One of the finest Italianate houses in Reading, Mass., the Durgin house was built in 1872.

It was built for William Durgin, who attended Atkinson and Middleboro Academies, worked as a teacher and as an agent for a manufacturing company on Martha’s Vineyard.

The editor of the “Advertiser,” Durgin came to Reading in 1867. He was part of a wave of businessmen who settled in the town, using the commuter railroad to get to his job in Boston.

The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.