HomeMy WebLinkAboutbloomfield-street_0029 AREA FORM NO.
FORM B - BUILDING N 480
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
294 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON, MA 02108
i '' i
wn Lexinc;ton
dress 29 Bloomfield Street
i
� 1
�- StOriC Name Rev. Dr. Hamlin House
" e: Present residential
" 1 Original residential
-
III DESCRIPTION:
"
_ - to c. 1885
Source Hudson 1913, II:264
SKETCH MAP
Show property' s location in relation Style shingle Style
to nearest cross streets and/or
geographical features. Indicate Architect
all buildings between inventoried
property and nearest intersection. Exterior wall fabric clapboards, shingles
Indicate north.
Outbuildings
Is
�O
Major alterations (with dates) one-story
addition to the facade with semicircular
va bay window (post-world Gear II)
�0� s�
's Moved Date
ln�
Approx. acreage 30000 ft.2
Recorded by Anne Grady Setting Subsurban residential street;
OrganizationLexington Historical Commission a mix of 1870s and 1880s houses and
Date =arch, 1984 twentieth century infill.
(Staple additional sheets here)
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE (Describe important architectural features and
evaluate in terms of other buildings within the community.)
This side-hall-plan cable-to-the-street Vernacular house is noteworthy
for the decorative treatment of the gable. Rows of staggered butt and other
patterned shingles are separated by an area of clapboards set on a diagonal.
Although patterned shingling, Particularly in the gable, is characteristic of
Bloomfield Street area houses of the 1880s, this house employs it the most
imaginatively.
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE (Explain the role owners played in local or state
history and how the building relates to the development of the community.)
The house was owned from 1885 until after 1906 by Rev. Cyrus Hamlin,
missionary and educator, and Bloomfield Street's most distinguished resident
in the late nineteenth century. Harlin had been head of Bebek Theological
Seminary in Constantinople from 1839 to 1860; founder and builder of Robert
Colleae, Constantinople, and president iron, 1860 to 1876; professor in the
Bangor Theological Seminary from 1887 to 1880; and President of Iiiddlebury
College from 1880 to 1886. He was the author of "Among the Turtles," "Ey
Life and Times," and of many articles in periodicals (Hudson, 11:264) .
Rev. E.G. Porter of the Hancock Congregational Church in Lexington became
acquainted with Rev. Hamlin in missionary circles and was instrumental in
persuading him to settle here when he retired.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES (name of publication, author, date and publisher)
Hudson, Charles. history of the Town of Lexington, revised and continued to
1912 b,- the Lexington Historical Society, Volume II, n. 264. Boston:
Hourhton "ifflin, 1913.
1887 Directory
1675 atlas
1889 atlas
1906 atlas
10M - 7/82