Address: 294 Jones Hollow Road
Contemporary Building Name: 294 Jones Hollow Road
Historic Building Name: J.S. Jones House
Present Use: Residential
Historic Use: Guest house for corporate visitors
Architectural style: Georgian
Date constructed: 1740-1880 (Baber), 1748 (Assessor), c. 1810 (Keith)
Description: J.S. Jones House is a large building with high steeply pitched roof. In the five-bay front elevation the central doorway, which is approached by a large granite slab, is flanked in a 2-1-2 rhythm by 12-over-8 windows which have flat surrounds. Each leaf of the double door has three transom lights. The doorway's pilasters stand on paneled pedestals to support a full entablature of architrave, frieze, and flat cornice. A dentil course runs under the cornice. In the south side elevation, two large stone blocks form steps leading up to a door near the front at the first floor, which has a plain flat surround but splayed lintel. The door is followed by two windows at the first floor. The second floor has two windows above those on the first. One window occupies the attic gable end. The house is covered with weathered gray wooden clapboards. A plain flat skirt board runs below the clapboards. The wood-shingled roof also is weathered to a gray. There is a large central chimney.
Significance: The J.S. Jones House is a good example of the Georgian style, and , if the front doorway is original, is an early example. The well-developed doorway of pilasters on pedestals and full entablature is the classical revival feature which qualifies the otherwise Colonial-style house for designation as an example of the Georgian style. The Georgian style developed in the mid-18th century, about when this house was built. The house on the exterior appears to be generally well-preserved. Such features as stone steps, five-bay fenestration, clapboards and wooden shingles are still in place. The long ell may be an alteration. Keith (WPA inventory, 1935) states that the house was the home of the grandfather of Admiral George Dewey, of Spanish-American War fame. The 1869 atlas associates the name J.S. Jones with the house. The street was named after Samuel Finley Jones, who for 50 years before the Revolutionary War was the largest landowner in the area. He was known as "the money king".
Sources: Baber, David. Capitol Region Council of Governments Historic Resource Survey of Marlborough, 1978.
Keith, Elmer D., director. Works Progress Administration, Federal Writers’ Project, Census of Old of Distinctive Buildings in the State of Connecticut. c. 1935.
Ransom, David. Historical and Architectural Resources Survey, Town of Marlborough, Connecticut. April 1998.
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