National Register of Historic Places - Rhode Island Historical ...

NPS I ,nh’i 10-91101 ‘MIt P1., 1117.1 1411%
- I XI, 10-31- 01
United States Department of the Interior -
National Park Service For NI’S use only
National Register of Historic Places
Inventory-Nomination Form
rBceived
Continuation sheet 2 cm number 7 Page 3
INVENTORY - -
Contributing structures include the buildings erected during Watch
Hill’s period of growth as a summer resort, from the 1840s through the
1930s, together with earlier buildings which reflect prior development
but became part of the resort community e.g., farmhouses converted to
summer cottages or guest houses - The period of signi ficance extends
from the eighteenth century to 1935.
Although a number of structures have been altered, some by the
addition of modern wail -cover materials; original trim elements often
remain. Such buildings have been defined as contributing since they are
historically part of the built environment of Watth Hill and they could
be restored to their original appearance. in some cases, where tri.m
elements have been totally removed or covered, buildings have still been
defined as contributing if their scale, form, massing, and siting make
them essential parts of historic hlockscapes - In cases where buildings
have- been extensively altered and their appearances have been totally
transformed e.g., garages o-f the 1910s and l920s converted to residences
that iook like 1950s ranch houses , the structures have been designated
as non-contributing. - -
A consistent and comprehensive system of addresses is lacking at
Watch Hill. Some buildings are set at a street corner, in the middle of
a block, or far back on a lot in a manner that makes it difficult to
determine on what street the building is located. For the purposes of
this nomination, each building has been assigned a location based on the
one listed for it in Westerly tax records, even though the street desig
nated may not be the one physically closest to the building e.g., the
two houses near Mastuxet Terrace, map numbers 44 and 45, that are iden
tified in town records as properties on Bluff Avenue . Streets have been
listed in alphabetical order, and hui1dings in the order in which ther
appear on the street. The inventory entries have been numbered in se
quence. - These inventory-entry numbers have been used a-s map numbers to
identify the location of each property on the district map.
NftL Non-contributing buildings are marked by the prefix ‘NC.’
Unless otherwise stated, huildings are of shingle-clad wood-frame
construction.
See Continuation Sheet #3