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BUILDING-STRUCTURE INVENTORY FORM
UNIQUE SITE NO. 10340,OVI/a 1
y " DIVISION FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION QUAD EM-57
NEW YORK STATE PARKS AND RECREATION SERIES
ALBANY,NEW YORK (518)4740479 NEG. NO.
YOUR NAME: Town of SoutholdfSPLIA DATE: September 1937
YOUR ADDRESS: Town Hall Main Rd. TELEPHONE: 516 765 1392
Southold, L1, NY 11971
ORGANIZATION (if any): Southold Town Coin munity Development Office
IDENTIFICATION
L BUILDING NAME(S : The Well-Sweep house - King_Griffing house
2. COUNTY: Stiffok TOWN/CITY: SoutholdVILLAGE: 'ast Mesion
3. STREET LOCATION: 11150 Main Rd. , south side, east of Private Rd.7t2
4. OWNERSHIP: a. public ❑ b. private Q
5. PRESENT OWNER: Lucille mos!back ADDRESS: same
t,. USE: Original: residence Present: residence
7. ACCESSIBILITY TO PUBLIC: Exterior visible from public road: Yes 13d No ❑
Interior accessible: Explain private res id el,c e
DESCRIPTION
8. BUILDING a. clapboard ❑ b. stone ❑ c. brick ❑ d. board and batten ❑
MATERIAL: e. cobblestone ❑ f. shingles 91 g. stucco ❑ other:
1). STRUCTURAL a. wood frame with interlocking joints EZ
SYSTEM: b. wood frame with light members ❑
(if known) c. masonry load bearing walls ❑
d. metal (explain)
e. other
10- CONDITION: a. excellent El b. good ❑ c. fair ❑ d. deteriorated ❑
11. INTEGRITY: a. original site F&7 b. moved ❑ if so,when?
c. list major alterations and dates (if known):
12. PHOTO:neg; KK 111-11, fm N'tFl 13. MAP: NYS DOT composite
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14. THREATS TO BUILDING: a.none known b.zoning❑ c. roads
d. developers ❑ e. deterioration ❑
f. other:
15. RELATED OUTBUILDINGS AND PROPERTY:
a. barn 2F b. carriage house ❑ c. garage ❑
d. privy ❑ e. shed El f. greenhouse ❑
g. shop ❑ h. gardens ❑
i. landscape features:
j. other: stone well and well sweep at front .*
16. SURROUNDINGS OF THE BUILDING (check more than one if necessary):
a.open land n b, woodland
c.scattered buildings ❑
d,densely built-up ❑ e. commercial ❑
f. industrial ❑ g. residential
h-other:
17. INTERRELATIONSHIP OF BUILDING AND SURROUNDINGS:
(Indicate if building or structure is in an historic district)
Medium-low density residential , surrounded by residences
of both an equal and later date that retain a great degree
of architectural integrity, especially to the immediate
west. Open and wooded land to the squhd, towarAs the watr.
18. O'T'HER NOTABLE: FEATURES OF BUILDING AND SITE l�nc u ing interior eatures t known :
12 story, 3 bay, side entrance plan, gable roof house with
end chimney. 1 story, 3 bay wing on west . 2 story gable
roof barn with vertical boarding attached to house at
rear. Main door with transom, 6/6 windows .
SIGNIFICANCE
111. DATE OF INITIAL CONSTRUCTION: early 1800 's
ARCHITECT:
BUILDER:
?(l. HISTORICAL AND ARC111TECIURAL IMPORTANCE:
This very interesting old house may have been owned by ?
in 1909. The well sweep is a rare survivor.
The house contributes to the historic ambience of the
streetscape .
In 1830 Gamaliel King sold the place to Moses Griffing.
21. SOURCES: ,Summer of History, Town of Southold, 1965, No . 8 ,map 3 .
Report, Southold Landmark Preservation Comm. , "4 8A 'R 7/22/87
F. Belcher Hyde , Atlas of Suffolk County, L.Z . , Vol . 2 ,
22. THEME:: North Side , Sound Shore, 1909.
Form prepared by Kurt Kahofer, research assistant
EM-57
THE WELL-SWEEP HOUSE OF EAST MARION
Owner : Mrs . Lucille W. Mosback
11150 Main Road, East Marion, New York
Inventoried by the Southold Landmark ?reservation Commission
Ralph Williams, John Stack and William Peters
Reported by Joy Bear
July 22, 1987
A well-sweep on the front lawn distinguishes this house and gives
it its name . The house was built in the early 1800's . It has stood
in East Marion since the hamlet was called Rocky Point, and later
Oysterponds Upper Neck. Attached to this report are copies of deeds
dating back to 1885 .
The home is actually three separate buildings ,joined together --
two half-houses and a two-story barn to the rear. The roofline of the
original house was modified to extend to the barn. This is the first
home the Commission has examined that has double floors . While other
early 19th Century homes have draft stops under the spaces between
boards to keep out dust, this house has a complete second floor under
the dress floor for the same purpose .
There was a complete renovation of the house in the mid-1800' s,
so today's house timbers are machine sawn, the molding and wood trim
on doors , mantels, etc. are "Southold Greek Revival style" - 1840-60-
and the walls are plastered . However, much remains from the original
house . In the attic are rafters numbered, and some hand-hewn, moritsed
and pinned . Traces of a chimney six inches wider than the present one
are seen on roofers in the attic . Some boards seen in the attic are
20 inches wide . One commissioner, studying the attic, exclaimed : "I' ve
never seen such wide nailers ! "
THE PARLOR (original kitchen )
Entrance from the road is by a door leading into this room. Mid-19th
Century redecorating is seen here. The mantel is quiet and simple, as
the room originally was used as a kitchen, with a cooking fireplace
and a beehive oven.
