HomeMy WebLinkAboutcottage-street_0024 FORM B BUILDING
Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 48/262 2213
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Town/City: Lexington
Photograph Place: (neighborhood or village):
Address: 24 Cottage Street(#26 on building)
Historic Name:
1 Uses: Present: residential
Original: residential
Date of Construction: ca. 1870-90
Source: historic maps, architectural features
Style/Form: No Style
Architect/Builder:
Left side and front(fagade) elevation Exterior Material:
Foundation: not visible
Locus Map Wall/Trim: artificial siding and trim
Roof- asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
None
4B-26� 47 Major Alterations (with dates):
59A
Artificial siding (L 20th c), replacement windows (L 20th c— E
46 2
48-26Artificial
21St c), side addition (20th c)
4a-.
Condition: fair
Moved: no ❑ yes ❑ Date:
o
Acreage: 0.26
-•� Mnrcs Cenielary
4&277 �� Setting: Secluded residential enclave off busy Woburn
. 0q Street thoroughfare, near Minuteman Commuter Bikeway
• � 6
O and Massachusetts Avenue. Heterogeneous streetscape
with houses of similar small scale and varied ages and
styles.
Recorded by: Wendy Frontiero
Organization: Lexington Historical Commission
Date(month/year): September 2015
12/12 Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 24 COTTAGE STREET
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
0 2213
❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
ff checked,you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.
Use as much space as necessary to complete the following entries, allowing text to flow onto additional continuation sheets.
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:
Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community.
24 Cottage Street occupies a long, narrow, triangular lot. The flat lot is bordered by a tall hedge along the street edge, has a
gravel drive/parking area on the right side, and is maintained in lawn at the left side and back of the parcel. Set near the front of
the parcel, the house consists of a 1 '/2 story main block with a one-story side extension.
The small, one by two bay main block rises from a low foundation (not visible)to a front gable roof that faces the side of the lot;
no gable returns. No chimneys are visible. Walls are clad with artificial siding and trim. Windows are typically 6/6 double-hung
replacement sash. The facade consists of one window centered on each floor and an offset entrance with a single-leaf door and
shed-roofed hood (no brackets). Flush with the fagade of the main block is a one-bay wide addition with a window centered in
its front wall.
The left side elevation, facing the street, has two widely spaced windows. The rear elevation has a small one-story, shed-roofed
addition in the center of the first floor, rising from a poured concrete foundation. One window is centered in the street-side
elevation of this appendage; another window is centered in the half-story of the main block.
Although it has lost considerable architectural integrity through the application of artificial siding and trim, 24 Cottage Street is
notable as a survivor of late 19th century, vernacular workers' housing in downtown Lexington.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
Discuss the history of the building. Explain its associations with local(or state)history. Include uses of the building, and the role(s) the
owners/occupants played within the community.
Cottage Street is first depicted in the 1875 Beers atlas, a U-shaped road squeezed into the acute angle between Woburn Street
and the Middlesex Central (later Boston & Maine) Railroad tracks. The railroad arrived in Lexington in 1845-46. By 1875, five
buildings were already lined up along the long portion of Cottage Street that is parallel to Woburn Street. Many of the buildings
on this streetscape were moved here from Massachusetts Avenue (when that thoroughfare was developed with more upscale
houses in the mid 19th century) and housed Irish immigrants who worked on the railroad.
In 1898, John Savage owned a large, L-shaped piece of property along this portion of Cottage Street. Four buildings were lined
up along the road, with a large barn behind the eastern-most house. One of these buildings stands in the location of today's
#24; although the footprint drawn on the map does not match the present house, it is presumed to represent the same. John
Savage, whose occupations evolved from milkman to farmer to "capitalist" (the latter in 1900), lived next door at 22 Cottage
Street with his wife Julia (both were born in Ireland) and at least two children. After his death in 1904, Julia continued at#22
until at least 1913.
24 Cottage Street likely served as a rental property. The first known occupants were Manuel Moniz, a machinist, and his wife
Mary, in 1922. From at least 1936 through 1965, the house was occupied by Ivar H. Ivarson, a motorman, his wife Edith, and
their children. Family members residing here included several sons, their wives, and a grandson. Three of the sons served in
the Army in World War II. Over the years, the children's occupations included truck driver, laborer, machinist, and landscaping.
Continuation sheet I
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 24 COTTAGE STREET
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
0 2213
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Death Records, 1841-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.,
2013. Original data: Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840-1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston,
Massachusetts. Massachusetts Vital Records, 1911-1915. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston,
Massachusetts.
Historic maps and atlases: Walling 1853; Beers 1875; Walker 1889; Stadly 1898; Walker 1906; Sanborn 1908, 1918, 1927,
1935, 1935/1950.
Lexington Comprehensive Cultural Resources Survey, Period and Area Summaries.
http://historicsurvey.lexingtonma.gov/index.htm Accessed Jul 23, 2015.
Lexington Directories: 1899, 1902,1908-09, 1913, 1922, 1928, 1934, 1936, 1938, 1942.
Lexington List of Persons: 1935, 1945, 1955, 1965.
Massachusetts Historical Commission. "MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Lexington." 1980.
U.S. Census: 1880, 1900.
Continuation sheet 2