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BUILDING FORM
<br /> ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION ❑ see continuation sheet
<br /> Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community.
<br /> 282 Bedford St. (MHC#774) is one of the few brick-ended Federals in Lexington; in addition to being well-preserved, it is earlier
<br /> and higher-style than most others. The house is rectangular, 2'/2 stories, five-by-four bays, and side-gabled with two tall front and
<br /> two tall rear end chimneys. It is set on a granite foundation and roofed with asphalt shingles; the front and rear elevations are clad
<br /> with wood clapboards,the ends with brick, and the gables with wood flushboards. At the rear of the original house is a 2%2-story,
<br /> one-by-five bay, front-gabled addition with one ridge and one side end chimney; a small one-story bay is located in the reentrant
<br /> angle. At the rear of the first addition is another front-gabled addition,this one one-by-two bays, on a fieldstone foundation,three
<br /> stories because it is on a slope, and with a one-story shed-roofed addition on its south elevation. To it is attached a 1'/2-story, one-
<br /> by-one bay side-gabled barn(MHC#775)with the original door replaced by a smaller one. The center entrance in the main block
<br /> has a frontispiece flanked by pilasters with an entablature that includes a molded cornice and a frieze board decorated with curved
<br /> brackets that have guttae at their bases and an applied diamond pattern underneath. Within the frontispiece,a molded door
<br /> surround has another set of pilasters and a projecting keyblock over a semi-circular fanlight with leaded tracery. Secondary
<br /> entries are located on the south gable end of the main block and on both the south and north elevations of the first addition;the
<br /> latter have projecting molded cornices. Windows in the original house are 12/12 and 2/2 double hung sash, 6/6 elsewhere. In
<br /> addition to its elaborate frontispiece, Federal details on the main block include wide pilastered cornerboards and pedimented
<br /> gables.
<br /> HISTORICAL NARRATIVE ❑ see continuation sheet
<br /> Discuss the history of the building. Explain its associations with local(or state) history. Include uses of the building, and the
<br /> role(s) the owners/occupants played within the community.
<br /> This house was built by Nathan Reed (1743-1811), certainly before 1798,when it is listed in the Direct Tax of that year, and
<br /> possibly as early as the 1780s, based on the style of its doorway. The current assessors' date of 1786 may, for once, be correct.
<br /> Tradition has it that the furthest rear addition was built by Nathan's father,William Reed (1693-1778), and the connecting
<br /> addition in 1880-1890. Nathan Reed participated in the skirmish on April 19, 1775,was a selectman from 1785-1788, and a
<br /> church deacon from 1787-1808. After his death his property was divided in 1817 by his two surviving sons,Nathan (1776-1836)
<br /> and Christopher(1792-1861), Christopher getting this house and land on this (the west)side of Bedford St. and Nathan getting
<br /> other land, much of it on the east side of Bedford St. Nevertheless,Nathan seems to have lived in this house while Christopher
<br /> built other houses on Bedford St. (330 Bedford St., MHC#778 and 342 Bedford St.,MHC#779). When Nathan died,this
<br /> house and the 40 acres associated with it went to his oldest son Cyrus (1798-1873),who apparently lived here until he sold the
<br /> house and farm in 1872 to George T. Smith. It may have been the Smiths who added the connecting addition; they called the
<br /> property Orchard Hill Farm and took in boarders. The Smith family owned the property well into the 20th century;they raised
<br /> apples and, according to a later account,this part of Bedford St. was lined with orchards.
<br /> BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES ❑ see continuation sheet
<br /> Banios, Mona,to Nancy Butters, 11 August 1992, 12 October 1992. In possession of Nancy Butters, Lexington, MA.
<br /> Direct Tax of 1798. Microfilm. Cary Library, Lexington, MA.
<br /> Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington. Revised and continued to 1912 by the Lexington Historical Society.
<br /> Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1913. 2: 559, 562-63, 565.
<br /> Middlesex Registry of Deeds. Deeds. Cambridge, MA. 232: 13; 241: 116; 359: 321; 1223: 330.
<br /> ® Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked,you must attach a completed National
<br /> Register Criteria Statement form.
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