The original fireplace probably wore out from much use, and was
replaced by the present shallow Rumford fireplace, much in vogue in
the early 1800's . A pintle in the fireplace is original. Mr. Charles
Mosback, husband of the present owner, made the crane himself. The cabinet
to the right of the fireplace may have been a later addition, or a
modification. The mantel has been cut at the right end to accommodate
the cabinet which holds the beehive oven, flue and ashpit. Toward the
end of the 19th Century this was all superceded by a then-new blessing
the cast iron stove, located in the barn portion which was probably
brought to this house to serve this purpose . The chimney of this stove
1
• MOSBACK HOUSE, page 2 _ �m-57
still exists . White painted wainscot of wide horizontal pine boards
is on all walls . The northwest corner shows an original corner post,
beaded and now covered with wallpaper.
THE BEDROOM
This room was the parlor in the original house . The chimney piece is
handsome, with a molded and dentiled mantel . The fireplace hearth is a
single piece of stone, supported on the floor sleepers and visible
from the cellar. The molding is mid-19th Century, and repeated in the
door and woodwork. The corner cabinet has a bullseye decoration in
the top right corner, a design popular in the area 's architecture at
that time . A beaded post is visible in the southeast corner.
Much wear is visible in the floor of the hall adjacent to
this room, proving that the parlor was heavily used . The dividing wall
of this room shows itself to be of two different periods . The outer
surface is lath and plaster, dating from the mid-1800' s . The wall
underneath the plaster is made of simple vertical boards , typically
used in local construction at the end of the 18th Century..
STAIRWAY
The stairway off the hall leads to upstairs bedrooms and the attic .
On the landing is a peep-hole area , through which the back side of the
parlor fireplace is visible . Here you see much use and patching. Some
of the bricks are new, and some are ancient and set with mud mortar.
Also seen from here are the present and the first chimney flues . Old
wallboards , 19 inches wide, which were t'-ie original wall of the parlor,
are visible from the stairwell .
The stairway presents an enigma . At present the stairs take a 450
turn at the landing. There is some justification in postulating that
when the house was built - facing south - the stairs came straight
down, and were very steep and narrow . This would put their exit in the
little hall to the east of the present stairway exit, and provide room
for the chimney stack of the original fireplace . At that time the
present porch door (possibly the original front door) faced this
stairway.
A most surprising discovery was an indication that Kings Highway,
today' s Main Road, may have run south of the home in the early 1 001s ,
rather than to the north, as it does today. Clues seem to indicate
that the house faced south. South was the desired orientation of
houses of that period . The well-sweep, so attractive today on the front
lawn , would probably have been located to the rear of the house in the
early 1800' s . A deed of 1830, attached at the end of this report,
describes the 'land with dwelling" as being; "bounded as follows :
southwardly by the road or highway . . . northerly by . . . Joel King 's
land . . . " (See deed of June 1, 1830, Gamaliel King to Moses Griffing,
attached . ) It seems that King 's Highway continued staright off the
Southold Tandmark Preservation Commission
July 22 , 1987
MOSBACK HOUSE, page_ 3 -`7
causeway, swung south a short way, then continued west and returned to
today's location on Main Road.
The door to the attic is beaded, and shows scrub-plaining. Upon
entering the attic one can see the outline of where the early, larger
chimney stack exited through the ceiling . Its hole was six inches
wider than that of the present chimney.
The attic furnishes an overview of the house 's past . There are
original hand-hewn wood-pinned rafters, c . 1800; and then there are
sawn rafters , C . 150, representing the passage of time and technologies .
Between the rafters are seen some very wide na ilers . Collar beams here
are full mortised . Through an access doorway in the upstairs bedroom
may be seen the joining of the two half-houses by early wood pegs . The
studs in the smaller house are numbered . Through another doorway at the
back of the bedroom are seen bricks stamped "Nassau" - from a late 1800' s
updating. The door facings, panels and hardware, and the windows, fit
nicely into this century of the house ' s life .
CELLAR
The 121x121 basement is entered from the outside by a flight of
wide rock steps which show the marks of time and use . The floor is
covered with closely packed bricks - it looks somewhat like a cistern
floor. Here can be seen in the ceiling the double flooring unique to
this house . Tightly laid boards form the floor of the house above .
Under them a widely spaced second floor blocks the gaps between the
upper floorboards - hence they act as draft stops .
Visible in the crawl space is a large pile of rocks serving as
the support for the fireplace 's chimney.
Exposed joists supporting the sub floor span all time periods -
some old, some new . One joist is whitewashed - perhaps reused . One
old joist is pegged with a wood pin . Under the front of the house the
joists run front to back. In the rear of the house they run side to
side . This cellar grants us an overview of carpentry expertise during
the entire 19th Century and a few years into the 20th Century.
Southold T,andmark Preservation Commission
July 22 , 1987
ROUTE 25- EM-57
S
PARLOR
BE DRO OM
- 1
DINING
ROOM
KITCHUN
0
Home of
Mrs . Lucille Mosback
11150 Main Road
East Marion, N.Y.
Southold Town Landmarks Preservation' Commission,
July 22, 19€37.