Robinson, Gad House
42 Main St
1855
Architectural Style
Italianate
Significance
Architecture
Use Type
Multiple Family Dwelling House
Neighborhood
Bridgewater Town Center
Massachusetts Historical Commission Report
Architectural Significance
This house is part of the cluster of well crafted 19th century houses bordering the Center - Main - High Streets intersection. Architecturally it ranks among the earliest examples of multi-family housing in Bridgewater. Possessing an L-shaped plan, it rises 2-stories from a hammered granite block foundation toa gable roof. Still intact are clapboards, classicized, cornice headed entablature, late 19th century multi panel double entrance doors, etc. This house's edges are crisply defined by narrow corner boards.
Historical Significance
This house was built c. 1852-1857 for Gad Robinson. He was a skilled metal worker and "for many years occupied a prominent place in the Lazell Perkins Iron Works." This house's construction was part of a building boom which occurred in Bridgewater during the 1840's and 1850's—a boom which was triggered, in part, by the coming of the Old Colony Railroad to the town in 1846. The railroad provided a wider market for Bridgewater products and ushered in an era of prosperity which continued unabated through the Civil War.