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INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address LEXINGTON 870 MASS. AVENUE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD 230 BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: This is one of a number of Asher Benjamin-inspired doorways which survive in East Lexington(see also 627, 715, 782, 884, and 1106 Massachusetts Avenue). Unlike most of the others,the influence of Benjamin's pattern books appears to have been indirect, its builder did not base his design on a book plate, but on features of the doorway of the Stone Building at 715 Massachusetts Avenue. As described by Elizabeth Reinhardt and Anne Grady in 1977: Although the house itself is a modest five bay wide, one bay deep farmhouse, it has as splendid a doorframe as could be imagined for such a simple structure. Two Doric columns support a portico which, although not pedimented in full, suggests the angle of a pediment in its shape. A full entablature extends from the building's fagade to the columns but does not continue across the front. To complete the entablature would have created an entrance too massive to be pleasing and too low for comfort. Pilasters with Benjamin's Greek fret on both the facing and lateral sides of the portico support the entablature and frame the two-thirds length sidelights which flank the door. Over the door is a shallow wooden fan with central sunburst and an ornamental keystone in its defining arch. Columns, fret and fan proclaim the kinship with the Stone Building(Old Time New England, 1977,p. 28). HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: This house was reportedly constructed in 1833 for Ammi Hall who was born in 1798 and died in 1867 (Reinhardt& Grady, 1977, p. 28; Hudson,vol. 2,p. 262). He was a blacksmith and married Eliza Crandall in April 1834. The 1898 map lists the owner as Mrs. E.A. Hansen. Eliza Ann Hall(daughter of Ammi Hall)married Horatio Hanson in 1868 but according to Hudson she died in 1883(?)(Hudson,vol. 2,p. 270). According to E.B. Worthen,the house was later occupied by Annie Hanscom(Tracing the Past,p. 46). BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington. Lexington Directories,various dates. 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. 28-29. Worthen,Edwin B. Tracing the Past in Lexington, Massachusetts. New York: Vantage Press, 1998. 1898 Atlas of Lexington. Supplement prepared by: Lisa Mausolf June 2009