East Weymouth Painters — Broad Street, Middle Street & Jackson Square

Central Square is centered where Broad and Middle streets cross. Its nomination describes about 35 acres with 55 principal buildings and 28 outbuildings, and it notes that Middle Street began as part of a native trail. By 1830 the corner already had a cluster of homes and shoe shops, and the years from 1850 to 1870 brought the heaviest building, much of it stretching along Broad Street toward Jackson Square. Late in the century, new house lots were laid out closer to the factories in Jackson Square, and residential building around Central Square dropped off.

That history left a consistent group of houses. Contributing residences date from about 1830 to about 1890, nearly all wood-frame and mostly single-family, with three two-family houses. Three quarters are vernacular or Greek Revival, the common form being a 1½-story gable-front house with its entry at one side. Of the 21 houses built between 1860 and 1890, 13 are vernacular gable-front cottages with molded window and door surrounds, narrow cornerboards and a wide fascia under a prominent cornice.

Outside the district boundary the picture changes; the nomination says streetscapes there are dominated by buildings from after 1950. Census Tract 4225.02, which covers both squares, shows the mix: 30.8% of its units predate 1940, yet another 20.2% were built in the 1980s, and fewer than half are single-family detached houses.

Little synthetic siding in the district

The nomination lists clapboard, brick, stone and stucco as wall materials and says the houses show only limited use of synthetic siding. On a house that still has painted clapboard, the job is scraping, spot-priming and repainting wood, and a rotted piece of trim is better replaced in the same profile than wrapped in metal or PVC.

Cornices, fascias and window surrounds carry the style

On a plain gable-front cottage, the ornament is concentrated in the cornice, the fascia and the molded surrounds. These parts sit right under the roof edge and take its runoff, so they deserve a close look for soft wood and their own line on any estimate.

Barns and outbuildings

Several district properties keep historic barns, including those behind the N.T. Joy, Francis B. Pratt and Shadrach S. Marden houses, and some later garages stand nearby. Deciding early whether outbuildings are part of the job keeps colors consistent and avoids a second mobilization.

Slate mansards and Victorian trim

The district's two Second Empire houses and its one contributing commercial building, done in the same style, show slate-covered mansard roofs, bracketed cornices and pedimented dormers, and the 1885 Queen Anne at 150 Middle Street has decorative shingles. Dormer trim set into slate takes careful access so the roof isn't damaged while the woodwork is painted.