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INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 32 ASBURY STREET
<br /> MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
<br /> 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
<br /> 2184
<br /> ❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
<br /> If checked,you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.
<br /> Use as much space as necessary to complete the following entries, allowing text to flow onto additional continuation sheets.
<br /> ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:
<br /> Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community.
<br /> 32 Asbury Street is positioned close to the street edges of a small corner lot. Maintained chiefly in lawn, the level lot has
<br /> scattered trees and shrubs at the back and sides and dense trees and shrubbery along the Asbury Street edge. A brick paved
<br /> walkway leads from Balfour Street to the front porch, and an unpaved (gravel and grass) parking area abuts Balfour Street
<br /> behind the house. A low, dry-laid fieldstone wall lines the Asbury Street frontage.
<br /> The small rectangular house rises 1 '/z stories from a fieldstone foundation with deeply recessed joints to a broad, side gambrel
<br /> roof with an interior chimney on the back roof slope and gambrel returns.
<br /> Walls are clad with wood shingles and trim, including a pronounced cornice molding at the roof eaves. Windows typically have
<br /> 1/1 double hung replacement sash with a very narrow band molding. The symmetrical facade has a full-length porch across the
<br /> first floor. It is comprised of square posts, a shed roof that kicks out from the lower slope of the gambrel, a well-molded cornice,
<br /> no railing, and wood stairways on both short ends. A single-leaf door is centered on the porch, with paired windows to each
<br /> side. A long, shed-roofed dormer extends above across the half-story, with two sets of paired windows.
<br /> The right side elevation contains a single window towards the front and a triplet of windows towards the rear on the first floor. At
<br /> the half story are two single windows. The left side (Balfour Street) elevation contains, on the first floor, a single window towards
<br /> the front and a small rectangular bay window towards the back, supported on simple wood braces, and two windows centered in
<br /> the half story. The asymmetrical rear elevation has an offset single-leaf door and two windows of varied size on the first floor,
<br /> and a long shed-roofed dormer with two sets of paired windows in the half story. A modern wood deck off the back door has
<br /> wood steps, square wood balusters, and an historically-informed pergola.
<br /> Well preserved and maintained, 32 Asbury Street is a handsome example of early 20th century suburban housing in Lexington.
<br /> The house is notable for its intact Dutch Colonial Revival style, its voluminous gambrel roof, finely detailed cornices, and variety
<br /> of fenestration (including single, paired, and triple windows and an unusual bay window)
<br /> HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
<br /> Discuss the history of the building. Explain its associations with local(or state)history. Include uses of the building, and the role(s) the
<br /> owners/occupants played within the community.
<br /> The grid of streets, including Asbury, that presently spans between Cedar Street and Massachusetts Avenue did not exist in
<br /> 1906. Only two households were identified on Asbury Street by 1922: William R. Miller, a teamster, and his wife Emily M., and
<br /> Charles G. Richards, a janitor, and his wife Anastasia. The first known occupants of 32 Asbury Street, are thought to be Charles
<br /> E. and Elizabeth Bentley(both born in England), who appear to have moved here around 1925 and lived in the house with their
<br /> five children. In 1935, Charles E. Bentley and his sons, Clarence E., Edmund F., and Winston I. were in business together as
<br /> Charles E. Bentley and Sons, foreign and domestic wallpaper hangers, with a shop at 3 Meriam Street.
<br /> In 1945 and 1955, residents included Winston Bentley(who was employed in "defense" in the former year) and his wife Edwina.
<br /> They were accompanied here in 1945 by Winston's father Charles E., by now retired, as well as Theodore Figgett, a laborer;
<br /> Leon J. Vogt, in the Navy; and Hazel Vogt, described only as "at home". By 1965, the house was occupied by John J. Brisbois,
<br /> a teacher, and Marguerite S. Brisbois, a secretary.
<br /> Continuation sheet 2
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