Byam, Charles, House
Why it's listed
Built between about 1883 and 1886, this Queen Anne house at 337 Crescent Street in Waltham was home to Charles C. Byam, a skilled watch-machinery worker who rose from assistant foreman to foreman of the American Waltham Watch Company's escapement department. Members of the Byam family owned it until at least the late 1920s. The house sits on land bought by the Waltham Improvement Company in 1854 and later developed with restrictive covenants, which gave the area a residential character. It is a compact, roughly rectangular, clapboard-sided building with a projecting center pavilion, a front porch with Chinese fretwork railings, turned posts and curved brackets, a one-story oriel topped by an open porch, and a slate-shingled hip roof. A double window with a pointed-arch attic window above appears to be the unidentified builder's signature. The house is in good condition, unaltered, and overlooks the Charles River. It was listed for its architecture and its link to the watch company's growth.
Significance in brief: The house is a well-detailed example of the Queen Anne style and part of Crescent Street's group of well-crafted Queen Anne houses. It also represents the development of Waltham's South Side by the watch company, which housed its upper-level employees there. It meets criteria A and C.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 89001576, listed September 28, 1989. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | 337 Crescent St., Waltham |
|---|---|
| County | Middlesex County |
| Listed | September 28, 1989 |
| Reference number | 89001576 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Architect / builder | Architect unknown; house-builder not yet identified |
| Architectural style | Queen Anne |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Community Planning and Development, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Private residence in good condition with no major alterations; a non-contributing garage is on the lot. |
| Acreage | 0.2 |
| Coordinates | 42.36297, -71.24262 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
National Register listing is honorary for a privately owned home: it does not by itself restrict what an owner may do with their own money, and it does not require public access. Restrictions come from local landmark or historic-district ordinances, which are separate (how they differ).
Owner-occupied houses are not eligible for the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit, which applies to income-producing buildings, but many states offer credits for homeowners. Listing also opens the door to preservation easements and to buying a plaque. Start with what listing means for homeowners, renovating a listed house and selling one.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 89001576.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q14715432
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.