Architecture

Concord is one of our nation’s most important historical towns, and preserving that history is the life’s work of many Concordians. Preservation comes in many forms, including protecting the architectural, cultural, and historical integrity of buildings throughout the Town—from The Old Manse to the new house being built on your street.

The owner of this Bauhaus home in Concord is a prolific painter whose art exploded when she moved into her mid-century modern house. It is located on a main thoroughfare in the town, but you would never know it when you are inside.

To be clear, this was no ordinary carriage house even at its inception. Built in a whimsical Carpenter Gothic style, the level of workmanship and design signaled the esteem in which the original family’s horses and carriages were held. A ventilating cupola edged in gingerbread trim and topped with a sleek finial showcased the latest building innovations and style during the mid-Victorian period.

The neighborhood of Conantum, 104 homes on 195 acres of woodland hills along the Sudbury River in Concord, was conceived in 1950 as an experiment in speculative development. For a developer to make a modest profit, typically, he would keep the lots small and the roads and waterlines short, remove the trees and flatten the land, scraping off and selling the valuable topsoil.  

At the end of a pastoral road in Concord, past crisp Colonials and a few mid-century modern Deck houses, there is an enchanting French Norman-style cottage. With leaded glass windows, a romantic, ivy-covered tower, and fascinating ancient brickwork patterns, the house evokes the European countryside.

Concord Center is a remarkable setting where our lives are comforted by continuity to a past of early patriotism, radical thinking, and stories of remarkable local residents. That continuity was intentionally reinforced by one local architect whose vision and talent placed unusually well-designed buildings in locations where Colonial Revival architecture informs the image of Concord as a place built on its mythic past. 

The original marketing material for Deck House, Inc., the company that built many thousands of kit-of-parts houses all over the country and abroad since its inception in 1959, is meant to be inspirational:

“The Deck House concept, as developed by its designer, Mr. William J. Berkes, evolved from the recognized need ... for a contemporary house that would satisfy most of the requirements of a considerable segment of the market.

Often the owners of a beautiful home are called “lucky” or “fortunate” and the same can be said of this historic home, which has benefited from a caring line of owners throughout its 250 years of existence. Now, its current owners, Reinier and Nancy Beeuwkes, have arranged for its permanent preservation. Every historic property should be so lucky.

Concord Center’s beautiful homes are a pageant of architectural history, and among the Federal-era, Colonial-era, and Victorian homes stands this delightful Stick Style home. A rare style in Concord, the home was built in the 1860s for William Munroe Jr.’s gardener. The Stick Style is notable for its functional-appearing but decorative woodwork, such as the diagonal trusses that span the roof’s gable ends.¹

One of the lovely things about living in Concord is the view. From Monument Street overlooking fields of grass to views of Warner’s Pond in West Concord to the dappled light of the forests on ORNAC, the viewer only needs to stand still and look around to notice. Many builders and architects of the 1940s-1960s (the mid-century modern era) understood this and sited homes to take in the surroundings. I feel privileged to be working with a family who bought one of these beautiful houses in the northwest section of town.