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INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 107 Bow STREET <br /> MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. <br /> 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 <br /> 2195 <br /> ❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. <br /> If checked,you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form. <br /> Use as much space as necessary to complete the following entries, allowing text to flow onto additional continuation sheets. <br /> ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION: <br /> Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community. <br /> 107 Bow Street occupies a small, flat lot. The building is positioned toward the front and left side of the property, which is <br /> maintained mostly in lawn. A paved driveway extends along the right side of the house. A low stone retaining wall lines the yard <br /> in front of the house. A concrete and flagstone walkway extends diagonally across the front yard to a concrete entry stair with <br /> wrought iron railings on one side. The building consists of a one and one half story story main block with varied appendages on <br /> the front and a back porch. <br /> The nearly square main block rises from a concrete foundation to a high hip roof with a center chimney at the ridgeline. Walls <br /> are clad with wood shingles and trimmed with a flat fascia board. Windows typically have 6/1 double hung sash with band <br /> molding. The front fagade (west elevation) presents a left entry vestibule with a low hip roof, single window facing the street, and <br /> single-leaf door facing the right side of the property. Centered in the front fagade are two 6/1 windows and to the right is an <br /> angled bay window containing three 6/1 windows and one awning window in the basement level. A hip roofed dormer is <br /> centered on the fagade and wrapped in vinyl siding; it contains a single 6/1 window and plain flat fascia board. <br /> The south (right side) elevation of the main block contains two 6/1 windows on the main floor and an offset, single-leaf door and <br /> two small awning windows at the partially exposed basement level. The north (left side) elevation of the main block contains two <br /> large 6/1 windows and a single small 6/1 window. A hip-roofed dormer is wrapped in vinyl siding; it displays a single 6/1 window <br /> and plain flat fascia board. An open porch is just visible at the rear of the building, recessed beneath the main roof and <br /> supported at the back right corner by a square post. <br /> Well preserved, 107 Bow Street is a good example of modest, early 20th century suburban housing in Lexington. It is notable for <br /> its highly intact form, fenestration, and details; characteristic hip roof; front entry vestibule and bay window; and recessed back <br /> porch. <br /> HISTORICAL NARRATIVE <br /> Discuss the history of the building. Explain its associations with local(or state)history. Include uses of the building, and the role(s) the <br /> owners/occupants played within the community. <br /> The neighborhood centered around Bow Street and Hillcrest, Cliffe, and Rindge avenues covers a steep hillside between <br /> Massachusetts Avenue and Lowell Street along the Arlington town line. The Great Meadows and Arlington Reservoir are <br /> located to the west and east, respectively. By 1898, a very short stub of road between Mass. Avenue and the B&M Railroad <br /> tracks is labeled Bow Street. North of the tracks, it continues as a pathway to a farmhouse identified as J. A. Wilson. The 1899 <br /> directory identifies a James Wilson, farmer and market gardener, with a house off Bow, and a James A. Wilson, market <br /> gardener, with a house on Bow. The land remained undeveloped as part of the Wilson Farm until at least 1906. <br /> Most of the streets here were laid out and platted for house lots by 1927; development most likely began after 1918. <br /> Development slowly crept up the hillside through the early and mid 20th century, most densely along the grid of streets closest to <br /> Massachusetts Avenue. The Wilson farm remained in existence east of Bow Street (in the area now traversed by South Rindge <br /> Street) until at least 1950, at which time it encompassed a substantial farmhouse and greenhouse and two other large <br /> outbuildings. <br /> The area was likely developed in response to the electric street railway, which began service on Mass. Avenue in 1899. Like <br /> Liberty Heights to the south of Massachusetts Avenue (which it resembles, architecturally; LEX.Q), this neighborhood—known <br /> Continuation sheet 2 <br />