7 Irving Street, Richmond Cottage, 1856 Gothic Revival Style

7 Irving Street, Richmond Cottage, 1856 Gothic Revival Style

This cottage was built for Francis Rodman in 1856 and sold to Richmond in this form. He purchased the lot for this house from William J. Rotch in 1856 and, when he moved to Newton in 1866, sold it to Richmond. In 1878, the property became a wedding gift to Attorney Walter C. Clifford, son of Massachusetts Governor John H. Clifford (Term 1853-1854) and Walter Clifford’s wife, Harriet, daughter of Congressman Charles S. Randall. Walter Clifford was the Mayor of New Bedford from 1889-1890.

The exterior sheathing of this home is board-and-batten, popular in the nineteenth century and favored by Alexander Jackson Davis in other projects. The multiple vertical lines visually enrich the smooth exterior walls and help to knit together the variety of pointed windows, projecting bays, and pierced decoration of the Gothic style. When Irving Street was extended to Maple Street in 1906, the front entrance of the house was relocated to face the new street.