Simpson, Freeman House
478 Main St
1848
Architectural Style
Italianate
Significance
Architecture
Use Type
Multiple Family Dwelling House
Neighborhood
Bridgewater Town Center
Massachusetts Historical Commission Report
Architectural Significance
This is a solid, Italianate frame vernacular double house with broad end wall gables and return eaves. In the center of its 5-bay main facade is a front door with interesting Greek Revival entraments—e.g. side lights, well crafted moldings, paneled pilasters.
Historical Significance
This house was built in 1848 for Freeman Simpson, machinist. He paid John Edson $135.00 for this lot. John Edson owned the land from this house to the Federal house at the corner of Main and Center Streets. The Edson family figured prominently in the affairs of the Trinity Episcopal Parish Church which was located diagonally across the street to the northeast. In 1852 Freeman Simpson and an M. Burt lived in- this house. By the early 1870's Walter F. Waterman, mason, lived here. This house was part of the late 1840's Bridgewater building boom triggered by the coming of the Old Colony R.R. and subsequent industrial expansion.