HomeMy WebLinkAboutyork-street_0027 FORM B BUILDING Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
0 0 2174
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 22/276
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town/City: Lexington
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Place: (neighborhood or village):
Merriam Hill
Photograph
Address: 27 York Street
Historic Name:
Uses: Present: residential
Original: residential
Date of Construction: ca. 1895 - 1925
_ Source: historic maps, town directories,
architectural features
Style/Form: No style
_ Architect/Builder:
- - Exterior Material:
Front (facade) elevation Foundation: fieldstone, poured concrete
Wall/Trim: wood shingles and trim
Locus Map Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations with dates):
5x14r Front and back additions, fenestration, exterior chimney
5 (20th c)
_ a Condition: good
Moved: no ❑ yes ❑ Date:
f
{
p A a Acreage: 0.73
,g �\ Setting: Built above a steep slope on the side of Merriam
5 4W Hill on a narrow winding road. Surrounded by eclectic 20t
century residential development and heavily wooded lots.
Recorded by: Wendy Frontiero
Organization: Lexington Historical Commission
Date (month/year): September 2015
12/12 Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 27 YORK STREET
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
2174
❑ 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.
27 York Street occupies a steeply sloped, heavily wooded lot between York and Grant streets on Merriam Hill. The building is
set close to the street, with broad side setbacks. A substantial stone wall composed of large irregular cut stones and fieldstones
lines the street edge; a gravel-covered parking area is located up the hill to the left of the house. Stone pavers compose a
walkway from the street to the main door. The building consists of a 1 '/2 story main block with a small shed-roofed extension at
the left side of the facade and a relatively large contemporary addition at the right rear corner.
The main block rises from a fieldstone and poured concrete to a side gable roof with gable returns. A massive fieldstone
chimney rises on the exterior of the left side of the fagade, tapering significantly at the top, while a small brick chimney rises from
the outside of the right side of the fagade. Walls are sheathed with wood shingles and trimmed with a narrow fascia having a
slender bed molding. Windows typically have 6/1 double hung sash, some with plain flat casings, some with band molding.
They are irregularly placed across the building facades. The low, shed-roofed extension at the left of the front facade is
anchored to the main block by the fieldstone chimney; it is articulated by a group of three contiguous 6/6 windows and
surmounted by a gable dormer with a 6/1 window and cornice molding. The main doorway is off-center on the fagade, trimmed
with simple band molding; it is flanked by a three-part picture window to the left and a single window to the right.
The left side elevation of the main block is symmetrically composed, with two small six-light windows on the first floor and a 6/1
double hung window in the half-story. The right side elevation is roughly symmetrical, with a fully-exposed basement behind its
fieldstone foundation. The central basement door has a shed-roofed hood with plain braces and a six-light window to each side.
The first floor contains a large 12/12 window flanked by smaller 6/1 sash; an 8/8 window is centered in the gable peak.
The right rear addition is one-story with a flat roof, supported by exposed steel I-beams over a poured concrete foundation.
Visible fenestration comprises two contiguous pairs of tall casement windows with large transoms above. A low shed-roofed
dormer appears to span most of the rear elevation.
27 York Street is an informally and eclectically evolved cottage, distinguished by its over-scaled fieldstone exterior chimney and
the substantial masonry wall along the street edge. The house's survival on Merriam Hill as a very modest, picturesque cottage
is notable.
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 assessors' records for 27 York Street show a construction date of 1850, which has not been confirmed. In 1906, this area
was still part of the Hayes estate, which encompassed the 1883-84 mansion, 400 acres of land, and numerous outbuildings.
The 1898 map shows an informal loop road to the east of the mansion that accessed a variety of barns and outbuildings. It is
thought that the house at 27 York Street may have been one of the auxiliary buildings or outbuildings for the Hayes estate. This
provenance also has not yet been confirmed, although one of the unnamed buildings shown on the 1898 map appears to be a
possible match in size, shape, orientation, and location. The siting of the house and its massive stone wall strongly suggest a
connection with the Hayes estate. The style, forms, and materials of other exterior features of the building, however, indicate an
early 20th century construction (or renovation) period, which is consistent with the subdivision and later development of Merriam
Hill.
Continuation sheet I
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 27 YORK STREET
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
2174
The present route of this section of York Street (as a public road) appears to have been established between 1918 and 1927,
and possibly as early as 1906-18. The 1922 directory identifies three households on York Street, none of them with street
numbers: Wilkinson Riley(no occupation identified)and his wife Martha A. Riley; F. Stetson Humphrey, a vocal teacher in
Boston; and Herbert Stephens, who worked in the advertising business in Boston, and his wife Dawn Mills, who lived on York
"near Grant." The 1934 and 1936 directories identify the property at 27 York as vacant in those years, but the List of Persons for
1935 identifies Ralph and Ann R. Downs at this address (no occupations listed). Subsequent residents included Norman C.
O'Neill, in the Navy, and his wife Dorothy C., who worked at Raytheon, in 1945; James R. Merrill, an engineer, and his wife Anna
M. in 1955; and Philip Lieberman, a scientist, and his wife Marcia in 1965.
Further research is recommended to determine the early history and evolution of this building, including a possible affiliation with
the Hayes estate. If connected with the Hayes estate, this house would be one of only two remaining Hayes estate buildings,
the other being the former carriage house at 60 Meriam Street.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Historic maps and atlases: Walling 1853; Beers 1875; Walker 1889; Stadly 1898; Walker 1906; Sanborn 1908, 1918, 1927,
1935, 1935/1950.
Lexington Comprehensive Cultural Resources Survey, Period Summaries. http://historicsurveV.Iexingtonma.gov/index.htm
Accessed Jul 23, 2015.
Lexington Directories: 1899, 1906, 1908-09, 1922, 1934, 1936.
Lexington List of Persons: 1935, 1945, 1955, 1965.
Massachusetts Historical Commission. "MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Lexington." 1980.
Continuation sheet 2
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 27 YORK STREET
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
2174
SUPPLEMENTARY IMAGES
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K 7
L4..
Right side elevations _.
Left side elevation
3
Assessors' photograph: Front (fagade) elevation Detail of masonry wall and chimney
Continuation sheet 3