201-207 and 211 Hammond Street

1888 In May of 1888, Oel Farnsworth sold to Emily C. Lord, wife of Rufus E. Lord, a lot of land in the southern part of his large lot. The lot he sold to Lord was bordered by Lawrence land on the south, Hammond Street on the west, and a proposed new street on the north (MLR 1849/342). The proposed new street later became Lord Street. Exactly how and when the "proposed" street became "Lord" Street is not clear. In the 1888 deed from Farnsworth it was only called a proposed street, while in a 1892 deed from his heirs it was called Lord Street (MLR 2154/424). In a January, 1891, notice of a taking by the city it was called Lord Street (MLR 2017/21), while in the actual taking in October, 1891, it was called Fairmount Street "formerly known as Lord Street and now known as Fairmount Street" (MLR 2078/448). As late as 1934, in a foreclosure on the property, it was referred to as Lord Street, "a private way sometimes called Fairmount Street" (MLR 5856/556&7). In an undated newspaper article attached to the MHC MACRIS form on the property, it said that Farnsworth gave it the name Lord Street, but Lord, himself, preferred Fairmount. Unfortunately, the source of this information was not given, and the MACRIS form claimed the article was from the Waltham Sentinel, but that newspaper went out of business in 1877, so this must have been an error. The MACRIS materials do contain a good description of the building.

In June of 1888, the Lawrence heirs (Ann I., Leonard, and Ellen Sherman) sold Lot 24 of the Lawrence Estates to Rufus E. Lord (MLR 1854/221, with dimensions corrected later in the year (MLR 1976/495). This was the lot immediately south of the lot Lord had just bought from Farnsworth, bounding on Hammond Street on the west.

1892 In 1892, Rufus E. Lord bought from the Farnsworth heirs (Catherine L. Babeuf and Mary L. Bartlett – Oel Farnsworth died in 1892) the rest of Farnsworth's land south of Lord Street and north of the Lawrence lands (Lot 12 of the plan of the Farnsworth estate drawn by J.F. Moore in 1890) and also Lots 8, 9, and 10 on the opposite side of Leonard Street (MLR 2154/424 & 425). These lots were bordered by another proposed street on their east, probably today's Murray Street.

1893 Rufus E. Lord first appeared living on Hammond Street in 1893, but this was in a house owned by Richard A. Jones just north of Plympton Street and sometimes numbered 165, sometimes 169, and sometimes just as the "Jones house" in directories and voting lists. It is the house numbered 169 Hammond Street, today. Jones was the city's superintendent of streets, and had built the house sometime between 1891 and 1893, and initially used it as rental property. Lord was last mentioned as living there in the annual listing of voters for 1897. In the 1890 city directory he was listed as living on Charles Street.

1897 In October 1897, Rufus E. Lord took out a mortgage with the Waltham Savings Bank for $3,000 for the lot containing 211 Hammond Street (MLR 2605/595). The lot in the mortgage deed was only part of the lot he had received from Farnsworth, because he had regularized the lot lines with his lot to the east and with his lot to the south, which he had bought from the Lawrence heirs. The lot lines were the ones that exist, today. The original lot line on the south had been at an angle, since it was following the original Squadron Line from the 1636 colonial Watertown land grants. this is why the boundaries of today's lots in the area do not follow the Squadron Line exactly. In the deed it says he will "keep the buildings insured". Lord was listed on the 1898 annual listing of voters as living in the "Lord house" on Hammond Street, but having been living at a different house on Hammond Street the year before. By the 1910 and 1911 voting lists, the house was noted as 213 Hammond Street, while on the 1912 and following lists it was noted as 211. Therefore, it appears likely that Lord finished the house at 211 Hammond Street, now known as "Lords Castle", in 1897, and moved in that year or the next. The MACRIS file mentions it took Lord ten years to build the house. Rufus Lord was a major contractor in Waltham at the time, and it was ten years after he bought the property that he finally moved in, so this is possible. He had been living near the building site for at least the previous four years. However the MACRIS listing gives the date of the house as 1886, and this appears to be incorrect. Unfortunately, the story has a sad ending. The Great Depression must have hit Rufus Lord hard, because, in 1934, he lost the property when the bank foreclosed a follow up mortgage for $5,000 he had taken out on it in 1911 (see MLR 3594/566 and 5856/556 &7).

1911 In addition to the $5,000 mortgage Rufus Lord took out on the property at 211 Hammond Street in 1911 from the Waltham Savings Bank, he also took out a mortgage in that same year for $6,000 from the Waltham Trust Company on the property just south along Hammond Street, now numbered 201-207 Hammond Street, in which he pledged to keep the buildings insured against fire (MLR 3599/346). This was in the area acquired from the Lawrence heirs in 1888, and numbered as Lot 1 in the plan of the Lands of Emily C. Lord drawn up by the J.F. Worcester Co. in 1911. According to the annual listings of voters, there were no voters at this location prior to 1912, and in that year, all the voters living there were noted as having lived somewhere else the previous year. On the 1911 city engineer's map of the street, no house is shown at this location, but there is one there on the 1918 map. Therefore, it seems reasonable to assume that the four-unit stucco house now at 201-207 Hammond Street was built in 1911. The architect for the house is reputed to have been Ida Annah Ryan. Ms. Ryan, a Waltham native, was the first woman to receive a master's degree from MIT (MS in Architecture 1906; BA in 1905), and became the acting superintendent of buildings in Waltham for 1912 and 1913. In 1909 she had formed an all women's architectural firm in the city with Florence Luscomb, also a graduate in architecture from MIT, and later a nationally renown suffragist. This story also ended badly for Rufus Lord, because, in 1934, he lost this property, too, in a foreclosure on the 1911 mortgage to the Waltham Trust Company (MLR 3835/121 & 122).