Hopedale History
    January 1, 2011
    No. 171
    Oakledge, 1905


    Hopedale in December   

    Recent deaths   


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                                                                           Marvel of Beauty Is
                                                       New F.J. Dutcher Home

                                                                      $50,000 Mansion on Adin Road,
                                                                    Finished Today by Dillon Bros., Is
                                                                           Show Place for Hopedale

    The handsome and roomy English mansion on Adin Road, designed by Chapman & Frazer, the Boston
    architects, and built by Dillon Bros. of Milford as general contractors for Frank J. Dutcher of Hopedale, was
    finished today after over a year’s steady labor by the artisans employed in its construction.

    The house is one of the most unique and beautiful residences in Hopedale, where handsome houses
    abound, and its completion adds one more show place to the sights of Milford’s youngest and most
    enterprising neighbor.

    The house sets back a considerable distance from Adin Road, almost directly at the rear of Mr. Dutcher’s
    old home, which was struck by lightning a few years ago. The older house will be torn down soon, and its
    site will be graded over so that the view from the newer mansion will not be obstructed.

    The new house is built upon a huge ledge of rock, much of which, at the front of the house, has been left in
    its natural state, and this adds materially to the beauty of the surroundings.

    Chimneys of fieldstone, on either side of the main entrance, which is gained through a broad, roomy,
    covered porch. The house is shingled all over, two and one-half stories in height, with pitched roof, and
    architecturally is fit to be compared with the finest homes in the vicinity.

    The house consists of the main building, which is 65.2 by 34.6 feet, and a wing at the rear, which is 50.11
    by 27.4 feet. It contains 21 rooms, five bathrooms, and five fireplaces. There are three fieldstone chimneys,
    tow at the front and one at the rear.

    The house is heated by a combination furnace and hot water arrangement, and is lighted throughout by
    gas and electricity. There is a telephone in each room connecting with the housekeeping quarters.

    On the main floor is the living room or library, which opens directly onto the front covered porch, which is 30
    by 10 feet in dimension. The library is finished in redwood, with cornices. There are five great bookcases
    fitted along the walls, and two inviting window seats. This room extends the entire width of the house, being
    33 by 18.11 feet in dimension.

        Directly at the rear of the library is the reception room, 18 by 13.9 feet, and opening from this room, at the
    south side is the billiard room, 20 by 18 feet, finished in Flemish oak.

    The main hall at the north side of the house, and out of which the billiard room opens, is 33 by 17 feet, and
    the vestibule is 11.6 by 6.8 feet. From the hall opens the main stairway leading up to the chambers above.
    The broad stairway is of colonial style, and is very handsome. A few feet away is a small cupboard, built into
    the wall, showing an antiquity in its very outlines. This cupboard has been in the Dutcher family for 150
    years.

    A small, superbly finished toilet room also leads off the main hall, and directly across is a closet built for a
    telephone booth, which fills its mission admirably.

    The dining room at the rear of the hall is perhaps the pleasantest room in the mansion. It is 18.7 by 24
    feet, finished in dark red, and is lighted by an electric chandelier in the center and by gas and electric fixtures
    on all four sides. The superb china closet, built into the western wall, is massive and handsome. At the rear
    of this room are the kitchen and laundry, and on the north side are the closets and pantries.

    There is a rear porch, six by seven feet, and a side veranda 12 by 31 feet. Throughout the house all of the
    floors are of hardwood. There is an elevator fro baggage and trunks, and a large unfinished storeroom on
    the third floor.

    On the second floor are the family chambers, four beautiful airy rooms and at the rear are the servants’
    quarters. On the third floor, in the main portion, are three guest chambers.

    The interior decoration, which was done under the supervision of E.C. Beck of Boston, is artistic. The halls
    are in white and the different rooms shaded so that a well nigh perfect scheme is evolved.

    The successful completion of this fine contract by Dillon Bros., is another feather in the cap of Milford’s
    most successful builders. Nothing that could add in the slightest to the comfort and convenience of its
    inmates has been left undone by the designers of the home, and everything as planned by the celebrated
    architects has been carried out by the builders. The mansion is said to have cost in excess of $50,000.

    Already some of the Dutcher effects have been installed, and at the end of the week the family will be in
    possession of their new home. Milford Daily News, November 28, 1905.

    Click here to see a picture of the first Frank Dutcher house, post card pictures of the house described
    above, the article above, and a description of the recent renovation. In 2014, Oakledge was sold to the
    Seven Hills Foundation.

                         The Dutcher family.                    Hopedale History Email Stories                       HOME   


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The Frank and Malinda Dutcher home, Adin Street.