Gropius House
Landscape Tour Stop 3
The gatehouse was built in 1892, and family history tells us that W.E.C. Eustis designed it himself. Constructed from fieldstone, the gatehouse became the new formal entrance to the estate fourteen years after the main house was built. The left side of the building served as the home for the chauffeur or groom and his family. It contained a sitting room, dining room, and kitchen on the first floor, with three bedrooms above. The space on the other side of the arch contained a carriage house and stables, which could comfortably keep eight horses. A wood-walled tack room was adjacent to the stables. Originally, there was only a single door to the carriage house, but in 1913 the Eustises rebuilt the carriage entry to accommodate three garage doors. The building now serves as Historic New England offices.
The land across Canton Avenue was once part of the estate, and the stone cow barn that survives clearly resembles other buildings on the property. It is now privately owned. W.E.C. Eustis raised several breeds of cattle on the property, and competed nationally with some of his livestock. Originally, in addition to the barn was a carpenter shop, paint shop, pipe shop, harness shop, machine shop, and a blacksmith shop, all for the maintenance of the property.
