Who was Annie M

67 Pages·2010·7.04 MB·English

ANNIE M. COBB, A REMARKABLE WOMAN, by Laura Fitzmaurice
BSA Research Grant 2010

PROJECT ABSTRACT

Throughout history men have largely occupied the fields of building and
architecture. How is it that a woman, of some means, but with no formal professional
education could, in the mid to late 1800’s, manage to develop the skills as both an
architect and builder such that she was able to make a significant impact on the newly
emerging suburb of Newton Highlands, just west of Boston, Massachusetts? Mrs. Ann
M. Cobb, born 1830 in Maine, is credited by the Newton History Museum’s Historical
Survey of Houses, with the design of 16 houses and two house additions. The known
houses all exist within a small radius in Newton Highlands and each of these houses
possess a very strong character in proportion and detailing that reveal a real talent for
design.

Working with Susan Abele of the Newton History Museum, I researched and
documented the Newton work of Ann Cobb. I explored her history, documented the
buildings as they existed today, tried to recreate original floor plans and recovered
drawings and reference to more of her work. In doing so I came to a better understanding
of how she came to be a builder and how her work was accomplished.

Almost every residential architectural practice involves at some point, the
restoration, renovation or alteration of an existing home. In the Northeast, this involves
dealing with homes that are often a hundred years old or more. It then becomes
important that we understand the nature of its construction and also the logic of the
original design. Documenting and archiving the work of architects and builders, helps us
to preserve our local heritage and also move forward making informed and sensitive
decisions given the existing fabric of our neighborhoods. Ann M. Cobb had a significant
impact on the fabric of Newton Highlands, MA and she was able to do so in a period that
had only begun to consider the valuable contributions that women might make outside of
the home. My hope is to preserve her legacy and inspire others with the story of her
tenacity and spirit.

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ANNIE M. COBB, A REMARKABLE WOMAN, by Laura Fitzmaurice
BSA Research Grant 2010

REPORT

PROJECT OVERVIEW:

The goal of this project was to research and document the work of Ann M. (Raeburn)
Cobb, a woman who transcended Victorian gender roles to enter the exclusive male
world of architecture and building. She is credited with designing and building a
significant number of residences in Newton Highlands, MA and four houses in South
Boston over a span of thirty five years and over the course of two economic depressions.
How was she able to be so productive in an era when a woman’s work was generally
concerned with the interior of home life? How was she able to overcome the gender
limitations imposed by Victorian society, in a time when the only occupations pursued by
women were housework, teaching, sewing, and work in factories? These questions are of
great interest and importance to better understanding the history of women in the
architecture profession.

RESEARCH METHODS:

In documenting Ann Cobb’s houses I first pursued research at the Newton History
Museum. The museum’s historical house surveys were a great source of information.
The surveys were first conducted in the 1980’s by Deborah Shea and later developed in
the 1990’s by historian Roger Reed. I built upon this information by examining
documents at the Registry of Deeds of Middlesex and Suffolk Counties. To recreate the
original floor plans I consulted the files at the City of Newton Engineering Department
where original surveyed drawings of the houses are located. These surveyed drawings
date for the most part when construction was first completed and water brought into each
house. I visited and measured many of the houses and drafted floor plans. From
examining files at the City of Newton Building Department I was able to obtain
documentation of any changes made to the houses through building permits and old
plans. Through old photographs obtained from the Newton History Museum,
descendents of Ann Cobb’s, and local residents I was able to document original features
of the houses. In researching local town histories and probate records of Warren and
Bath, Maine I was able to uncover details of Cobb’s family history. In consulting South
Boston histories and church records I was able to reconstruct her life before her move to
Newton Highlands. In examining family papers from her descendents I acquired a view
of Cobb’s husband, parents and her own personality. Through a thorough examination of
local newspapers I documented her interests by collecting announcements and reports of
her publications, papers, and club activities. Through photographing the houses recurrent
themes in her work emerged.

