Everett Avenue-Sheffield Road Historic District

Along the northern and eastern shores of the upper Mystic Lakes in Winchester, Massachusetts, this district of about 49 acres holds large, high-style houses built between the 1890s and 1916. The land was once farmland granted to Increase Nowell, and later belonged to Edward Everett, for whom Everett Avenue is named. An 1898 map shows only two houses on the avenue, but by 1916 there were 33. Developer Phineas Nickerson, often working with architect Dexter Blaikie, built about 24 houses here, many in stucco Craftsman styles, while F. Patterson Smith designed two of the finest Colonial Revival houses. Tudor Revival, Shingle Style, Bungalow and Mission-influenced houses add variety. Wide, gently winding roads, mature shade trees and the lakefront setting give the area a cohesive character. It is recognized as Winchester's finest turn-of-the-century neighborhood and an example of the town's rise as a fashionable suburb for wealthy Boston businessmen.