Curtis-Evarts House

Site: V09-6
Municipality: Windsor, VT
Location: 34 Main Street
Site Type: House

Curtis-Evarts House, 34 Main Street, 1796, Federal style with significant 19th century additions.
The Curtis-Evarts House was built by Nathan Coolidge, who sold it to Zebina Curtis in 1806. An active member of town politics, Curtis was the son of Israel Curtis, a builder and town organizer employed by Dartmouth College. During the occupancy of Senator William M. Evarts, who served as Secretary of State under Rutherford B. Hayes and as Attorney General under President Andrew Johnson, it became known as the "White House."

Evarts studied law in Windsor starting in 1837 and became a summer resident in 1851, his journey from New York made easier with the 1847 arrival of the train to Windsor. Evarts eventually amassed about 1000 acres of land in Windsor, part of which was dammed to form Runnemede Pond, located behind this and the following houses. Another portion became Paradise Park, now owned by the town. The previously visited house and the following two houses formed part of William M. Evarts extensive estate.

The basic Federal style massing of this house has been enhanced with projecting window bays, highly popular by the 1840s, on the east and north facades. Tall Italianate windows are found on the south elevation which became the main entry during the 19th century.(see #16). Note the Federal style pediment peaking out from the roofline.

Augustus Saint-Gaudens, a nationally recognized sculptor, completed a bronze bust of William M. Evarts in 1872. Saint Gaudens lived and worked in nearby Cornish, New Hampshire, where he and several other artists formed the Cornish Colony. A plaster cast of the Evarts bust is a part of the largest collection of Saint Gauden's works, housed at the Saint Gaudens National Historic Site, one mile north of the Cornish-Windsor Covered Bridge (#59).
(Source 49)

The William M. Evarts House, North Main St., with its numerous wings and varying roof lines, is an interesting example of early utilitarian building and of the manner in which houses 'grew.'
(Source 90:146)

Zebina Curtis-William Maxwell Evarts House. Georgian style, 1796.
Started by Nathan Coolidge and completed by Zebina Curtis, the house was purchased in 1851 by William Maxwell Evarts for a summer residence. The house is a square, clapboarded, 2-1/2 story, frame structure with a truncated hip roof, symmetrically paired interior chimney stacks, and a "Georgian" floor plan. A dentilated modillion cornice supports the overhanging eaves of the roof. While the "Georgian" plan of the house is essentially unaltered, the interior has been remodelled several times in a variety of "Victorian" styles, and the taut planes of the exterior wall surface has been interrupted on the first floor by the addition of octagonal bay windows on the north, east, and south elevations.
(Source 127)

17. Zebina Curtis House. Date built: 1796.
DESCRIPTION: A 2-1/2-story, wood frame, Georgian style house with hip roof, symmetrically paired interior chimney-stacks, and a "Georgian" floor plan. The house has been extensively remodelled several times in several "Victorian" styles. Dentilated modillion roof cornice. The house was erected by Nathan Coolidge and completed by Zebina Curtis and was later owned by William Maxwell Evarts.
(Source 130)