Bassett, J. L. House
26 Summer St
1860
Architectural Style
Altered beyond recognition, Colonial Revival, Italianate
Significance
Architecture
Use Type
Single Family Dwelling House
Neighborhood
Bridgewater Town Center
Massachusetts Historical Commission Report
Architectural Significance
This 2 1/2-story frame house was apparently enlarged and updated c. 1900. Its current Queen Anne/Colonial Revival appearance belies its Italianate origins, evident on the 1887 bird's-eye view of Bridgewater. Originally it possessed cross gables, bracketed eaves, and a wrap-around porch that probably had chamfered posts and saw-cut brackets. The house assumed its present appearance about 1900, when the second floor was extended over the eastern portion of the front porch and the gable roof was replaced with a steeply pitched hip roof with double and single dormers. The projecting entrance bay on the ground floor retains its turn-of-the-century, multipaned oak door.
Historical Significance
Built c. 1860, this house experienced a major structural and stylistic transformation c. 1900. Originally a multigable Italianate house with an irregular plan, it assumed its present Queen Anne/Colonial Revival appearance around 1900. It was apparently built for Josiah L. Bassett. He was the proprietor of the Bridgewater Hotel, formerly near the corner of Summer Street and Central Square, during the early 1860s. By 1875 he is listed in Brockton-Bridgewater directories as a farmer on Summer Street, Bridgewater. Late 19th-century maps indicate that the house was attached to a large barn on the eastern portion of the property. By the mid 1890s, J.G. Bassett, "master of the Bigelow School," is listed at this address.