Gore Place facts for kids
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Gore Place
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The main house
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 Location in Massachusetts
Location in the United States
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| Location | Waltham, Massachusetts |
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| Built | 1804–1806 |
| Architect | Jacques-Guillaume Legrand; Rebecca Gore |
| Architectural style | Federal |
| NRHP reference No. | 70000542 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | December 30, 1970 |
| Designated NHL | December 30, 1970 |
Gore Place is a beautiful old country house in Waltham, Massachusetts. Today, it is a museum that you can visit! It is located at 52 Gore Street. A group called the Gore Place Society owns and takes care of it.
The large estate is about 45 acres (18 hectares) big. You can visit the grounds every day for free. If you want to see inside the house, there is a small fee. Many fun events happen here all year. These include a yearly sheep shearing festival and summer concerts.
The main house was built in 1806. It was a summer home for Christopher Gore, a lawyer and politician from Massachusetts. The Gores welcomed many important people to their home. Guests included the Marquis de Lafayette, Daniel Webster, and James Monroe. In 1970, Gore Place became a National Historic Landmark. This was because of its amazing architecture. It is a great example of a large Federal style country house. It also has well-kept rooms for the house staff. These rooms show how jobs for people working in homes changed over time.
Contents
Who Was Christopher Gore?
Christopher Gore (1758–1827) was a very important person in Massachusetts. He was a lawyer, banker, and statesman. He was also a politician from the Federalist Party. Gore went to Harvard College. He became very rich by investing in debts from the American Revolutionary War in the 1780s. Some people, like John Quincy Adams, said he was the richest lawyer in the country!
In the 1790s, he started a career in politics and diplomacy. He served one term as Governor of Massachusetts in 1809. Later, he was chosen to be a U.S. Senator in 1813. He was elected again in 1814. He served until 1816, when he had to leave because of poor health.
How the Waltham Estate Began
In 1785, Christopher Gore married Rebecca Amory Payne. She was the daughter of a rich Boston merchant and banker. In 1786, they used money from her family to buy about 50 acres (20 hectares) in Waltham, Massachusetts. They wanted to use this land as a country estate. Over time, they bought more land. The estate grew to be about 400 acres (160 hectares) in size.
In 1789, the Gores made a lot of money from Christopher's investments. They then bought things that showed their high social status in Massachusetts. In 1789, they bought a fancy mansion in Boston on Bowdoin Square. In 1793, they tore down the house on their Waltham property. They replaced it with new buildings for a summer estate. These included a wooden mansion, said to be in the style of architect Samuel McIntire, and a carriage house.
Fire and New Building Plans
In 1796, President George Washington chose Christopher Gore for a special job. He was sent to London to help with shipping issues between the United States and Great Britain. The Gores lived in Europe from 1796 to 1804. In 1799, they learned that their Waltham house had burned down. They immediately started planning a new one. Luckily, the carriage house was not damaged and is still there today.
In 1801, the Gores traveled around Europe. They spent six months in Paris. There, they met an architect named Jacques-Guillaume Legrand. They became good friends with him.
Rebecca Gore was very interested in architecture. Six months after they returned to London, she drew her own ideas for a new building. In October 1802, Christopher Gore sent some of her drawings to his friend Rufus King. King was in Paris at the time. He asked Legrand to draw official plans based on Rebecca's sketches.
We don't have clear proof that Legrand drew the final plans. However, the house that was built has many details that match his style. It also shows ideas from English architect Sir John Soane. The Gores might have seen his designs during their trips in England. They might also have seen his book, Sketches in Architecture, which came out in 1793.
The Gores came back to Massachusetts in 1804. Building on the new house started in March 1805. It was finished in 1806 and cost $23,000. Many of the building materials, like the bricks, came from England. They were brought by raft up the Charles River to the Waltham site. While the house was being built, the Gores lived in a part of the old house that had survived the fire. This part was later moved to the center of Waltham.
Amazing Architecture
The Mansion's Design
The Gore Place mansion has a main section in the middle. It has two matching wings on each side. Each wing has a narrow part that connects to a slightly wider end section. The whole building is about 190 feet (58 meters) long. The main block is 68 by 40 feet (21 by 12 meters) and has oval parts that stick out. The connecting parts are 40 by 21 feet (12 by 6.4 meters). The end sections of the wings are 20 by 32 feet (6.1 by 9.8 meters).
The main block is two and a half stories tall. The wings are one and a half stories tall. The building is covered in bricks made in Charlestown, Massachusetts. The roof was first made of wood shingles. Now, it is made of slate. The main block and the east wing were for guests and the family. The west wing was completely for the servants and their work areas.
The Carriage House
The carriage house was built in the 1790s. It is a rectangular building, 70 by 40 feet (21 by 12 meters), with two stories and a sloped roof. It has three parts. The west end was for storing carriages. The east end was for keeping horses. The middle part had tall doors for carriages to enter and leave. This area was used for getting the carriages ready.
The horse stable area had seven stalls. It had special features to make it easy to remove waste and give food to the animals. A room for horse gear, called a tack room, separated the stalls from the middle area. This also helped keep the smell of the stables away from the rest of the building.
The carriage house was first near the entrance to the property. In 1968, it was moved to make Gore Street wider. The Gore Place Society now uses it for events.
The Gardens and Landscaping
The gardens at Gore Place were designed to look natural. Charles W. Eliot, whose son was a famous landscape designer, said they were influenced by English landscape architect Humphry Repton. Repton's ideas about garden design were popular when the Gores were in England.
Following Repton's ideas, the estate did not have many formal garden areas. Instead, it had wide lawns, small hidden gardens, and shady paths. These paths went around the edges of the property.
History of Gore Place
The land where Gore Place stands has a long history. It goes back to early colonial times. Back then, Waltham was part of Watertown. In 1630, the first minister of Watertown, George Phillips, was given 40 acres (16 hectares) of land. This land became the main part of the Gore estate.
The property was owned by many different people over the years. These included members of the Garfield family, who were ancestors of United States President James Garfield. A Revolutionary War soldier named Jonathan Brewer also owned it. The Gores bought it in 1786. From 1744, the property had a tavern. The area was known as Davenport's Corner, named after the first owner, Jonathan Davenport.
The Gores lived on the property until 1834. Rebecca Gore died that year; Christopher Gore had passed away in 1827. They did not have any children. After they died, the things inside the house were sold at an auction.
The estate was bought by Theodore Lyman. He built a farmhouse on the farmlands between the mansion and the Charles River. The head farmer of the estate lived in this house. It was moved to its current spot in the 20th century. This happened after the city took part of the estate for a new road. Lyman made some changes to the estate's landscaping. He added a formal garden area north of the main house.
After Lyman, the estate was owned by several different private people. In 1921, the Waltham Country Club bought it. They built a golf course and tennis courts. But these plans failed during the Great Depression, and the estate started to fall apart.
In 1935, the bank that owned the property planned to sell the land for houses. But groups that wanted to save old buildings stepped in. These included the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (now Historic New England), the Trustees of Reservations, and the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. They started a campaign to save Gore Place.
After raising money, the Gore Place Society bought the property. The Society got about 75 acres (30 hectares) of the original estate. They have worked to fix up its buildings. About 30 acres (12 hectares) of the estate are leased to Raytheon and are not open to the public. The rest of the estate is open for everyone to enjoy. House tours are available for a fee.
See also
