Architecture
The Transformation of the Dwight-Derby House
In 1651, Timothy and Maria Dwight moved from Dedham, Massachusetts, to Medfield, Massachusetts. They were granted a 12-acre lot on the north side of town near the center. This land extended from North Street to Vinald Road to Dale Street and back to North Street. They built their house in 1651 on the north side of Frairy Street overlooking a stream that later was made into a mill pond now called Meetinghouse Pond.
PHASE I
PHASE I – Conjectural First Appearance of the Timothy Dwight House in the Seventeen Century
This drawing shows how the house may have looked in the 1600s based on evidence discovered behind finish materials inside the present house. Surviving pieces of the 1652 house were found where the original structure joins the later addition, circa 1670, just east of the chimney.
PHASE II – Conjectural Appearance of the Timothy Dwight House in the Mid-Seventeen Century
The one-room two-story addition to the east end is presumed to have been added between 1669 and 1676. The unusual way the addition was attached to the 1652 house is seen where the wall plates are higher than the original house and the roof ridge is oriented north-south perpendicular to the 1652 roof line.
PHASE II
PHASE III
PHASE III – John Dwight’s 18th Century House
Sometime in the first half of the 18th century, Timothy Dwight’s son, John, dismantled most of the 1652 structure as well as the north lean-to and the roof of the addition. A formal, Georgian-style house was raised on top of the 17th century footprint. The new structure included a full two-story north wall, a new chimney, and an east-west-oriented gable roof.
Most of the 18th century windows and frames, possibly the shingle siding, and much of the interior trim-including wainscot paneling, fireplace surrounds and balustraded staircase survive intact today.
PHASE IV – Townsend-Derby 19th Century Alterations
In 1797 Horatio Townsend bought the house and moved in with his family. By 1823 he had given it to his daughter, Mary Townsend Derby, who occupied the house with other family members until her death in 1880.
During the Townsend-Derby occupation, a two-story addition was attached to the east side of the house, Greek revival dormers were added to the south roof, and a new door with sidelights and trim in the Greek revival style replaced the 18th century front doorway.
PHASE IV
PHASE V – Town of Medfield House Renovations
1996 – The Town of Medfield bought the property and a massive renovation was undertaken to restore the house.
2002 – The structure connecting the house to the barn was demolished and rebuilt. Today, the Dwight-Derby House stands on a half-acre lot in its original location overlooking Meetinghouse Pond.
2007 – Oxford Dendrochronology Laboratory took samples of the house frame and determined that the earliest, southwest portion of the house was built in 1697, and an addition was built to the east in 1713.
Conjectural house images and facts taken from Friends of the Dwight-Derby House Blue Book 2002.