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Number 230 North Street is one of the many gable-end entry, brick-veneer, 2 story, Greek Revival houses built in Burlington during this period. The proportions are nearly identical to those of 318 North Street, and 219 and 221/223 North Winooski Avenue. The house faces south and looks across North Street at the Elmwood Cemetery. The main entrance is elevated slightly from the sidewalk. This area was very much the outskirts of town in the 1840s.
The 1889 Sandborn Insurance Map shows a sizeable, framed addition to the rear that more than doubled the footprint of the building. A long porch also was built at this time, running the full length of the west façade and cornering into the addition. Other small porches and latticework have been added over the years for the five different entrances found around the house, but since the 1890s the massing has remained the same.
Though best known as the Freeman Willett House, Mapes and Aaron Spears were the first owners 1. On the 1862 C. Wainwright map the name on the plot is Winslow Spears. By 1865, however, Mr. Willett had taken ownership of the house, having moved from the corner of North Street and North Winooski Avenue. Mr. Willett, a carpenter, resided here until beyond 1900.
The house was painted sometime around 1970. The structure is
now broken up into a number of apartments.
1. Burlington Town Land Records; vol. 29, pg. 365.