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FALL <strong>2022</strong> | 17<br />
The subdivision is still full of classic<br />
Royal Barry Wills designs like Cape<br />
Cods and Colonials, as well as some of<br />
his contemporary designs like ranches<br />
and split-entries. The subdivision and<br />
the designs within it remain, in their<br />
original forms and with renovations.<br />
No one is sure why Wills chose the<br />
name Sherwood Forest, but the road<br />
names were inspired by “The Legend of<br />
Robin Hood,” with names like Lockley<br />
and Robin Road.<br />
Sherwood Forest has had a lasting<br />
impact on Lynnfield, but also on the<br />
Wills legacy. Domestic architecture<br />
eventually became the family business.<br />
Learning from his father, Charles B.<br />
Wills helped his father’s firm build up<br />
the neighborhood of Sherwood Forest.<br />
In fact, Charles built his first dozen<br />
homes in Sherwood Forest in the style<br />
of his father.<br />
In addition to his architecture firm,<br />
Royal Barry Wills wrote eight books<br />
on his stylistic principles, and designed<br />
more than 2,500 houses across North<br />
America. After his death in 1962, Wills’<br />
firm continued to mold the landscape of<br />
New England and beyond following the<br />
principles Wills had created.<br />
In 2016, the Lynnfield Historical<br />
Commission published a book detailing<br />
the history of Royal Barry Wills and the<br />
impact of Sherwood Forest on the town.<br />
It documented 32 homes and registered<br />
them with the Massachusetts Historical<br />
Commission as historic and archaeological<br />
assets of the Commonwealth.<br />
In August <strong>2022</strong>, Charles B. Wills, 98,<br />
donated three books full of photographs<br />
of the 388 homes he and business partner<br />
Roger Harris built to the Lynnfield<br />
Library. The collection spans from 1947<br />
to 2000, showing the evolution of domestic<br />
architecture while also carrying<br />
remnants of Royal Barry Wills style.<br />
Drive around Lynnfield now and you<br />
are bound to see a Royal Barry Wills’<br />
home. Perhaps it was designed by him,<br />
his son, or even the architecture firm<br />
that bore his name after his passing.<br />
The home may be renovated, or there<br />
might even be a new addition.<br />
Whether or not these houses have<br />
changed or stayed true to their original<br />
floor plan, there remains something<br />
unique about them. The intention<br />
behind Wills’ designs — the intention<br />
to breathe life into an archaic style and<br />
sleepy suburb — is truly something to<br />
behold. 40<br />
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