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BUILDING FORM ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION ❑see continuation sheet Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community. 186 Bedford St. (MHC#765) is one of the few large Second Empire houses is Lexington but has lost some of its architectural integrity. The house is square with a rear ell, 2'/z stories,three-by-three bays, and has a mansard roof with three pilastered side chimneys. The rear ell is three-by-one bays,two stories, and hip-roofed with a chimney. The house is set on a brick foundation, clad with vinyl siding, and roofed with asphalt shingles. In the reentrant angle is a second-story addition that forms an overhang supported by posts over a rear porch. On the north elevation is a long one-story addition on a cement foundation. The center entrance has its original double front door with panels that echo the design of the dormers fascias;there is a secondary entry on the south elevation; and windows are 2/2 double hung sash. The wraparound porch is now enclosed. There are three gabled dormers on the facade and two on each side;the one in the projecting center bay has a clipped gable. All the dormers have decorative fascia boards and brackets at the eaves. Under the flared eaves of the roof are curved exposed rafter ends and, in the projecting center bay, curved braces. On the south elevation are a small paired window over the secondary entry and a small oval stained- glass window under the cornice. On the north elevation is a two-story three-sided bay. The front-gabled barn (MHC#766) is 1'/: stories and three-by-three bays. It has a cupola vent with a steep hip roof clad with slates, picket-fence siding and a hay door in the gable, an exterior chimney,windows and doors on the first floor, and a shed-roofed addition at the rear. HISTORICAL NARRATIVE ❑ see continuation sheet Discuss the history of the building. Explain its associations with local(or state) history. Include uses of the building, and the role(s) the owners/occupants played within the community. Lexington assessors' records indicate that this house was built in 1874 by an Ambrose M. Cushing, who had acquired the land that same year. Cushing did not own the house very long,however, and it was acquired in 1888 by a Sebastian Kramer,who moved to Lexington from Newton and worked in Boston. BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES ❑ see continuation sheet Lexington Directory. 1894, 1899, 1906. Lexington Valuation Lists. 1873-1875. Middlesex Registry of Deeds. Deeds. Cambridge, MA. 1296: 212. ❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked,you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.