Nichols House

Built in 1879 at 140 Sargent Street in Newton Corner, this clapboard house was the residence of J. Howard Nichols, a merchant in the Chinese ports trade who later served as treasurer of the Dwight Manufacturing Company. It is a square-plan, two-and-one-half-story building with a two-stage rear ell and a steeply pitched hip roof. The design shows the Stick Style preference for tall, vertical forms and sharp, angular gables, with open wooden bracing on the gables, entrance porch and bay windows. Applied wood trim is decorative rather than structural. The entrance sits within a hip-roofed porte-cochere, and several polygonal bays have bracketed cornices. The hilltop site and ample grounds suggest the owner's considerable means. The surrounding part of Newton Corner was a district of large estates held by wealthy Boston businessmen. The architect is unknown, but the house is described as one of Newton's finest architect-designed Stick Style residences, and it remains in excellent, largely unaltered condition.