Oliver Ames, Jr. Mansion/Unity Close Mansion - Easton, MA - Victorian Style Architecture on Waymarking.com

In the North Easton village of Easton, at the intersection of Main Street and Oliver Street, is the Oliver Ames, Jr./Unity Close Mansion.

The entire village of North Easton is an impressive and largely untouched example of Victorian Architecture, including community buildings that are fine examples of the Richardsonian Romanesque style. This house is of the Italianate style, an earlier style that competed with Greek Revival. The Ames Shovel Shop is in the center of the village and produced much of the world's supply of hand held shovels in the mid 1800s. The family became very wealthy from their company and employed some of the most well known architects to build structures and landscaped gardens. As a result, there are now three National Historic Districs in this village alone, and this house is part of the North Easton Historic Distric.

The house is almost a cube in shape - there is an extension off the side, and a porch in the front. The house has two floors, with a cupola rising from the center of the roof. There are decorative elements above the windows. The color of the house is gray with white on the corners.

Surrounding the house is a green lawn and an iron fence. Unfortunately, the house is a private residence, so you can't see the expanse, especially the rear portion. There is an iron fence along the front yard.

According to a real estate site (link below), the house was built in 1862 and was designed by George Snell. It was the house of Oliver Ames, Jr. and his wife, Sarah Lothrop Ames.

In addition to running the shovel shop, he was tapped by President Abraham Lincoln to head a new enveavor - the building of the Union Pacific Railroad. A long story short, he was able to move the project along and was likely the one person who saved the Union Pacific from sinking with the Credit Mobilier scandal that his brother, Oaks was blackened with. A good account of this is in the book by Stephen Ambrose, "Nothing Like It in the World."

Additional Source:

Wikipedia (Oliver Ames, Jr):
(visit link)

Public/Private: Private Tours Available?: No Year Built: 1/1/1862 Web Address: [Web Link]

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