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INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address
<br /> LEXINGTON 1475 MASS. AVENUE
<br /> MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
<br /> MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
<br /> 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD 144
<br /> BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
<br /> ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE(continued):
<br /> In the second floor are class rooms, library,bookkeeping room,typewriting room, stenography room,
<br /> physics laboratory, chemistry laboratory, lecture room,dark room,toilets and supplies,with more storage and fan
<br /> room on the third floor.
<br /> The remodeled old building contains on the ground floor: class rooms, girls' lockers, showers and
<br /> toilets,boys' toilets; first floor, class rooms,administration offices,teachers' room,toilets; second floor,class
<br /> rooms, library, emergency room,toilet;third floor,class rooms and study hall.
<br /> The completed buildings have accommodations to take care of approximately 1000 pupils.
<br /> The 1924 addition was designed by architects Ritchie,Parsons and Taylor whose other designs included the Boston
<br /> Police Department Headquarters(1925, BOS.2062).
<br /> HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE:
<br /> When initially constructed in 1902,this was the first building in Lexington constructed specifically as a high school. The
<br /> town's first high school opened on this site in 1854 on the second floor of the Town Hall. In 1902 that building was cut
<br /> into two sections and moved to Vine Street and the present building was constructed. The new High School was
<br /> dedicated on Nov. 1, 1902. The original 1902 high school was designed by Boston architects Cooper and Bailey and
<br /> constructed at a cost of about$61,500. The contractor was H.P. Cummings of Boston.
<br /> In 1924 the high school underwent a substantial expansion at a cost of$420,000. The 1902 building was renovated for
<br /> use as the Junior High School with the new building attached for use by the Senior High School. The architects for the
<br /> expansion were Ritchie, Parsons and Taylor. The original 1902 faeade was nearly completely altered by the new
<br /> addition. The new senior junior high school opened for inspection on November 16, 1925.
<br /> To accommodate rising enrollments,a new high school was constructed off Waltham Street in 1949 and the former high
<br /> school was renamed Muzzey Junior High School. In 1958 what had become the junior high was again altered, according
<br /> to plans by C. Harry Erickson. These alterations were primarily internal.
<br /> Following the decline in school-aged population in the 1970s,the Town elected to close Muzzey in 1980. In 1983
<br /> Sydney Noyes Anderson,Inc.was designated the developer to convert the school to residential units. Today the building
<br /> also houses the Lexington Senior Center.
<br /> BIBLIOGRAPHY:
<br /> Hinkle,Alice and Andrea Cleghorn. Life in Lexington: 1946-1995.
<br /> Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington.
<br /> Kelley, Beverly Allison. Lexington: A Century of Photographs. Lexington Historical Society, 1980, p. 56.
<br /> Lexington Minute-man, October 25, 1902;November 8, 1902;November 20, 1925.
<br /> Massachusetts Historical Commission,MACRIS data base.
<br /> Worthen, Edwin B. A Calendar History of Lexington, Massachusetts. Lexington: 1946.
<br /> Supplement prepared by:
<br /> Lisa Mausolf
<br /> October 2009
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