HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF MEDFORD, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, FROM ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT, IN 1630, TO THE PRESENT TIME, 1855.
Charles Brooks, Ed.

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[50] in Medford. Built by his father, after the model of an English nobleman's house in Antigua, it has stood a tempting model to three generations. Mr. Thomas Seccomb's large brick house, on the north side the market-place, was the first copy of Col. Royal's. Rev. Mr. Turell's house, now owned by Jonathan Porter, Esq. is a good example of another style; also the one now owned and occupied by Gorham Brooks, Esq. The old dilapidated mansion of the late Dr. Simon Tufts, south-east corner of High and Forest Streets, is one of the oldest and best specimens of the second fashion which prevailed in New England. It has three stories in front, and the large roof behind descends so as to allow of only one story in the rear. It seems to lean to the south, to offer

Dr. Simon Tuft's house, 1725.

its back to the cold storms of the north. One enormous chimney in the centre of the building series every need, and keeps the house steady in high winds. The house so long occupied by Gov. Brooks, and in which died, is a newer specimen of the same model. The next fashion, introduced as an improvement upon these, was the broken or “gambrel-roofed” houses, many of which still remain. See a specimen at the end of this volume. These soon gave place to the present models, which are importation from distant ages and all civilized countries, not excepting Egypt and China.

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