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INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address LEXINGTON 83 PLEASANT STREET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD 547 BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: According to the owner,the interior of the house includes a floor-to-ceiling stone fireplace, built with local stone and incorporating a unique floral design created with stones within the background stone wall. The house was designed by the architectural firm of Blackall and Newton(Clarence Blackall and George F.Newton). Senior member Clarence Blackall(1857-1942)was best known for his theater projects and it is estimated he designed 300 during his career. He was trained at the University of Illinois, graduating in 1877 and arrived in Boston in 1882. George F.Newton(1857-1947)was a native of Boston, educated in the city schools and completed his training at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. He worked in the office of Peabody& Stearns for many years and was responsible for the design of churches, public buildings and residences. Roughly contemporary with"Fieldstone"are Blackall and Newton's designs for two Boston landmarks-the Winthrop Building at 276-278 Washington Street(BOS.2111),the first steel frame structure in the city of Boston, and Tremont Temple Baptist Church at 76-88 Tremont Street(BOS.2070). HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: "Fieldstone"was constructed in 1894 for Joseph Van Ness(1849-1901)and his wife,the former Sarah Bowman,who he had married in October 1892. In 1896 he founded a successful trade publication for the boot and shoe interests of New England, The Superintendent and Foreman. Joseph Van Ness died in 1901 at the age of 51,having been seriously injured in a railroad accident at Winter Hill several years before. Mr. and Mrs. Van Ness were the donors of the tract of land at the junction of Pleasant Street and Watertown Road which they gave to the town of Lexington for use as a park,to be known as Bowman Park. It was part of the original 200 acres purchased by the Bowman family. Sarah Bowman Van Ness, founded the local society of the Daughters of the American Revolution in Lexington and the first meeting was held in this house. Mrs. Van Ness lived here for many years after her husband's death. According to the present owner there are two granite gravestones with poetic inscriptions near the front stone wall marking the graves of Sarah Van Ness's dogs. The property was purchased by Harry and Kate Mimmo in 1940 and they continued to own it until 1983. The present owners purchased the property in 1995. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Information from Andrea and Jonathan Gruber(current owners),November 2007. Lexington Directories,various dates. Lexington Minute-Man,July 13, 1901. Massachusetts Historical Commission, MACRIS database. Middlesex County Register of Deeds, Cambridge, Mass. Withey, Henry F. and Elsie Rathburn Withey. Biographical Dictionary ofAmerican Architects (Deceased). Los Angeles: Hennessey&Ingalls, Inc., 1970. Supplement prepared by: Lisa Mausolf Feb. 2009