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INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 8 LOCUST AVENUE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 2240 ❑ 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. 8 Locust Avenue occupies a modest, narrow lot just off Massachusetts Avenue. Maintained chiefly in lawn, the flat parcel contains a modern, low stone wall along the street edge, foundation plantings, a paved driveway at the right side of the property, and a brick walkway between the driveway and front door. The rectangular main block rises 2 '/2 stories from a fieldstone foundation to a side gable roof with a cross-gabled front pavilion; no gable returns. Walls are sheathed with wood shingles; the base of the half story flares out slightly above the second floor level on all elevations. Windows typically have 1/1 double hung sash and flat casings with band molding. The front facade contains a full-height cross-gabled pavilion on the right end, with one window(of varied shapes and sizes) on each floor. To the left, a one-story porch has a hip roof that extends across a shallow bay window at the base of the pavilion. The screened-in entrance porch contains an off-center door; the single-leaf inner door is a period design with horizontal wood panels and a square glass pane. There are no windows on the main wall inside the porch; a small window is set off-center above the porch. Modern brick steps with flagstone treads access the porch. The left side elevation of the main block has a two-story cross-gabled bay window towards the rear whose first floor is angled, with decoratively sawn brackets supporting the rectangular upper level. The flat bay of this elevation has one original window on the lower two floors and a modern casement window with a semicircular transom at the half-story. The right side elevation is two bays deep, with one individual window and a paired set of windows on the first floor, two widely spaced windows on the second floor, and paired windows with a large semi-circular transom at the half-story. A detached garage set behind and to the right of the house has one vehicle bay, a front gable roof, and wood shingles and trim. Well preserved and well maintained, 8 Locust Avenue is a simple but handsome example of suburban infill housing in East Lexington. The house is notable for its sturdy scale; picturesque massing, including two full-height gabled pavilions; integral front porch; and flared wall planes. 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. The eastern end of Locust Avenue was laid out to approximately the location of today's Tower Road by 1889; three lots were platted (all on the north side of the street)and two built upon in that year. By 1898, four of the five lots laid out on the south side of the street were built upon, including 8 Locust Street. In that year, it and the adjacent house on the right were labeled "Pierce". The 1906 map shows the two buildings owned by E. Pierce Heirs. Further research is required to determine the identity(ies)of this owner, who appears to be a speculator, as no Pierces are listed in directories of this period. The garage appears on the property between 1906 and 1918. The first known occupants of this house are Herbert F. Howland, a salesman at Lexington Lumber Co., and his wife Lois A. Herbert and Lois were married in 1911 and moved into this house by 1915. They were living here still in 1920; Herbert died in 1923. Horace G. Dearborn, a painter, moved here between 1930 and 1932 with his wife Helen C. and their two young sons. In 1935, they were accompanied by Horace's parents-in-law, Murray T. Tooker, a carpenter, and his wife Helen E. Subsequent residents included Clifton F. Barrows, serving in the army, and his wife Marion M., a bookkeeper(1945); William R. Page, an engineer, and his wife Janet(1955); and Winston R. Hindle, an administrator, and his wife Sarah K. (1965). Continuation sheet I