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INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON I 1 GRANT PLACE <br /> MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. <br /> 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 <br /> 0 2122 <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 /> 11 Grant Place occupies a long narrow lot that spans most of the north side of Grant Place and slopes up gradually from the <br /> street. The portions of the lot in front of and to the right of the house are maintained chiefly in lawn, with a paved and gravel <br /> driveway at the right side of the house. The western portion of the site is wooded. The building consists of a 2'/2 story main <br /> block and one-story additions on each side. <br /> The three by two bay main block rises to a side gable roof with a small interior chimney at the center of the ridgeline and a small <br /> exterior chimney at the back left corner of the main block. Walls are clad with wood clapboards and trimmed with plain corner <br /> boards and a narrow flat fascia with a bed molding. Windows typically have 6/6 double hung sash with plain flat casings. The <br /> front fagade has an off-center, shallow jog, and the right gable end has two raking eaves at the front of the building, indicating a <br /> forward expansion of the building at some point. Fenestration on the fagade consists of two widely spaced, paired windows on <br /> the first floor and three single windows across the second floor. Flush with the front wall of the main block, a small entry <br /> vestibule is appended to the right side. It contains a side gable roof, offset door and one window on the fagade, and a single <br /> window on the right side. <br /> Both side elevations have a plain flat belt course above the second floor and patterned wood shingles in the half-story. The right <br /> side elevation has two windows on the second story. A one-story shed roofed addition spans the entire width of the left <br /> elevation, with a French door and one window on its facade and an offset door and two 6/6 windows on its left side. Two <br /> symmetrical 6/6 windows are set on the second floor of the main block, surmounted by a horizontal, six-light window in the half- <br /> story. <br /> A raised terrace extends across the entire fagade of the building, comprising a cobblestone foundation, poured concrete steps <br /> with cobblestone cheek walls, and a contemporary wood railing. A straight paved walkway leads from the street to the steps at <br /> the main entrance. <br /> 11 Grant Place is a quirky vernacular building that appears to have evolved ad hoc. The building is notable for its cobblestone <br /> terrace, patterned shingles in the gable ends, humble massing, and secluded location. <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 /> Grant Place extends from the intersection of Grant and Sherman streets, parallel to the old Boston & Maine railroad tracks (now <br /> the Minuteman Bikeway), and ends just short of Oakland Street. The history of this piece of land is not well known at present, <br /> but seems closely related to Lexington's industrial history. The railroad arrived in Lexington in 1845-46, and the area now <br /> traversed by Grant Place was part of a large rail yard at least through 1906, including a turntable and locomotive house. A wood <br /> footbridge connected the depot and Oakland Street, crossing the tracks just south of M. H. Merriam & Co.'s shoe findings factory <br /> (1918, 1927, and 1935; NR 2009). Between 1927 and 1935, most of the railroad buildings were removed from the area. <br /> Residential development of today's Grant Place was sporadic, and both 2-4 and 11 Grant Place may have been moved to this <br /> streetscape, as they seem stylistically to pre-date the street itself. <br /> An extension of Sherman Street west of Grant Street first appears on the maps in 1889 as an informal passageway into the rail <br /> yards, at right angles to Grant Street. A roadway here is not depicted again in any form until 1918, when a stubby Grant Place <br /> Continuation sheet I <br />