12/12

FORM B BUILDING

MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSIONMASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARDBOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125

Photograph (view from )

Locus Map (north is up)

Recorded by: John D. Clemson

Organization: Medford Historical Commission

Date (month / year): May 2018

Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number

M 10 7 Boston North

A MDF.1421

Town/City: Medford

Place: (neighborhood or village): Medford Square South

Address: 7 Lauriat Place

Historic Name: Lauriat Gold Leaf Workshop

Uses: Present: residential, vacant

Original: workshop, manufacturing

Date of Construction:

Source: maps

Style/Form: 1889-1898

Architect/Builder: unknown

Exterior Material:Foundation: brick

Wall/Trim: asphalt shingle/ wood

Roof: asphalt shingle

Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: attached gabled shed

Major Alterations (with dates): Shed wing addition, 1910-1936; asphalt shingle siding, early to-mid-20th century; door and sash replacement, recent decades.

Condition: Fair

Moved: no yes Date:

Acreage: 0.834 acre

Setting: Densely developed residential neighborhood of wood frame single- and multi-family buildings dating from the early 19th through recent decades.

Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.

INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET MEDFORD 7 LAURIAT PLACE

MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125

Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked, you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:

The Lauriat Gold Leaf, or gold beating Workshop, constructed between 1889 and 1898, is an exceptionally rare survival in the region of its form and type. It is an example of a small workshop for producing machine- and hand-worked artisanal goods, in this case gold leaf, which was, during the 19th century, and still is, commonly used in art-frame, book binding, and other specialized applications. Similarly scaled buildings, often less elaborate, were once a common feature of the built environment of New England, which has largely disappeared from the landscape. This example is unusual in its degree of architectural articulation and form. It is massed in a precise two-story cube under a hipped roof and sits on a high brick foundation. The loft level, with knee-wall framing, whereby the rafters rest on a plate a half-story above the loft floor, is lit by broad, hipped wall dormers, one centered on each elevation, that house three-window openings. The main floor is lit by domestically scaled sash arranged in a regular three-bay pattern on each elevation. An entrance occupies the left-of-center bay in the main façade and appears to have been recently altered. It is placed at the main sill of the building, currently hovering approximately five feet above grade, suggesting there was originally an open porch and stoop at this location. The cellar level is well lit on the right (east)-facing side elevation with three standard-sized windows. Additional massing is provided by a smaller gabled wing that projects forward from the southwest corner of the main body, at grade, that is connected by a shed-roofed bay tucked behind within the left-rear (northwest) re-entrant angle formed by the two massing components. The wing, added between 1910 and 1936, is labelled “office” on period Sanborn maps.

No original trim survives on the building. It is currently covered in decorative, stepped asphalt siding shingles, indicative of a mid-20th-century re-siding. Sash and door have recently been replaced with vinyl products. The cornice also has vinyl panning. The forward-facing gable of the office wing is sheathed in vinyl clapboards. Despite these less-than-sympathetic alterations, the building remains a legible component of Medford’s history connected to the gold-beating industry that thrived here between the mid-19th and mid-20th centuries, when several similar small shops were located in the neighborhood, and serves as a rare, likely unique, and important surviving document evidencing this history. Currently located on a minimal lot, the property is associated with 5 Lauriat Place (MDF.1384, 1880-1889) and the development of the southwest corner of the block formed by Cross and Washington streets and Washington Place/ Pleasant Street, that was owned by members of the Lauriat family during the late-19th century. The lot appears to have originally been landscaped in a residential manner, with grass and trees, but has been allowed recently to go wild.

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE

The history of the Lauriat family and its activities in the gold leaf industry have been well documented by Doherty and Morris, and will be reproduced here.

Charles Philip Lauriat (1833 – May 2, 1896) was by profession a gold beater or fabricator of gold leaf. He resided at 4 Ashland Street, in Medford Square, where he also operated his shop and never resided at the subject property. The Lauriat family was prominent in the gold leaf trade in Boston early in the nineteenth century, beginning with Louis (sometimes Lewis) Anselm Lauriat, a French immigrant who arrived in the United States in 1812. [Louis Lauriat was also a well-known as an aerial balloon pilot.] Several of Lauriat’s ten children followed him into the gold leaf business, including his son, Charles P. Lauriat, who moved from Boston to Medford. Most of the Lauriat business was conducted at 4 Ashland Street, in Medford Square, where Charles P. Lauriat and family were listed in the 1880 census, and where several other Lauriat family members were listed in directories around the turn of the twentieth century. Charles’ son Anselm operated the shop on Lauriat Place and resided next door at No., 5; see 5 Lauriat Place (MDF.1384) and MDF.A Washington Square.1

1 Jennifer B. Doherty, MDF.1384, 5 Lauriat Place, 1880-1889; see also Dee Morris, Medford, A Brief History (The History Press, 2009) p. 61 and “All That Glitters: Medford’s Shining Moment,” wickedlocal.com, Sep. 13, 2010.

