Walter S. and Melissa E. Barnes House | |
Location | 140 Highland Ave., Somerville, Massachusetts |
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Coordinates | 42°23′16.51″N 71°6′9.11″W / 42.3879194°N 71.1025306°W |
Area | less than one acre |
Built | 1885 |
Architectural style | Queen Anne, Shingle Style |
MPS | Somerville MPS |
NRHP reference No. | 89001266 [1] |
Added to NRHP | March 8, 1990 |
The Walter S. and Melissa E. Barnes House is a historic house at 140 Highland Avenue in Somerville, Massachusetts. Built about 1890, it is one of the city's least-altered examples of Queen/Stick style Victorian architecture. It was for many years home to Robert Luce, a one-term Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. [1]
The Barnes House stands in central Somerville, on the south side of Highland Avenue (a major east–west route through the city) between Central Street and Trull Lane. It is a 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure, with a hip roof and clapboarded exterior. The roof faces each have dormers, the one in front extended in width to a triangular shaped, and nearly filled by a half-round window. The main roof eaves are bracketed, and there are Stick-style braces on the square posts supporting the front porch. The porch has a shed roof, and wraps around to the right side to a projecting section. [2]
The house was built sometime between about 1885 and 1895, and is one of a few virtually unchanged Queen Anne/Stick style Victorians in the city. It was built for Walter S. Barnes, who worked in the box-making business in Boston. It was home for many years to the family of Robert Luce (1862–1945), a prominent local politician. Luce, a Republican, served many years in the United States Congress representing Somerville, and served a single term (1912–13) as Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts.