UVM National Register North Street Burlington Vermont
University of Vermont
Vermont Cultural Heritage Network
Community Preservation Research Projects
North Street Historic District
Burlington, Vermont
(#51)148-150 North Street / c.1830 / Joseph Roberts House
This one-and-three-quarter story, 3 x 2 bay, side-gabled south facing brick house may be the oldest in the neighborhood. The front facade of the house and the rear additions are clad with vinyl siding, while the side of the original structure and its first addition remain painted brick. Three square windows at the kneewall, suggest a Federal influence. Typically windows set in masonry were surrounded by a wooden frame; these were omitted from Federal houses built after 1800 as is the case in this house. There is a right bay entrance more typical of a townhouse. The rear addition is one story and features a deck on its roof. This section of the house is approximately 3 x 2 bays and is slightly larger than the main block. The two, shed-roofed, two-story additions were added c.1905.
People had to be prosperous to afford a brick house costing upwards of $1,500 in 1840, when a frame house could be put up for about $500. Nearly a hundred individuals were employed in Burlington as masons, carpenters or in household furnishings during 1840. Over half the new houses were brick. This is the only brick house in this commercial district.
Joseph Roberts Sr. lived here as early as 1881 until he died in 1893. Living at the house in 1900, along with Joseph Jr. (who took over his father's business) were Eli J. Roberts Jr., a laborer, Frank Roberts, a telegraph operator and Ida Roberts, a music teacher Joseph Roberts served as an alderman for Ward Three.
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©1996 UVM Historic Preservation Program
Prepared by Elaine Park
mpark@moose.uvm.edu