East Natick Painters — Mid-century Natick

Natick's master plan dates East Natick's growth to the years between the world wars. From about 1915 to 1940, as trolley lines were abandoned and Route 9 was built up as an express auto highway, new housing began moving away from the old village centers and north toward Route 9 and East Natick. The road itself is much older: it opened in 1810 as the Worcester Turnpike, a toll road between Brookline and Worcester, and later carried an electric interurban line.

The heaviest building came after World War II. The plan points to the Euclid Avenue and Beverly Road area as an example of a 1940s and 1950s Cape neighborhood, one of several mid-century subdivisions in town that have never been formally surveyed. It also warns that teardowns and oversized replacements are wearing away the consistent character of streets like these.

Census figures for tract 3821, which includes Euclid Avenue and Beverly Road, back that picture up. About 94% of its homes are single-family detached houses, about 94% are owner-occupied, and the median home was built in 1957. Nearly 39% went up in the 1950s alone. Neighborhood boundaries and tract lines do not match exactly, so treat those numbers as a guide to the area rather than an exact count.

Capes with dormers and low eaves

Many 1940s and 1950s Capes keep most of their trim close to the ground, which makes the eaves easy to reach, but the dormers sit on a steep roof. Dormer cheeks and the trim around them weather hard and often show the first peeling on the house. Working them safely takes roof brackets or a lift, which is part of what we look at on the walk-around.

Seventy years of coats

A house built in 1955 has typically been through many repaint cycles, and the oldest layers likely predate the 1978 lead paint ban. Thick, brittle film tends to crack and lift at clapboard laps and around windows. Sound layers stay; loose paint comes off to a firm edge, and the work follows the practices on our lead-safe painting page.

Altered houses, mixed surfaces

The master plan notes that in some of Natick's mid-century neighborhoods, existing homes have been altered significantly. On a house of this age that can mean an addition, vinyl or aluminum on some walls, or newer windows. A repaint often means matching wood clapboard on one elevation and painting over an older metal or composite surface on another, each with its own primer.

No historic district overhead

None of Natick's three local historic districts reaches into this area, so there is no Historic District Commission review. As far as town historic review goes, color and material choices are up to the owner.