HomeMy WebLinkAboutbloomfield-street_0056 AREA FORM NO.
FORM B - BUILDING
N 485
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
294 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON, MA 02108
_ = n Lexington
cess 56 Bloomfield Street
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toric Name House
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i Present residential
] _ _ Original residential
�` �-� � =i , -- - - -_ � " = = ►ESCRIPTION:
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- :e 1884
iource inscribed on house sheathing
SKETCH MAP
Show property' s location in relation Style Queen Anne -
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 2 garages
O F
Major alterations (with dates)
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Moved Date
Approx. acreage 30000 ft.2
Recorded by Anne Grady Setting Residential street; houses of
Organization Lexington Historical Commission similar scale and finish built primarily
Date March, 1984 in the 1880s.
(Staple additional sheets here)
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE (Describe important architectural features and
evaluate in terms of other buildings within the community.)
This house is part of an architecturally cohesive street on which most
houses were built in the 1880s. This house is embellished with Queen Anne
features: a polygonal corner porch with conical roof, turned posts, stickwork
trim, and entrance door placed diagonally at the corner of the house; a bay
window; and a shed dormer accented with patterned shingles. This house is a
mirror image of the one at 23 Bloomfield Street. An historic photograph
shows that this was one of the houses on the street which had a carriage
house originally.
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE (Explain the role owners played in local or state
history and how the building relates to the development of the community.)
The first owner of this house was named Mathews. The current owner
discovered the inscription "John Lord, Freedom, N.Y October, 1884" written
under a clapboard, This might be the name of one of the carpenters who built
the house. By jRo2. the house was owned by Dwight Foster Kilgore, a mechanical
engineer, who served as sewer and water commissioner of Lexington. In the early
20th century, tkB cement block structure at the right rear of the property is
listen as the Kilgore Machine Company machine shop on maps.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES (name of publication, author, date and publisher)
Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington, revised and continued to
1912 by the Lexington Historical Society, Volume II, p. 342. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1913.
Kelley, Beverly Allison. Lexington, A Century of Photographs, p. 12. Boston:
Lexington Historical Society, 1980.
Personal communication from Martin Gilman.
1918 Sanborn map
10M - 7/82
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address
LEXINGTON 56 BLOOMFIELD ST.
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD 485
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE:
According to the previous inventory form prepared for this property, Mathews was the original owner. A notice
appearing in the Lexington Minute-man on September 17, 1888 announced that Dr. Raymond had just sold property on
Bloomfield Street to a Captain Richard Matthews. Capt. Matthews died in Malden in 1893 at the age of 75 (Minute-man,
Dec. 15, 1893).
In the 1890s the property was owned by Joseph Silloway. The 1894 directory lists his address as Bloomfield Street and
his occupation as sailmaker. He is also shown as the owner on the 1898 map.
On June 29, 1901 the Lexington Minute-Man announced that"The Siloway property on Bloomfield street has been sold
to Mr. Dwight Kilgour of East Lexington'. Kilgore was still living here in 1932 but by 1942 the property was occupied
by Henry Chauncy, a dean at Harvard.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Lexington Directories, various years.
Lexington Minute-man, Sept. 17, 1888;Dec. 15, 1893; June 29, 1901.
U.S. Census,Lexington.
Supplement prepared by:
Lisa Mausolf
April 2009