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INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 36 SUMMER STREET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 2267 ❑ 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. 36 Summer Street occupies a large lot on the east side of Lowell Street, a main thoroughfare through East Lexington. Set well back from the street, the house faces the side of its lot, with a narrow setback from a dirt and packed gravel access road leading from the street to the house and conservation land beyond. The lot slopes up gradually from the street to the house and is generally flat eastward of the building. The rectangular main block of the house rises two stories from a fieldstone foundation to a front-gabled roof with gable returns and a small interior chimney centered at the ridgeline. A one-bay, shed-roofed extension spans the back of this block. Walls are sheathed with artificial siding and trim; windows have 1/1 double hung sash with no trim. The front entrance is contained in a one story, flat-roofed extension (formerly an enclosed sun porch?) built on a poured concrete foundation. It contains an offset, single-leaf door, banded windows, and a small front porch with square wood balusters and wood steps. One window is centered above at the second story of the main block. The side elevations are both asymmetrical. The left (east)side of the main block has three windows on the first floor, and two vertically aligned above. The right(west) side of the main block contains a picture window towards the back on the first floor and two single windows towards the back on the second floor. The shed-roofed appendage has an offset door on this elevation and a small wood deck with square wood balusters at the back. Most of the land on each side of the house is fenced in for farm animals that live on the property. A gravel driveway extends from the access road around the left side of the house to two conjoined garages to the back (south)of the house. Both are one story in height. The structure on the left features a shallow-pitched shed roof and double-leaf hinged doors on its fagade (north) elevation. The right-hand structure displays a hip roof, one vehicle bay with a modern garage door, and an offset entrance on the right end of its fagade. 36 Summer Street has lost most of its architectural integrity through artificial siding, the loss of original trim, and replacement window sash. The property is notable as a vernacular farmhouse that still retains a meaningful portion of its agricultural setting, including two outbuildings. 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. Despite the establishment of Lowell Street as a regional turnpike in the early 19th century, this peripheral area of east Lexington remained mostly agricultural and sparsely developed through the early 20th century. Summer Street—a short piece of roadway connecting Arlington with Lowell Street—is a late addition to Lexington's street network, appearing between 1906 and 1927. Its layout may have been influenced by the early 20th century development of the nearby Crescent Hill subdivision, which spills over into Arlington. Little is presently known of the history of 36 Summer Street. Assessors' records for this house show a construction date of 1910, which has not been confirmed. No buildings are indicated in this vicinity on town maps through 1906, and the area is not covered by the early 20th century Sanborn maps. The 1922 directory identifies several residents at unknown locations on Summer Street. Walter H. Johnson, a laborer, and his wife Mary were said to be living in an unnumbered house on Summer Continuation sheet I