Framingham Centre Painters — Centre Common & Jonathan Maynard districts

The Centre is where the town's first meeting house stood. When the Worcester Turnpike was laid out through it in the early 1800s, its position halfway between Boston and Worcester made it a stagecoach stop, and taverns, hotels and substantial homes followed. The National Register nomination for the Centre Common Historic District counts 46 contributing buildings, most of them built in the 19th and early 20th centuries in Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, Italianate and High Victorian Gothic styles. Most are wood frame; the churches and civic buildings are largely masonry.

Around 1900 the green was deliberately spruced up. Village Hall got its columned portico, and houses bordering the common were restored under local architects. The nomination notes that many were given Neo-Colonial detailing and additions during the 20th century, so what reads today as original trim is sometimes a 20th-century addition.

Step a few streets off the green and the picture changes. Census tract 3836, which contains the Common, has a median build year of 1963; nearly 60% of its homes date from 1950 to 1969 and fewer than 8% from before 1940. So the neighborhood most people call the Centre is largely mid-century, while the historic core is a compact cluster around the Common, along Pleasant Street in the Jonathan Maynard district, and on Main Street south of Route 9.

Local historic districts, but paint color is free

Houses in the Centre Common and Jonathan Maynard districts need a Certificate of Appropriateness for visible exterior changes. Repainting counts as ordinary maintenance, and color is exempt from review. What the commission does care about is wood: its guidelines favor repairing original siding, cornices and window sash rather than covering them with vinyl or aluminum, and unpainted brick or stone must stay unpainted.

Federal and Greek Revival trim takes the most hours

Cornices, pilasters, entry surrounds and porch columns on these houses take far more hours than flat clapboard. Failed paint in the crevices of a dentil course or a fluted column has to be cleaned out by hand. Patching with epoxy and replacing only the rotted section keeps the original profile.

Route 9 traffic along the south edge

The turnpike was widened for the trolley in 1911, widened again as Route 9 in the 1930s, and widened and depressed below grade in 1968. Homes facing the highway or Main Street catch road grime that needs washing before primer will bond. Choosing a satin or semi-gloss for trim also makes that film easier to rinse off between repaints.

Mid-century homes off the green

The post-war houses that make up most of the tract are a simpler job, but nearly all are older than 1978, so lead-safe prep applies to trim and windows. See lead-safe painting.