E. Sybbill Banks House

The E. Sybbill Banks House stands in a densely built residential area just east of downtown Waltham, on the west side of Appleton Street just north of its junction with Central Street. It is a 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure, with a gabled roof and exterior finished in a combination of wooden clapboards and shingles. Prominent Queen Anne features include the front porch, which has turned posts and balusters, and a spindled valance; these details are repeated on the rear porch, and similar valances are found projecting over angled windows. Palladian windows adorn the front-facing main gable, and a crossing secondary gable.^[2]

The house was built in 1892 for E. Sybbill Banks, the spinster daughter of Nathaniel Prentice Banks, a Governor of Massachusetts and general in the American Civil War. Banks was active in local theater, and served as postmistress in Somerville. She was one of the first women to receive a pension from the federal government. This house was her home until 1910. It is the best preserved of several similar houses built in the Appleton Street area around the same time.^[2]

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Waltham, Massachusetts