Cyrus Cook House (Orchard House)

Old West Wrentham Road is another bypassed segment of a winding road with an enclave of houses extending back to the colonial period. Most notable is the Cyrus Cook House, known as Orchard House, a large, relatively plain Federal house, handsomely walled and set among trees. It has been considerably altered by twentieth-century Colonial Revival additions. Its primary interest is its entrance, which is unique in the state. This broad, strongly framed side- and transom-lighted door is topped by a very wide entablature surmounted by a vigorously projecting cornice. The entablature is embellished over its entire extent by small incised squares, making a dense lattice of the surface which may be related to basketweave patterns fashionable at the time for interior fireplaces. But this carpenter-designer delighted in repetitive pattern: bands of diamonds, dentils, and dog teeth appear above and below the latticing, with rope moldings on either side of the door. As provincial, no doubt, as the door of the Miller House is sophisticated, yet to forceful and joyful effect. A little farther, on the left, are two more Federal houses, all three ancient neighbors.