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ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE (Describe important architectural features and evaluate in terms of other buildings within the community.) When constructed in 1849, the West Farm house was a typical Italianate Vernacular structure: five-bays wide, one-room deep, rear chimney plan with pedimented gables, modillions at the eaves, and projecting window caps and sills supported by simple brackets. The house was built by Curtis Capell, an East Lexington carpenter, who constructed many buildings there. C. 1890, the southwest facade was extended by one bay and the ridge of the roof was raised over that bay only to accommodate the increased width. This was, among other (see Continuation Sheet) HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE (Explain the role owners played in local or state history and how the building relates to the development of the community.) A penciled note by Edwin B. Worthen indicates that the house was built in 1849. By 1853 Billings Smith was the owner, so very likely it was built for him as well. Smith (b. 1821, d. 1890) , a farmer, served as town treasurer in 1870-11-71. Subsectuent owner, Edward Payson Nichols (b. 1835, d. 1916) , was a school- teacher in Syracuse when he decided to learn the cotton business in order to earn more money. He became .treasurer of a cotton mill in New Hampshire and moved to Lexington in 1888. The family lived on Oak Street until 1906 when they moved to the center of town. They retained ownership of the house in East Lexington and for a number of years summered there. Dudley West bought the property in 1933. He removed apple trees below the house and cleared the pasture above the house. The acreage of the farm became conservation land in the 1960s, thereby assuring the preservation of the nineteenth century setting of the house. BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES (name of publication, author, date and publisher) Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington, revised and continued to 1912 by the Lexington Historical Society, Volume II, pp. 494, 646. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1913. Worthen, Edwin B. Note in the Worthen Collection, Cary Memorial Library. "Architectural Yesterdays in Lexington." Proceedings of the Lexington Historical Society, Volume IV, p. 119. Lexington: Lexington Historical Society, 1912. Personal communication from Phoebe Nichols Palmer. 10M - 7/82