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9. 108 East Main
Street (SW corner of East Main Street and North Franklin St)
Historic name: Farmer's
Bank of Weston
Common name: City Hall/Weston Museum
Date of construction: 1891
Style: High Victorian Italianate
Significance: Primary
Description: This is the only brick building
in the district of genuine high style employing architectural cast iron.
Constructed of locally manufactured brick, the two-story building is
rectangular in plan and presents a frontage of approximately 62 feet on
Main Street, approximately 72 feet on Franklin Street. Openings in the
ground story of the Franklin Street facade are segmental arched and are
framed with architrave molding. The main entrance, a round-arched
portal, is contained in a angled corner bay and is framed with a
classical surround of cast iron. The ground story of the Main Street
facade is arranged as conventional shop windows with cast iron columns
marking off the major divisions. The westerly end of the building
contains a separate shop space presently occupied by the Weston Museum.
Second story openings are elongated double-hung windows under top lights
with segmental arch heads and concrete lintels. The major divisions are
marked by rusticated strip pilasters of brick. Inset spandrel panels
occupy the spaces below the window sills. The building is exceptionally
well preserved except for the loss of what is presumed to have been a
galvanized sheet metal cornice from its high parapet. With the angled
corner bay originally surmounted by a pedimented crest, the roofline of
the Farmers Bank of Weston was the highest in town. Brick flues still
stand along the east parapet but are missing their corbeled caps. The
building recently housed Weston City Hall but is soon to be leased by
the City as a branch of the Milton-Freewater Bank of Commerce. (Note:
Gismo Science Museum is not located in the Weston Museum space and City
Hall is once again located in the building. Bank of Commerce has its own
building on N. Water Street.)
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Farmer's Bank of Weston (Historic Name)