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INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address <br /> LEXINGTON 956 MASS. AVENUE <br /> MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. <br /> MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING <br /> 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD 240 <br /> BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 <br /> HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: <br /> This house was reportedly constructed for Jacob Robinson(1762-1848)who served as a town selectman in 1805 and <br /> 1806 and was an assessor for several years. Jacob's youngest daughter Mary Ann(b. 1812)married Sylvester Harrington <br /> in 1841. <br /> It was undoubtedly during Sylvester Harrington's ownership that the house saw the addition of the mansard roof and <br /> other details in the French Second Empire style that found popularity after the Civil War. According to E.B. Worthen, it <br /> was Sylvester Harrington who extended Independence Avenue and laid out on paper much of the area on the hill behind <br /> his house, an area that was not developed until later. <br /> The 1898 and 1906 maps indicate the property was then owned by Henry Adams and was apparently converted into <br /> apartments at this time(if not before). Worthen recalled that the house was rented by the William F. Caldwells and <br /> Willard Pierce in the early 20th century. Pierce was a farmer and Caldwell was a fruit merchant. The house had many <br /> tenants throughout the early 20th century. <br /> BIBLIOGRAPHY: <br /> Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington. <br /> Lexington Directories,various dates. <br /> Middlesex County Register of Deeds, Cambridge,Mass. <br /> U.S. Census,various dates. <br /> Worthen,Edwin B. Tracing the Past in Lexington, Massachusetts. New York: Vantage Press, 1998, p. 45. <br /> Supplement prepared by: <br /> Lisa Mausolf <br /> June 2009 <br />