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BUILDING FORM ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION ❑see continuation sheet Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community. 83 Hancock St. (MHC#739) is one of a number of Federal houses in Lexington and a well-preserved example of its type. The house is rectangular,two stories, five-by-one bays, and side-gabled with two large brick and one concrete rear chimneys. The original house is set on a granite foundation, clad with wood clapboards, and roofed with slates. Rear additions include a Beverly jog on a fieldstone foundation at the southeast corner, a one-story shed-roofed extension on a concrete foundation behind it, and a long shed-roofed dormer that extends from the ridge line. The center entrance is flanked by square pilasters and under a hood supported by squared pilastered posts;windows are 6/9 double hung sash. Federal details include cornerboards, pedimented gables, and second-story windows framed into the cornice.. The large front-gabled barn(MHC#740) is clad with wood shingles and has triangular knee braces under the eaves;the large sliding barn door has been removed and replaced with two garage doors. A small tool shed has a hip roof, exposed rafter ends, and is clad with wood drop siding. HISTORICAL NARRATIVE ❑ see continuation sheet 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. Although the plaque on this house says "circa 1730,"it was actually built in 1815 by William Chandler(1788-1870) a few years after his father Nathan (1762-1837)had built the house at 87 Hancock St. (MHC#741). The two houses display some similarities,particularly the pedimented gables. Although Lexington assessors' records indicate that William built this house in 1815,they also show that he did not own the land on which the house stands until 1835 when he and his brother Nathan Jr. acquired equal shares of their father's land. After William's death this house was owned in the late 19th century by his son John Quincy Adams Chandler(b. 1824)and in the 20th century by a Leslie Bull,who sold apples raised in the orchards once located behind the house. BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES ❑see continuation sheet Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington. Revised and continued to 1912 by the Lexington Historical Society. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1913. 2: 103. Lexington Valuation Lists. 1810-1841. S. Lawrence Whipple. Personal communication 1998. ❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked,you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.