massachusetts-avenue_2209 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 2209 MASSACHUSETTS AVE. MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 0 2252 ❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked,you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form. Use as much space as necessary to complete the following entries, allowing text to flow onto additional continuation sheets. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION: Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community. 2209 Massachusetts Avenue occupies a modest, mostly level lot that is heavily planted. The house is set near the center and left side of the parcel, with a moderate front setback that is partly maintained in lawn. Small trees and shrubs are scattered through the property. A brick walkway leads from the street to the front entrance. A driveway paved with concrete pavers occupies the right side setback. The building consists of a rectangular main block with several side and rear appendages. The main block rises 1 '/2 stories from a stone foundation to a front gable with saltbox form with slender gable returns. Walls are sheathed with wood clapboards and trimmed with flat corner boards and a narrow flat fascia with a bed molding. Windows typically have 6/6 double-hung sash with narrow band molding. The front fagade consists of the saltbox gable end and an offset entrance in a shed roofed extension at the left. The gable end has paired windows on the left side and two single windows on the right half of the first floor and paired windows centered under the ridgeline in the half story. The entrance vestibule contains a classically pedimented cross-gable over a single-leaf door with half-height sidelights, fluted pilasters, and Greek key trim. The right side elevation has two 6/6 windows towards the front of the main block, a band of two or three casement windows towards the back, and a low cross-gabled dormer cut into the roof slope above. The left side elevation is two stories high, with a flat(?) roof towards the back that pitches down to the entry vestibule. Its irregular fenestration includes a small greenhouse window towards the back of the first floor and four windows of varied types and sizes on the second floor. The rear wall of the main block has one window in the half-story of the main gable. A 1 '/2 story rear addition extends from the back left corner of the house; a side gable with geometrically-decorated, raking fascia is visible on its right side elevation. 2209 Massachusetts Avenue is a well maintained building whose architectural eclecticism makes the nature of its historic integrity uncertain at this time. The house is a picturesque pastiche of forms and details that may illustrate the diversity and energy of early 20th century revivalism, or may result from a series of congenial evolutions across the 20th and/or early 21 st centuries. The house is notable for its unusual massing, complex roof edge, front saltbox gable fagade, and carefully detailed front entrance. HISTORICAL NARRATIVE Discuss the history of the building. Explain its associations with local(or state)history. Include uses of the building, and the role(s)the owners/occupants played within the community. Massachusetts Avenue was established in the 17th century as part of an early highway from Cambridge to Concord. Development of this section of the road, west of Lincoln Street and the town center, was sparse, however, until the beginning of the 201h century. The geographic limitations of the historic maps and the change in street numbering systems make it difficult to ascertain the construction and early 20th century occupants of 2209 Massachusetts Avenue. The first known occupants at this street address, in 1930, were Richard and Helen C. Whittemore. Richard was a claims adjuster for an insurance company in downtown Boston and was also proprietor of the Five Forks Filling Station in Lexington. Subsequent residents, in 1945, included Lloyd F. Piper, described as a superintendent (previously a carpenter), and his wife Emma W. They were accompanied here by Edgar F. Burbank, who was in the Marine Corps in that year, and Fredacia (sic) Burbank, who worked at Raytheon. Walter Galenson, a professor, and his wife Marjorie lived in the house in 1955, but younger Continuation sheet I