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Post Road Law Offices

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Weston and Wayland.
  • Post Road Law Offices (Isaac Fiske Law Office) (Peter Vanderwarker or Antonina Smith)

The professionalization of the law after the Revolution inspired the construction of new courthouses and of rural lawyer's offices, three of which survive in Weston and Wayland. All three are single-story, one-room, three-bay, hipped-roof structures set adjacent to or across the street from the lawyer's residence. In 1805 Isaac Fiske built his residence and law office at 596 Boston Post Road (now the Weston Historical Society, NRD). From this office, he served as town clerk, registrar of probate, and representative to the General Court. Alpheus Bigelow Jr., who read for the law with Fiske, built a similar office (NRD) for himself in 1811 and a large Federal residence at 863 Boston Post Road in 1827. In adjacent Wayland, Edward Mellen repeated the pattern in 1826 at 35 Cochituate Road (NRD); in 1855 Mellen was appointed Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Court of Common Pleas. These village lawyers' offices often complemented legal chambers in a larger city as well.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Keith N. Morgan
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Data

What's Nearby

Weston Town Green District
Golden Ball Tavern
Exmoor Farm Complex
Campion Center (Weston College)
Richard H. and Caroline C. Field House

Citation

Keith N. Morgan, "Post Road Law Offices", [, Massachusetts], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/MA-01-WS4.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Massachusetts

Buildings of Massachusetts: Metropolitan Boston, Keith N. Morgan, with Richard M. Candee, Naomi Miller, Roger G. Reed, and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2009, 461-461.

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