NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
AND REMINDER 
Vol. XIV 
Manchester, Mase. Friday, June 9, 1916 
No. 23 
New Residences and Recent Improvements Along the 
North Shore 
CHARLES ELMER ALEXANDER 
(Reprinted from BOSTON EVENING TRANSCRIPT of May 20, 1916) 
Hamilton Marked by Notable Changes. 
NLIKE some years, Hamilton shows this season a0 
strictly new residence, but important work has been 
done in the development of the George C. Vaughan pro- 
perty, on Main street, with excellent results, including re- 
modelling of an ancient house into a commoduious resi- 
dence and also other houses which, though old, were not 
ancient. 
The old-time dwelling is of the familiar country 
type, square with pitched roof, and it has been made over 
to make it thoroughly comfortable as a modern house, 
while retaining its old-time look and characteristics. Tue 
exterior is of clapboards, dark stained, and its one chim- 
ney rising from the main part is big, like those of earher 
pay* The former kitchen L, has been changed over in‘9 
a spacious library, with deep fireplace, on the lower floox, 
and above is a sitting-room opening upon a sleeping porch. 
Little dormers just out from the slanting roof. Case- 
ment windows everywhere lend their value to the quaintly 
picturesque character of the house and in all ways it 1s 
attractive in its appearance. 
The interior has undergone changes in the way of 
improvements, yet it seems as old-time in its general look 
and arrangement of rooms as it originally did. It is 
known to have been built in 1721, as has been determine: 
from a date of that year cut in one of the beans of the 
ceiling in what now is the dining-room, where the centr 1 
beam, crossed by smaller ones, is of massive size; all are 
seemingly as strong as when originally placed in the house 
yet they are much worm-eaten, “which lends value to their 
look without detracting from their utility. The land on 
which the house stands was bought in 1660, so old deeds 
show, and in 1721 the house was built by Daniel Rich- 
ardson, whose family held the property for fully a cen- 
tury, when his descendants moved to Connecticut. The 
property then became known as the Patch place, and 
members of that family lived there until a few years 
ago when Mr. Vaughan purchased the estate. 
The front door opens into a guaint little hall with 
the narrow stairway winding in square turns to the sec- 
ond floor. The walls of the hall and stairs are in white 
panels, forming a part of the original finish. The hail 
is paved with small black tiles. At the right of the hall 
is the dining-room, so low that a person or ordinary 
height can easily touch the ceiling. It was by remov1l 
of the original ceiling that the beams, including that with 
the old-time date, 1721, were brought to light. Two fire- 
places of more recent construction than the house were 
removed and behind these was opened up the original 
big chimney fireplace and bake oven, with an ancient 
crane, in keeping with the conditions of earlier days. 
At the left of the hall there is the biz living room, 
well treated in its remodelling and as ancient in ‘look aS 
the rest of the house. From this room there is a hidden 
stairway to the second floor. In these rooms the old- 
time idea of finishing the central walls of rooms in panels, 
and the other walls in plaster, has been followed. The 
library, in the wing, is of big dimensions and is_pan- 
elled in natural cypress. It has an ample fireplace. Hard- 
ware which is exposed is a reproduction of that of years 
ago. 
The reconstruction up stairs has been with the idea of 
retaining the original look, as far as ‘possible, while in- 
troducing in an inconspicuous way modern improvements 
in the way of baths, electricity and other equipment for 
comfort. All these changes were planned by Mrs. John 
B. Moulton, of Hamilton, in behalf of Mr. and Mis. 
Vaughan, and she has personally supervised the carrying 
out of the work to bring about tnese changes, which have 
been so successful in results. 
The surroundings form a fitting situation for such 
an old house and much has been done in the development 
of the grounds. A stone terrace has been made in the 
corner between the living room and library and lower 
grounds have been graded and planted with many flowers. 
Use has been made of a spring found in the hill back 
of the house and which feeds two small circular pools 
which have been made in the gardens, connected by a 
little stream which lower down meanders off like a brook, 
bordered by flowers and shaded by willows. Near the 
hbrary is an enormous elm of undoubted great age which 
adds to the general charm of the whole place. The house 
has been leased by Mr. and Mrs. Gerard Bement, for sum- 
mer occupancy, and they are already established there. 
Another Old House Remodelled. 
HE adjoining house, also Mr. Vaughan’s, was long 
known as the Poole place, and it has been moved back 
from the highway and placed in a better site and in its 
remodelled form makes a most comfortable house.  /t 
is square, two stories and a half, with slap-dash_plas- 
tered exterior to the second story, and there it shows 
finish of stained shingles. It has a rustic entrance porch 
with stone foundation, and a large porch to correspond 
has been extended from one corner of the house. A new 
wing has been added, in which have been placed the gen- 
eral service rooms, on both the first and upper floors. 
The hall is of modest size with walls and stairs pan- 
elled in gumwood. The library also has gumwood finish 
for beams, book-cases and other work. Both hall and 
library are brick-tiled, with wide black joints. There is 
a long living room extending way through the house. 
This shows a beamed ceiling and the room is finished 
in white, as is the dining-room. All these rooms are pro- 
vided with good fireplaces. The second floor has three or 
four good chambers and two baths, in the main part, with 
maids’ rooms and a bath in the wing. Rooms are of old- 
time look, with simple doors, little cupboards here and 
