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INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address LEXINGTON 782 MASS. AVENUE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD 218 BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: The door surround on this house appears to combine various details from the architectural pattern books of Asher Benjamin. The carpenter has used Benjamin's designs but simplified and combined them to fit his skills and his own sense of design. In addition to Roman Ionic pilasters,the door surround displays diamond-shaped decoration, a fret frieze and a decorative band alternating diamonds and circles(Reinhardt: 32-33). This is one of a number of Asher Benjamin- inspired doorways which survive in East Lexington(see also 627, 715, 870, 884, and 1106 Massachusetts Avenue). The entrance portico is a c.1920 alteration;the original frontispiece survives virtually intact and was re-installed on the new, extended entrance at that time. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Elizabeth Reinhardt refers to this as the"John Beal House"(Reinhardt 1977: 32). According to E.B. Worthen,this house(located next to the old Adams School)was occupied by Levi Smith, his sister Augusta("Gusty"), and their two nephews, Windsor and Miner Smith(Worthen: 49). Levi Smith(1823-1906)was a farmer. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington. Lexington Directories,various dates. Piper, Fred Smith. "Architectural Yesterdays in Lexington,"Proceedings of the Lexington Historical Society,vol. IV, 1912, p. 117. Reinhardt, Elizabeth and Anne A. Grady. "Asher Benjamin in East Lexington,Massachusetts", Old-Time New England, vol.LXVII, nos. 3-4, Winter-Spring 1977, pp. 31-33. Worthen,Edwin B. Tracing the Past in Lexington, Massachusetts. New York: Vantage Press, 1998. Supplement prepared by: Lisa Mausolf June 2009