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INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 2407 MASSACHUSETTS AVE. MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 0 2253 ❑ 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. 2407 Massachusetts Avenue occupies a large lot that wraps around, and probably originally encompassed, the property at 2405 Massachusetts Avenue. The land slopes up gently from the street and is heavily treed, obscuring visibility from the public way. Site observations were therefore augmented with Bing bird's eye views and assessor's records. The building is set near the center of the main portion of the lot (the section having street frontage), with a generous front setback. The yard is maintained in lawn, foundation plantings, and immature trees. A straight concrete walkway leads from the street to the front entrance, and a long paved driveway extends along the right side of the front part of the lot. The building consists of a T-shaped main block with large rear additions. The main block rises 2 '/z stories to a front gabled, center wing with cross-gabled wings at each side, at the back; all have gable returns. Walls are sheathed with wood clapboards and trimmed with narrow flat corner boards and a narrow fascia board with bed molding. A one-story porch wraps around the front and right side of the front wing, with decoratively turned posts and ornamental brackets supporting a low hip roof; the wood railings with square balusters are probably replacements. The fagade of the front gable contains an offset single-leaf doorway and paired windows on the first floor, two windows centered on the second story, and one smaller window centered in the half story. The street-facing facade of the right wing has a secondary entrance onto the porch, featuring another single-leaf door. The street facing fagade of the left wing has one window centered on each floor. The end gables of both the left and right wings also have one window centered on each of the main floors (none in the attic). A large two-story gabled addition extends across the rear elevation, with a variety of fenestration, including casement windows, that is not clearly visible from the street. Well preserved, 2407 Massachusetts Avenue is a substantial and intact example of relatively early housing in an outlying area of Lexington. Relatively modest in its Queen Anne styling, the house is notable for its T-shaped massing, wrap-around porch with decorative detailing, and large lot. HISTORICAL NARRATIVE Discuss the history of the building. Explain its associations with local(or state)history. Include uses of the building, and the roles) 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 20th century. 2407 Massachusetts Avenue is significant for its associations with the agricultural history of Lexington since at least the turn of the 20th century. It also represents Lexington's evolution from a farming town to a suburban community during the 20th century. The limitations of the historic maps and the changes in street numbering systems make it difficult to ascertain the construction and early 20th century occupants of 2407 Massachusetts Avenue. This building may be one depicted on the 1898 and 1906 maps as belonging to B. McCaffrey. In 1899, Bernard McCaffery, laborer, was identified as residing on Massachusetts Avenue, near School Street; his wife was still here in 1906. The first known occupants at this specific street address, in 1930, are John Sullivan, a farmer, his wife Mary, and their six children. John and Mary Sullivan may have lived here by 1918. The Sullivan family remained in the house through at least 1955, employed as farmers and farm hands, laborer in an ice company, bus operator for the street railway, secretaries, and Continuation sheet I