrounds and sidelights and an entablature with a late Federal molded cornice. Windows are simply enframed and contain 2/2 wood sash. The main block is enclosed by a broad gable roof with brick chimneys at either end of the west slope.
Historical Significance
This house was apparently built by and for Philo Leach c. 1830-1835. It does not appear on the 1830 map. Born in Bridgewater in 1797, both he and his father Apollos Leach were carpenters. Philo was for many years a leading builder in the town. He became a town selectman at barely 30 and held this post for 20 years. He died Sept. 7, 1853. By the 1850's an R. Perkins owned this property. This may be Rufus Perkins, son of Bridgewater gunsmith James Perkins Jr. During the war of 1812, Rufus and his father filled gun orders for the U.S. government. By the 1870's Henry A. Hall, a Boston merchant (48 School Street), owned this house. Mrs. E. B. Hall notes that at some point in the 19th c. the original shape of this house was altered by fire. In 1879 it is shown with a rectangular plan and an attached stable. By 1903 the house possessed its present U-shaped configuration and two attached barns are shown to the southeast of the house. By the 1890's J. Warren Perkins, foreman, owned this house. He worked at the Bridgewater Iron Company.