Continuation sheet 1

A MDF.1421

INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET MEDFORD 7 LAURIAT PLACE

MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125

According to Brooks and Usher:

Of the very few gold-beating establishments in Massachusetts, the largest, owned and conducted by Mr. Charles P. Lauriat, is located in Medford. He commenced the business on Almont Street in 1856, removed to Salem Street about two years later, and to his present location on Ashland Street in 1866. He has also a smaller factory under the charge of Amos C. Lauriat on Riverside Avenue; and his entire business, amounting to about fifty thousand dollars per year, gives employment, including both sexes, to some thirty-five or forty persons. Mr. Lewis A. Lauriat, the popular and successful aeronaut of fifty years ago, of whose eleven children Charles P. was the youngest, was the first to introduce the gold-beating business to Massachusetts. A small factory for the same business has been recently opened on Riverside Avenue by Mr. Thomas Wright.2

Another account by Gould expands on the family’s activities and the locations in Boston of the industry before the Lauriats moved to Medford.

The manufacture of gold leaf, or history of the gold beaters of Boston, is quite interesting. The first record I can find pertaining to same is that Lewis Anselm Lauriat was a refiner of metals and seller of gold leaf in 1813. In 1816 he was a regular gold beater, with location at 33 Washington Street, and in 1828 he was in the same place, and also proprietor of Boston Laboratory, and in 1845, in addition to making gold leaf, he made oil of vitriol and other chemicals at 804 Washington Street. That same year there worked for him three of his sons, named Aristides, Emelius, and Gustavus Adolphus, and seven years later another son, Charles P. Lauriat, began as a gold beater (probably for his father) when he was nineteen years old…Anselm A. Lauriat, who was a son of Charles P. Lauriat, succeeded to the business of his father, and for many years has been a gold beater at 16 Harvard Place, his home and manufactory being now in Medford, Mass.3

In an article published locally in 2009, Morris recounts in great detail the process of creating gold leaf through a process of machine rolling and labor-intensive hand hammering. The handwork process, despite being poorly paid, required a considerable amount of skill, and each craftsman developed their own technique. Labor was generally allocated by sex; gold beating by men and the packaging of leaf between leaves of tissue by women.4

Charles’ son, Anselm Augustus Lauriat (May 31, 1863 – Jul. 5, 1938) married Helen A. Metzer (d. Oct. 1927) in Medford on July 14, 1887. The year before his marriage Lauriat was still listed in directories as boarding at 4 Ashland Street with his family. It is likely that the Lauriat House at 5 Lauriat Place was constructed for the couple, as it appears on maps by 1889, and Anselm Lauriat is listed in the 1890 directory at the address. Lauriat continued the family trade, building a gold beating shop to the east of the house by 1897 (7 Lauriat Place) and also working out of a Boston shop that had been his father’s at 16 Harvard Place. In 1920, Anselm’s operation at 7 Lauriat Place was one of four gold leaf manufacturers in Medford.5 Sanborn maps indicate that the building remained in light industrial use as late as 1950, when it is labelled “PR’ T’ G,” evidently printing, and the wing labelled “Off,” or office.

Again, according to Doherty:

By 1907 Anselm Lauriat had joined his family members at 4 Ashland Street, and Joseph C. Miller, Jr. (Apr. 1861 – May 17, 1933), was listed in directories at the Lauriat House.6 Miller had not moved far; he is listed at 3 Lauriat

2 Charles Brooks, James M. Usher, History of the Town of Medford, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, From its First Settlement in 1630 to 1855; Revised, Enlarged, and Brought Down to 1885 by James M. Usher (Rand, Avery & Company, The Franklin Press, 1886) p. 466.3 George L. Gould, Historical Sketch of the Paint, Oil, Varnish and Allied Trades of Boston Since 1800, A.D. (Paint and Oil Club of New England, 1914) pp. 143-144.4 Morrison, “All That Glitters: Medford’s Shining Moment,” wickedlocal.com, Sep. 13, 2010.5 Ancestry.com: Medford vital records; Bath, Maine, city directory for 1928; Medford (Malden) city directories: 1886; Medford city directories:1890, 1897, 1907, 1920; United States Census: 1880, 1900. Boston Globe: 29 November 1931 “Ancient Art of Beating Gold is Still Preserved;”Gould, page 144.6 Ancestry.com: Medford vital records; Medford city directories: 1902, 1907, 1920, 1924, 1930, 1938; United States Census: 1900, 1910, 1920,1930. Boston Globe: 19 May 1933 “Joseph C. Miller”; 24 July 1936 “Deaths – Ellis”; 10 October 1955 “Charles H. Phinney”; 2 November 1964“Mrs. Lizzie Miller.” Medford Historical Register: “Joseph C. Miller, Jr.,” Vol. XXXVI, No. 2. June, 1933, pg. 30

Continuation sheet 2

A MDF.1421

INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET MEDFORD 7 LAURIAT PLACE

MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125

Place (no longer extant) in the 1900 census. Miller was in the printing business, and by 1897 had a print shop behind the house at 3 Lauriat Place. Sanborn maps and other sources indicate that Anselm Lauriat continued to use the shop at 7 Lauriat Place for gold beating even after he moved out of the subject building. Directories list Miller as operating a print business out of the subject building, but by 1920 he had moved into Lauriat’s shop at 7 Lauriat Place. Miller was involved with the Medford Historical Society, and for thirty-five years printed the organization’s publication, the Medford Historical Register. Miller lived at the Lauriat House with his wife, Lizzie P. (Aug. 7, 1863 – Nov. 1964), their daughter Marion I. (b. Sept. 1887), and his widowed mother-in-law, Harriet (Hattie) A. Ellis Jan. 1846 – Jul. 22, 1936). The 1910 census also lists a son, Sherburne E. (b. Feb. 1889), who worked as a silver engraver, but as he is not listed in later records it is likely he moved out of the family house. The family members were all born in Massachusetts. Marion worked with her father in the printing office as a bookkeeper. Census records through 1930 note that Miller rented the house; it is unclear if Anselm Lauriat continued to own the property and rented it to Miller or if Lauriat sold it to a different owner. A 1971 deed notes that Marion I. Miller inherited the property from Charles H. Phinney (d. Oct. 1955).4 Directories, census records, and his obituary show that Phinney lived at 18 Newton Road in Medford. However his obituary notes that Phinney was the superintendent of the Boston Transcript and worked for the J. C. Miller Printing Company. (MDF.1384)

Recent ownership history indicates the building was owned by Charles H. Phinney prior to 1956, after which it was owned by Robert L. Mallard until recently.7

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES

Ancestry.com: see footnotes

Maps and atlases:

1855 H.F. Walling. “Map of Medford....”1875 F. W. Beers, County Atlas of Middlesex, Massachusetts. 1880 O. H. Bailey [Bird’s Eye View of] Medford.1889 Geo. H. Walker & Co., Atlas of Middlesex County, Massachusetts. 1898 Geo. W. Stadly & Co., Atlas of the City of Medford....1900 Geo. W. Stadly & Co., Atlas of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Volume 1. 1892, 1897, 1903, 1910, 1936, 1936-1950 Sanborn Insurance Atlases.

Charles Brooks and James M. Usher, History of the Town of Medford, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, From its First Settlement in 1630 to 1855; Revised, Enlarged and Brought Down to 1885 (Rand, Avery & Co., 1886)

George L. Gould, Historical Sketch of the Paint, Oil, Varnish and Allied Trades of Boston Since 1800, A.D. (Paint and Oil Club of New England, 1914).

Dee Morris, Medford, A Brief History (The History Press, 2009).

Middlesex County South Registry of Deeds, in notes as MCSRD book:page.

7 MCSRD 8749:399 (1956).Continuation sheet 3

A MDF.1421

INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET MEDFORD 7 LAURIAT PLACE

MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125

View from SE showing east-facing side elevation and basement window opingings.

Portrait of Charles P. Lauriat from Gould, p. 114.

Continuation sheet 4

A MDF.1421

INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET MEDFORD 7 LAURIAT PLACE

MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125

[If appropriate, cut and paste the text below into an inventory form’s last continuation sheet.]

National Register of Historic Places Criteria Statement Form

Check all that apply:

Individually eligible Eligible only in a historic district

Contributing to a potential historic district Potential historic district

Criteria: A B C D

Criteria Considerations: A B C D E F G

Statement of Significance by____John D. Clemson______________________ The criteria that are checked in the above sections must be justified here.

The Lauriat Gold Leaf Workshop at 7 Lauriat Place, constructed between 1889 and 1898, is an exceptionally rare survival of its form and type, which documents Medford’s 19th century role in the regional gold leaf industry. It may be a unique example of its form, type and early use. The workshop is associated with Anselm Augustus Lauriat, his father, Charles P. Lauriat, and grandfather, Louis Anselm Lauriat, all prominent in the gold leaf industry in Medford and Boston. It would be eligible for Individual National Register listing und criteria A and C. Despite its deteriorated condition and minor alteration it retains integrity of location, design, setting, workmanship, feeling and association.

The Lauriat Workshop would also contribute to a potential district comprised of Washington Square (MDF.A). Washington Square meets Criterion A for its association with the growth and development of Medford, with its distinctive shipbuilding experience and the broader Boston basin, where settlement forms evolved as the region’s density and character changed over two centuries. The Square’s landscape includes buildings that are good examples of key types that have been identified as emblematic of the periods of their construction and use, supporting its significance under Criterion C. While the buildings have suffered some alterations, the individual components remain legible and the ensemble retains sufficient character and integrity to convey its areas of significance. The Square exhibits significance at the local level and retains integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. Washington Square is located to the north of a related area listed on the National Register as the Old Ship Street Historic District and may be appropriately considered an extension of that district.

Continuation sheet 5

A MDF.1421