Irving Road Area
About the Area
Irving Road Area is a neighborhood of modest Colonial Revival houses built between 1930 and 1942 by Weston developer John Irving Connolly. Houses are typical of the type of small Colonial Revivals built in Weston during the Depression years of the 1930s. Similarities in scale, massing, style, and setbacks gives Irving Road a pleasant unity.
Irving Road Area is a neighborhood of modest Colonial Revival houses built between 1930 and 1942 by Weston developer John Irving Connolly. Houses are typical of the type of small Colonial Revivals built in Weston during the Depression years of the 1930s. Similarities in scale, massing, style, and setbacks gives Irving Road a pleasant unity.
The area includes 10 houses dating between 1930 and 1942. The two most common styles are the traditional 2-story, 3- or 5-bay, center-entrance Colonial and the 1 1/2 story Cape. One house is brick and the others shingle or clapboard. Most have center chimneys and many have 1-story wings and/or Sunday porches extending from the gable ends. Lot sizes are all less than 1 acre, with the average about a half acre.
Houses are generally in good to excellent condition, although one has been vacant for several years. Several have been enlarged and/or “modernized.” Those that remain unchanged are well-proportioned and include simple, Colonial details such as fluted pilasters, pedimented door entablatures, fan lights, transoms, dentil cornices, and 8/8, 8/12 or 12/12 sash.
Houses are generally in good to excellent condition, although one has been vacant for several years. Several have been enlarged and/or “modernized.” Those that remain unchanged are well-proportioned and include simple, Colonial details such as fluted pilasters, pedimented door entablatures, fan lights, transoms, dentil cornices, and 8/8, 8/12 or 12/12 sash.
Neighborhood Features
The neighborhood includes several intact examples of the 2 1/2 story, side-gable house type.
The Erlon and Effie Merrill House, 5 Irving Road (1939, Map # 5, MHC 1147, Photo #1) is a 2 1/2 story Colonial Revival house with a center entrance ornamented with fluted pilasters and a frieze with
The Harry and Alice Cloyes House, 10 Irving Road (1931, Map #9, MHC 1151, Photo #2), another well-preserved 2 ½-story Colonial Revival example, is 3 bays wide with 1-story sunroom extending south. The well-detailed center entrance is enhanced by a fanlight motif within the triangular pediment, and
The Frank and Mary Duffy House, 6 Irving Road (1930, Map #6, MHC 1148) is a 2 1/2 story Colonial Revival house with a typical 5-bay, center entrance fenestration.
Alan & Ellen Winsor House, good examples of the 1 1/2 story Cape include this house at 4 Irving Road (1938, Map #4, MHC 1146, Photo #3), which has a 5-bay fenestration and center entrance. Sash is 6/6. The shingled house has a dentil cornice, center chimney, 2 pedimented dormers and a 1-car garage probably contemporaneous with the house.
Other Capes in the neighborhood include the Carl and Emily Eaby House, 11 Highland Street (1931, Map #3, MHC 1145, Photo #4) and Carl and Rose Schule House, 14 Irving Road (1932, Map #10, MHC 1152), both of which have been substantially enlarged in style and proportion suitable to the original structure.
The Elmer & Mary McManus House, 7 Irving Road (1939, remodeled 1983, Map #6, MHC 1149) remains similar in scale and setback. The original appearance of Elmer and Mary McManus House, 8 Irving Road (1935, remodeled 1993, Map #8, MHC 1150) can