Winter Street Historic District

Winter Street in East Cambridge is a short residential street of 16 houses, most of them modest frame workers' cottages built before 1854. Laid out in 1811 by the Lechmere Point Corporation, it became a desirable place for workers' housing once industries settled along nearby Bridge Street. Many early residents worked in the glass factories, especially the New England Glass Company and Bay State Glass Company. The standard house is a narrow, center-hall Late Georgian cottage with a simple cornice and a steep gable end facing the street, set close to its neighbors beside a narrow side yard. The street keeps a range of types, from one-and-a-half story cottages to double houses and a few later bracketed additions. Notable examples include the 1833-34 house built for glass master Thomas Leighton and a house of 1838 built for grocer Atherton Stevens. The district was recognized as the best surviving grouping of this house type in East Cambridge.