KEY FINDINGS:

 Cobb’s career began much earlier than previously thought. First indication of
building is dated 1860 in South Boston, a block of four townhouses developed
under her husband, Sewall C. Cobb, a shipbuilder at Charlestown Navy Yard.
Her first purchase of land in Newton Highlands is also earlier than previously
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ANNIE M. COBB, A REMARKABLE WOMAN, by Laura Fitzmaurice
BSA Research Grant 2010

known. She purchased land in 1872 and began building in 1875. City records
indicate she is the sole purchaser of the land in Newton Highlands and the builder.
Her husband had previously relocated to Pensacola, Florida in 1866. They lived
separately but she joined him in Florida for the winter months.
 Cobb’s design career ended later than previously thought. Her granddaughter,
Margaretta Logan Blake, is said to have had Cobb design her house in Concord,
New Hampshire circa 1905/1906. This led to the discovery of blueprints of some
original house drawings.
 Cobb’s mother’s history reveals the ills associated with the married woman’s lack
of property rights and its debilitating effect on women.
 Cobb’s religion, Congregationalism, with its reformist theology, was a vehicle
toward empowerment for women. It was through the Newton Highlands
Congregational Church that Cobb founded the Newton Highlands Monday Club
with the Rev. George Phipps’ wife, Kathleen Phipps. The Monday Club arranged
for many famous feminists, such as Lucy Stone, to speak on the suffragette
movement.
 Cobb thought and wrote about her own career as a house builder and architectural
designer: The newspapers of 1888 reviewed her talk “How One Woman Became
a House Builder.” In her travel diary of 1897 of England and Scotland she wrote
her architectural impressions of Westminster Abbey.
 Cobb was an exhibitor in the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 in the
Woman’s Building, in the category of Constructive Architecture. She exhibited
working plans, elevations and photographs. She also put together a book of house
plans intended to accompany or to be sold at her exhibit.
 Cobb organized architectural lectures, private and public, through the Newton
Highlands Monday Club. One provocative lecture was titled “Co-operative
Housekeeping”. The lecture explored how it would work and what architectural
form it would take. The talk was presented by Mrs. M.J. Rand, the wife of
prominent architect George Rand in January of 1890.
 Much of Cobb’s residential design shows strong influence from contemporaneous
Shingle style architects, an indication she was actively studying architectural
books and other publications.
 A few of the themes that she explored in her work are: 1. Use of varied surface
material to create texture and animation on building facades. 2. The development
of stair hall as public space for social gatherings. 3. Embracing Catharine
Beecher’s concept of home organization: Cobb incorporated more built-in seating,
closets, pass-throughs, pantries, china closets, linen closets than would be
expected in the average sized Victorian home. 4. In using art tiles which celebrate
womanhood and childhood Cobb reveals her affinity with Catharine Beecher’s
theme of the home as the sacred domain of women.
 The discovery of a possible source of her architectural drafting education: The
South Boston School of Art, started in 1872. Adult women were encouraged to
participate in all areas of art education at the school including architectural
drawing. The school was located one half mile from Cobb’s house and gave free
instruction and materials. Cobb’s paintings are also dated from this time period.
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ANNIE M. COBB, A REMARKABLE WOMAN, by Laura Fitzmaurice
BSA Research Grant 2010

 Cobb’s husband, Sewall, supported her career. 1. He financially supported her in
a separate household in Newton Highlands, MA while he made his home in
Pensacola, Florida. 2. As a lumber operator, one of his many business interests in
Florida, he provided her with building materials, such as Florida cedar, which he
shipped to Newton Highlands. 3. He relinquished his “husband’s curtesy” of one
half of her lands, to which he was legally entitled, each time she sold one of her
houses. 4. He wrote his granddaughter of Ann Cobb’s preparations for the
World’s Fair and traveled with her to Chicago for the event.

CONCLUSIONS:

Why is Cobb so important? Born in 1830, first associated with building in 1860 in South
Boston and actively pursuing a design and building career in Newton Highlands by the
mid 1870’s, Cobb is arguably the first American woman architect of architecture’s pre-
professional period. This was a period before schools of architecture existed and well
before future schools of architecture allowed women to participate in their programs. As
a comparison MIT School of Architecture graduated its first woman in 1890. Her story
thus has significant historical importance. Cobb’s suburban world was ruled by women.
Her work designing residences was welcomed by her society and celebrated as the
natural outgrowth of woman’s expertise in the domestic realm of the home. She was not
a radical suffragette but a respected and well loved matron who entered a masculine
career but did not have to compete in a man’s world. Because she was financially able,
she bought land, designed homes, built them on speculation or commission, and in times
of economic depression built to rent. She could not have accomplished so much any
other way.

