Burlington Doors – #ThursdayDoors

Perhaps that should include “Part-II” since I think I’ve posted doors from Burlington, MA before, but who’s counting? The meetings I attended the week I captured the Lexington doors were held in the Burlington Marriott. The rationale for that, in case you’re interested, is that they give us the easiest option to handle price. We meet in the lounge, at a large table (seats 18) but, instead of charging for the meeting, we are simply required to consume $275 worth of food and or beverage. We don’t often have 18 people, but we have always managed to meet the obligation.

Despite the availability of that chowder and those fish tacos, I do like to get out for lunch. When eating in Lexington didn’t pan out, I took the long way back to the hotel – I actually wanted to miss the lunch crowd. Unlike Lexington, Burlington doesn’t seem to have specific historic areas. However, I was on the lookout for interesting doors, and I found quite a few. Most of these are described by their captions – you can click on any photo to start a slideshow that reveals the captions – but there is one building that piqued my interest enough to do a little research.

This house is known as the Kent Cottage or the Helene Kent House. There isn’t as much official information available this house, but I was able to find several articles, including one from a photographer who apparently was struck by the image of this house (and who actually was able to visit inside), sitting across from a gigantic high-tech office park and “had to know more about it.” The house was built in 1851 “for John Kent. He lived there with his daughter, Helen. John Kent died in 1870. Helene continued to live in the house until 1897. There were other occupants of the house after that, but it has remained unoccupied for over 40 years.

The structure at the rear was added in the 20^th century, and its style is not in keeping with the main house. That structure may not survive. Several years ago, a company, EvoText, expressed interest in relocating into the Kent Cottage. According to the company website, their plans call for the removal of the rear portion and the addition of a 12,000-square-foot building and a parking lot for about 50 cars. The most recent articles I found were from 2016, indicating that the special permits required had been approved by the town. These things move slowly, so perhaps planning is still underway.

One thing that doesn’t move slowly, is the call for doors. Each week, Norm Frampton invites door aficionados from around the world to contribute to a celebration of doors. If you want to join us, gather a door, a few doors, a couple dozen doors and head on up to Norm’s place. Check out his doors, it’s only right, and then click on the little blue frog. The cerulean tadpole will lead you into the gallery.

I like the roof lines on this house, as well as the porch.

It’s hard to see the doors on this house, but the details are impressive.

Pretty glass doors and a nice lamp.

Pretty details discovered in Burlington, MA

I like this pretty little garage.

These are modern doors, but I like the effort to make them appear correct for the period of the building.

The First Baptist Church of Burlington. I will be back to share close-ups of these doors in the future.

St Malachy Catholic Church. It almost looks like you could squeeze it and fold it up.

The doors are nice, but I was trying to focus on the gates to Chestnut Hill Cemetery.

This is the entrance to the Kent Cottage. I hope this is able to be restored.

Helene Kent House, Burlington Massachusetts – Attrib: Wikimedia Commons – John Phelan – Own work – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Faolin42

Kent Cottage, as it faces the highway. The windows are painted plywood.

This is the best view of the building and the easiest to see without going on the property, but this is the back of the building.

Kent Cottage sits in a wetland area substantially below the grade of the highway.

Across from Kent Cottage is Oracle’s Burlington office.