Brattleboro Historical Society-
Formerly known as “Winslow Ward House”, The Cobblestone at the corner of Canal Street and Clark Streets dates to the 1850’s. It was built in the 1850’s of quartzite cobbles apparently collected from the nearby Whetstone Brook. In 1859 Winslow Ward moved his boot and shoe business into the building and it operated in that fashion into the 1870’s. It has been an apartment house owned by the Windham & Windsor Housing Trust since 1995 and is part of the Canal Street-Clark Street Neighborhood Historic District. In the 1960s it was owned by Linus Edmunds.
Cobblestones vary from 1-1/2 to 2-1/2” high and the courses are 2-1/2 to 3-1/2” high from center to center of joints. Quoins are roughly cut gray granite blocks about 3-5” high, 10” long and 4 or 5” thick. Sometimes a course of large cobblestones correspond to one quoin height, and sometimes two courses of small cobblestones take up one quoin height. The 5” thick window sills and 8” high lintels are also of gray granite.
On both the front and rear gable ends the builder enclosed in a thin wood frame two courses of cobblestones that extend diagonally up to the roof line to the ridge. Projecting cornices on the gables are covered with two rows of cobbles, an unusual feature. Sills, lintels and quoins are rough granite.
-some of the information for this post comes from the Cobblestone Buildings of North America website
Thank you to the Brattleboro Historical Society for sharing these unique features with the community! This is one of the most iconic buildings in our portfolio because of the cobblestones. The building is has an apartment configuration where residents have private rooms as their own space and share common living and kitchen area. Because of the shared living feature, the rents are affordable for individuals with low or extremely low income.