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ANNIE M. COBB, A REMARKABLE WOMAN, by Laura Fitzmaurice
BSA Research Grant 2010

As part of an ongoing project to research and document the work of Ann M. Cobb
I have included a list of her known houses, exhibitions, publications, papers, and
associations. I have recorded some of the events of her life and those of her family up till
her move from South Boston to Newton Highlands. Also included are interior and
exterior photographs, first floor plans and images of some original documents. All
interior photographs are by Dace Treize-Winzeler.

Ann Margaretta (Raeburn) Cobb (1830 – 1911), photos courtesy of Anne McCune and Perry Smoot.

“She had a great facility for architecture, and quite a number of houses at Newton
Highlands were built from plans prepared entirely by this remarkable woman.”1

KNOWN HOUSES:
1. 1860 - 411, 413, 415, 417 East Seventh St., South Boston, block of four houses2.
2. 1875 - 27 Chester St., Newton Highlands, MA. 1888 - addition with tower.
3. 1877 - 61 Forest St., Newton Highlands, MA.
4. 1877 - 24 Chester St., Newton Highlands, MA.
5. 1885 - 45-47 Forest St., Newton Highlands, MA, double house.
6. 1886 - 16 Chester St., Newton Highlands, MA, demolished 1940/41.
7. 1887 - 10 Chester St., Newton Highlands, MA.
8. 1889 - 4 Chester St., Newton Highlands, MA.
9. 1890 - 5 Chester St., Newton Highlands, MA.
10. 1891 - 27 Hillside Rd., Newton Highlands, MA.
11. 1891 - 55 Hillside Rd., Newton Highlands, MA.
12. 1895 - 43 Hillside Rd., Newton Highlands, MA.
13. 1895 - 49 Hillside Rd., Newton Highlands, MA.
14. 1896 - 37 Hillside Rd., Newton Highlands, MA.
15. 1896 - 1 Raeburn Terrace, Newton Highlands, MA.
16. 1896 - 2 Raeburn Terrace, Newton Highlands, MA.
17. 1903 - 25 Hillside Rd., Newton Highlands, MA.
18. Circa 1906 - 123 School St., Concord, NH. Attributed to Cobb. Cobb’s
granddaughter, Margaretta Logan Blake had this house built.
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ANNIE M. COBB, A REMARKABLE WOMAN, by Laura Fitzmaurice
BSA Research Grant 2010

HOUSE ADDITIONS:

1. 1891 - 38 Bowdoin St.
2. 1888 - 11 Chester St.

EXHIBITIONS: Exhibitor in the Chicago World’s Fair 18933 in the Woman's Building,
Constructive Architecture: Cobb exhibited working plans elevations and photographs of
houses.

PUBLICATIONS AND PAPERS:
1. “How One Woman Became a House Builder,” Paper given to West Newton
Educational Club, and separately to Newton Highlands Monday Club in May
1888.
2. Scientific American Architects and Builders Edition, Vol. XV, February, 1893.
Drawings, plans, specifications #4 Chester St., Newton Highlands, MA.
3. Book of House Plans, 18934
4. “Sarah Fuller Hull”, Paper given to the Sarah Hull Chap. DOR (Daughters of
the Revolution) 1896-1899
5. “Revolutionary events preceding the Evacuation of Boston”, Paper given to
the Sarah Hull Chapter, DOR (Daughters of the Revolution) 1896-1899.
6. “Maj. Benj. Burton”, Paper given to the Sarah Hull Chap. DOR (Daughters of
the Revolution) 1896-1899
7. “Directory to the Bicentennial inventory of American paintings executed
before 1914”, Collection of Fine Arts (U.S.), 1976, page 55,
8. Travel Diary of 1897 England, Scotland. Includes architectural descriptions
of Westminster Abbey, etc.5
9. Founded with others, a magazine “The Wireless”, first issue February 1903.
Ann contributed an essay “The Highlands of Scotland” to the first issue.
10. “Travels in Scotland” Given at W.O.N.A.R.D. Boston - March 27, 19066
11. Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and
Sculpture database -“Bowl of Lilacs”, ca. 1875 oil, 9 ½ x 16 inches.

