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ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE (Describe important architectural features and
<br /> evaluate in. terms of other buildings within the community.)
<br /> This Vernacular farmhouse, three bays wide and two deep with a center
<br /> entrance on the side and unusual false dormers, retains so few interior finishes
<br /> that it is difficult to date. Nevertheless, the brick foundation and the stair-
<br /> way details -- a curved curtail step, narrow round newel post topped by a
<br /> - handrail spiraled at its end, and plain round balusters -- all suggest a sem
<br /> quart- - tee nineteenth century construction date.
<br /> (see Continuation Sheet)
<br /> {
<br /> HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE (Explain the role owners played in local or state
<br /> history and how the building relates to the development of the community.)
<br /> This house served as the caretaker's house for the Cary estate, a 200-acre
<br /> estate comprising most of the land bounded by Spring, Shade, and Middle streets
<br /> and Marrett Road. Part of this land was first acc7uired by the Carys in 1853
<br /> - when William Harris Cary (1798-1861) , whose father Jonathan owned a nearby farm,
<br /> purchased the former Hastings farms from Lovett Stimson. The farmhouse near
<br /> Shade Street, which had been built in 1843 apparently replacing an earlier one
<br /> shown on the 1830 map, was remodeled by the Carys into an elaborate summer house.
<br /> William H. Cary was married to Maria Hastings (1801-1881) , daughter of the
<br /> old Lexington family who had originally owned the farm. The Carys had no
<br /> children but in 1844 adopted Alice Butler, niece of a business partner. William
<br /> H. Cary and his brother Isaac were wealthy dry goods importers who lived in
<br /> Boston and New York but spent summers and long visits in Lexington. After the
<br /> death of William H. , his widow offered the estate to the state for an agricultural
<br /> school, but it was refused. The family was a great benefactor of the town,
<br /> however, donating, among other gifts, money for a library, town hall, library
<br /> building, memorial hall, and lecture series.
<br /> The Cary house was completely destroyed in a famous fire on January 25,
<br /> 1895. Alice B. Cary, the owner at that time, immediately rebuilt a large mansion
<br /> on the site. After her death it was used by the Mohawk Club and eventually, in
<br /> 1957, razed by a developer in order to divide the rest of the estate into house
<br /> lots. The house at 12 Bicentennial Way, with a presumed construction date of
<br /> (see Continuation Sheet)
<br /> BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES (name of publication, author, date and publisher)
<br /> Land in Lexington, March 1925, Certificate 18905, Book 126, p. 405, Middlesex
<br /> Land Court, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
<br /> Lexington Historical Society. Lexington: A Handbook of its Points of Interest.
<br /> Lexington, Massachusetts: Lexington Historical Society, 1891.
<br /> Plan of Land in Lexington, August 1918, Certificate 9308, Book 57, p. 489,
<br /> Middlesex Land Court, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
<br /> "Scenes from Old Lexington." Lexington Minute Man, September 1953.
<br /> Worthen, Edwin B. A Calendar History of Lexington, Massachusetts 1620-1946,
<br /> pp. 82-84. Lexington, Massachusetts: Lexington Savings Bank, 1946.
<br /> 1830 map
<br /> 1853 map
<br /> 10M - 7/82
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