cottage-street_0024 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

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