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Home My WebLink Aboutwaltham-street_0130 FORM B BUILDING Assessor's Number USGS Quad Areas Form Number 49/16A � 2283 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town/City: Lexington BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Place: (neighborhood or village): Lexington center Photograph Address: 130 Waltham Street A Historic Name: Uses: Present: Lexington Arts and Crafts Society Original: Lexington Arts and Crafts Society Date of Construction: 1954 Source: LASC Records Style/Form: Colonial Revival Architect/Builder: Marjorie Pierce Exterior Material: Foundation: Wall/Trim: stucco and brick with wood trim Locus Map Roof: asphalt shingle '471 Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: A None z, �o Major Alterations (with dates): Additions in 1965 and 1972 >488 X28 $s 9� r e CVs a TS,� S;Reer tee° Condition: excellent s� rya A z0 ^" 'eq Moved: no ❑ yes ❑ Date: ,Y6,4 -` Acreage: 0.92 Setting: Located in central business district in a q � �ffi s streetscape of commercial and converted residential ry Ia2 buildings mostly mid to late 20'h c construction. . Recorded by: Organization: Lexington Historical Commission Date (month/year): November 2015 12/12 Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 130 WALTHAM STREET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 2283 ❑ 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. The Lexington Arts and Crafts Society headquarters building at 130 Waltham Street is a small commercial building at the edge of Lexington's business district. The building, which faces west, occupies a flat lot which slopes down to the west, off Massachusetts Avenue at the intersection of Forest Street and is flanked by a large paved parking area on the south, accessed from Waltham Street. The building sits close to the street with a small yard with plantings and a mature tree, among other office uses on the south side of the business district. The Arts and Crafts Society's headquarters is a modest, residentially scaled original structure, built in 1953, facing Waltham Street, with a long two-story addition, constructed in two phases (1965, 1972) to the rear. Due to the sloping site, the extensions, though larger than the original headquarters, do not overpower the earlier structure and are architecturally compatible with it. The 1953 structure consists of a white-painted stucco, gable-roofed rectangular building set parallel to Waltham Street with a cross-gabled entrance bay of brick which is the decorative focal point of the complex. The brick entrance contains a large single- lite display window for the Society's gallery framed by wooden pilaster and topped with a sign board announcing the "Gallery." The entrance, which accessed by a long concrete and cast-iron handicap ramp, features a semi-circular arched opening with an attractive sky-blue spandrel accented with the Society's seal in carved and gilded wood. The double doors below are paneled with glazed panels on the upper half. Windows on the front facade have 8/8 double-hung sash with brick sills; a brick chimney sits on the ridge at the south end of the building. The south elevation of the building, the end gable of which is sheathed in narrow clapboards, has been painted in a taupe color to resemble a colonial house and is accented with a painted tree motif at the corner, and a red door at the basement level. The basement entrance has a gabled hood on wrought iron brackets. To the rear, the two story addition consists of a gable-roofed 1965 structure extending four bays east on the site to a secondary entrance in a cross gable midway down the building. The entrance is recessed within a shallowly-projected, brick gable-roofed porch. A further five-bay long extension of the building, added in 1972, is slightly offset to the north. The white-painted stucco walls, brick entrance portico and brick window sills of the extensions replicate the design features of the original headquarters structure. Well preserved and well maintained, 130 Waltham Street is a handsome and unusually well-crafted example of Colonial Revival style commercial architecture in Lexington. It is notable for its comparatively moderate size, proportion, and distinctive facade. 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. The Lexington Arts and Crafts Society was founded in 1935 when a group of artists and crafts-persons met and drew up a constitution with the objective "to foster in the community a more active interest in the arts and crafts and to encourage higher artistic standards in the arts and handicrafts". For nearly twenty years after its founding, the Society carried on its activities in members' homes and in various public buildings in Lexington. The Society was incorporated in May 1951, and two years later, in May 1953, the Society voted to build on the land it had previously purchased on Waltham St. Continuation sheet I INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 130 WALTHAM STREET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 2283 The building is notable for its design by a woman architect. It was designed by architect and Arts and Crafts Society member Marjorie Pierce (1900-1999), who received her undergraduate architectural degree from MIT in 1922 and her MA a year later. She was active at MIT, was president of the MIT Women's Association and created the first fully endowed graduate fellowship in the MIT Department of Architecture. The original building measured 25 feet by 40 feet and was constructed at a cost of$15,000. Additions to the building were constructed in 1965 and in 1972, both built to the rear of the building because of a town easement where the parking lot was located. In addition to the studio space, the additions enabled the creation of a gallery, an administrative office and a library for the society. The library was funded by a trust fund of a member, the late Minnie Seaver, and bore her name for many years. The gallery is named for Phillip B. Parsons, a renowned painter who was a member of the Painters' Guild and taught at the Society. In 1984, the Gallery was renovated for the 50th Anniversary celebrations. In the early 1970s the Parsons Gallery was the only gallery in town. The Lexington Arts and Crafts Society currently has over 370 artists and members, ranging from full-time commercial artists to retired art teachers, artists who practice their craft as a hobby and work fulltime in other fields and young artisans. The membership is organized by guild, including the Painters, Ceramics (Potters), Woodworkers, Metalworkers, Basketry, Needle Arts (Needleworkers), Decorative Arts, Weavers, and Polymer Clay Guilds. BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES Allaback, Sarah, The First American Women Architects (p175, Univ Illinois Press, 2008) Lexington Arts and Crafts Society on line history at http://www.lacsma.org/About/HistoryofLACS/1954- 1960/tabid/415/Default.aspx Continuation sheet 2 INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 130 WALTHAM STREET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 2283 SUPPLEMENTARY IMAGES Emw 1r f� Y'• •.7#e [a-xrrr laar -4rts end t"rir is Sacielp W c,rrt Architect's sketch Right side elevation 1 Fri ,\F e 40 rra Front Doorway Left side elevation Continuation sheet 3 INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 130 WALTHAM STREET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 2283 Continuation sheet 4