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INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address LEXINGTON 884 MASS. AVENUE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD 231 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, 870, and 1106 Massachusetts Avenue). In this case,the doorway design appears to be a fairly literal interpretation of Plate XXVIII of the Practical House Carpenter,which Benjamin published in 1830. As Reinhardt and Grady note: "The capitals of the pilasters are simpler,the architrave is narrower and without the three faces proposed by Benjamin,but essentially it is the same design"(Reinhardt&Grady 1977: 31). HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: This house was reportedly constructed sometime between 1833 and 1839 for Eli Whitney(Reinhardt& Grady, 1977, p. 31). Eli Whitney was married to Sally Locke in 1808 and was a cobbler. On 1853 map this property appears to be labeled Bennett. The 1860 Census indicates that Prescott Bennett(then 40 years old)was a milkman. He died in 1864. According to E.B. Worthen,the property was later the house and butcher shop of Charles H. Lowe(b. 1847)who became a resident of Lexington in 1871 (Worthen,p. 45). Lowe is shown as the owner on the 1898 map. Charles Lowe married Mary Goodwin in 1869 and the couple had one son, C. Herbert Lowe(b. 1876)who married Elizabeth Dinwoodie. C. Herbert Lowe is listed as the head of the household in 1920 and lived here with his wife,two sons, father and niece. By 1930 Charles was living here with C. Herbert's widow,Elizabeth. Elizabeth Lowe was still living here in 1942. Elizabeth& C. Herbert's daughter,Marion Lowe,married Edmund Hoxie. Edmund Hoxie continued to own the house until 1980. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington. Lexington Directories,various dates. Middlesex County Register of Deeds, Cambridge,Mass. Reinhardt,Elizabeth and Anne A. Grady. "Asher Benjamin in East Lexington, Massachusetts", Old-Time New England, vol. LXVII, nos. 3-4, Winter-Spring 1977,p. 31. Worthen,Edwin B. Tracing the Past in Lexington, Massachusetts. New York: Vantage Press, 1998, p. 46. Supplement prepared by: Lisa Mausolf June 2009