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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. 87 Hancock St. is one of a number of Federal houses in Lexington but,due to the alterations of its facade, is not as well-preserved as many others. The main house is rectangular with a rear ell, 2'/z stories,five-by-two bays, and side-gabled with a rear chimney. The front-gabled rear ell is two-by-one bays and has a ridge chimney. The original house is on a granite foundation,the facade clad with vertical wood siding and the rest of the house with wood clapboards, and roofed with asphalt shingles. Behind the ell is a three-by-one bay flat-roofed addition on a concrete foundation with a ridge chimney,and in the reentrant angle is two-story, flat- roofed addition on a granite foundation with a chimney at the intersection with the ell. The center entrance is in a projecting flat- roofed center bay;there are fixed sash and hopper windows on the facade and 2/2 double hung sash in the rest of the house. The west gable end of the main block is pedimented and has a one-story bay window. 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. This house was built by Nathan Chandler(1762-1837)probably in 1811, for in 1812 he was assessed$1600 for real estate compared to$357 in 1811, strongly suggesting that he had built this house in the intervening year. In 1815 his son William built the house now at 83 Hancock St. (MHC#739)and in 1835 William and his other son,Nathan Jr. (1792-1879), acquired equal shares of their father's land, this house going to Nathan Jr. The two sons continued to divide property equally after their father's death;the 1841 assessment indicates they each owned 66 acres of land and shared a carriage. That assessment also indicates that Nathan's property included a mill, probably located on the stream behind this house. On April 23, 1962, a fire started by sparks from burning leaves seriously damaged the facade and gutted the interior. The facade was replaced with one designed by architect Isham McConnell of Bedford, reportedly trained by Frank Lloyd Wright, but the rear of the house remains as it was before the fire. 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: 75, 101. Lexington Minute-man, 26 April 1962. Lexington Valuation Lists. 1810-1841. Mrs. Edward W. Webster, 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.