ASSOCIATIONS:
1. Newton Highlands Monday Club, joined 1886, founding member. Though the
club concentrated on studying “les belles lettres” they also organized many
architectural lectures for the public.
2. West Newton Educational Club, starting in 1888/9.
3. Ladies’ Sewing Circle of the Congregational Society of the Newton Highlands
Congregational Church. President for the years 1877, 1878, 1886, 1887, 1888,
1889, 1893, 1894, 1895.
4. Sarah Hull Chapter, Daughters of the Revolution. Joined 1897, founding member.
5. The Owls Club, Newton, MA. 1898.

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ANNIE M. COBB, A REMARKABLE WOMAN, by Laura Fitzmaurice
BSA Research Grant 2010

South Boston Houses:

411, 413, 415, 417 East Seventh Street

This block of four houses was built 1860 and built for sale. They were wooden clapboard
houses in the American Second Empire style. Anne Cobb purchased this house from the
estate of Sewall C. Cobb when all his personal and professional property was seized and
sold at auction and private sale. Sewall is named as developer of these houses in deed.
His business failed and he and his partner, Samuel Reed became insolvent debtors. This
was Ann’s residence until 1875. She used it as rental property till 1898. A unique feature
of these houses is the basement level kitchens with dumb waiters to the dining rooms.
They are built on a slope so kitchens opened out onto brick rear courtyards. Direct access
from street to kitchen courtyards is through tunnels. Houses originally featured door
canopies (now in filled below), double leaf doors with window inserts.
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ANNIE M. COBB, A REMARKABLE WOMAN, by Laura Fitzmaurice
BSA Research Grant 2010

27 Chester Street:

Photo circa 1935, courtesy Newton History Museum, Carley Realty file.

Above right: side porch view as seen from Forest St. circa 1890, courtesy of Anne McCune.

27 Chester St. Built 1875 with major alterations, addition with tower in1888.

This house was built by Ann M. Cobb for her own residence. It was a wood clapboard
front gabled house in the Italianate Style. The unusual square tower addition is in the
Stick Style and had a projected diagonal first floor bay, now removed. Also now gone
are the transoms over the narrow windows, window trim, double leaf doors, and door
canopy. Clapboard has been replaced with shingles and porch in filled. Interior has also
seen major alterations.
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ANNIE M. COBB, A REMARKABLE WOMAN, by Laura Fitzmaurice
BSA Research Grant 2010

61 Forest Street:

Above left circa 1890, Logan family courtesy of Anne McCune. Photo on right 2010.

61 Forest Street was built in 1877. Owned by Anna Cobb and rented to her son-in-law
and daughter William and Anne Logan. The surface material was originally wood
clapboard with corner boards in the Italianate style. Original window moldings, scroll
bracket with pendant door canopy, double leaf doors with arched window inserts and
piazza which wrapped around left side of house are now gone. As with almost all the
houses the kitchen has undergone alterations. Unique feature is the staircase with built in
bench, a theme seen in many of Cobb’s later houses.

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ANNIE M. COBB, A REMARKABLE WOMAN, by Laura Fitzmaurice
BSA Research Grant 2010

24 Chester Street:

Above photo circa 1935, courtesy of Newton History Museum, Carley Realty file.

24 Chester St. was built to rent in 1877. It is a wood clapboard cottage in the Stick style.
Cobb used a side entry scheme. A projecting bay with a triple grouping of narrow
windows is the façade focal point. She also uses in this house another future design
signature - art tiles. Above can be seen the aesthetic art movement fireplace with mosaic
patterned tile and floral iron insert. Rented by Edward E. & Gertrude Bird from 1886 to
1890, after which they commissioned Cobb to design and build 5 Chester Street.
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