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INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 21 HIBBERT STREET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 0 2233 ❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If 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. 21 Hibbert Street occupies a small narrow lot, most of which is situated in the Town of Arlington. The street slopes gently up from right to left in front of the house, and the lot slopes up very slightly from the street. The house is positioned slightly to the north side of it parcel, with modest setbacks that are maintained chiefly in lawn with scattered shrubs and small trees. Asphalt- paved driveways are situated on both sides of the building. A concrete walkway extends from the sidewalk to the front entrance. The simple rectangular block rises 2 '/2 stories to a front gable roof with gable returns and a center chimney located at the ridgeline. Walls are clad with vinyl siding and trim. The second story walls flare out slightly at the base. Windows typically have 1/1 or 2/2 double hung sash. The two-bay front fagade has a substantial angled bay window on its southern half, which rises two stories to a gable roof with prominent gable returns; it has one window on each face on each floor. The northern half of the facade contains an off center entrance with a wood staircase, single-leaf door, and small square porch with paneled square posts supporting a low hip roof. A single 1/1 window is located above at the second story. The north (right side) elevation contains four regularly spaced windows on each story. The asymmetrical south (left side) elevation has three double hung windows on each floor and a small awning window near the center on each floor. Well preserved, 21 Hibbert Street is representative of early 20th century, middle class suburban housing in Lexington. The house is notable for its bold fagade massing, flared second story walls, and decorative porch. HISTORICAL NARRATIVE Discuss the history of the building. Explain its associations with local(or state)history. Include uses of the building, and the roles) the owners/occupants played within the community. The small grid of streets bordered by Massachusetts Avenue, Hibbert Street, Taft Avenue, and Bowker Street represents an early area of suburban infill in East Lexington, near the Arlington town line. Immediately south of Taft Avenue is Liberty Heights (LEX.Q), a hilltop subdivision laid out by Brookline developer Jacob W. Wilbur in 1909 and developed in the teens and twenties. The growth of both these neighborhoods followed the arrival of the electric street railway on Massachusetts Avenue in 1899 and was directed at working class residents. In the area adjacent to Massachusetts Avenue known as Dexter Hillside, Hibbert and Sylvia streets, which straddle the Lexington/Arlington line, were laid out, platted, and partially developed by 1898. The only other evidence of development here at that time is the L-shaped beginning of Charles and Cherry streets, where ten house lots were laid out but vacant. By 1927, both Charles and Bowker streets extended from Massachusetts Avenue to Taft Avenue, and the western ends of Cherry Street, Stevens (then Cary) Road, and Camden (then Smythe) Street pushed a few lots eastward from Charles. Development was gradual through the 1920s and 30s and was virtually complete, with the present network of streets, by 1950. The Dexter Hillside development was conceived by Nathan Dexter Canterbury(1837-1912), who in 1895 began development of a large farm previously owned by Micajah Locke. A resident of Weymouth, Canterbury was a shoe and boot manufacturer, founded the East Weymouth Savings Bank and two Weymouth newspapers, and served as a state representative. Streets were given the middle names of Canterbury and his family. As reported by a local newspaper, Continuation sheet I