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INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 26 BLOSSOM ST. MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 LEX.555 Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked, you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION: Based on field work by Walter R. Wheeler & Neil Larson The Underwood – Smith House is a small two-story wood frame single dwelling with a gable roof raised in the rear to cover a lean-to. Its main, street façade contains four bays on the first floor with an off-center entrance and two windows in the upper story. The fenestration pattern has been altered, in particular, the door is not in an original location; there are a series of alterations that render evidence of early construction history ambiguous. A chimney is located in the northern side of the two-room plan. It has fireboxes in the front room and in the lean-to. There is no evidence of a chimney on the southern side or near the center. It is possible that the house was constructed in two stages; the roof is a single build. Most of the interior finishes in this house have been removed during the course of the past century. This leaves the framing as the principal means by which to contextualize the initial construction period for the house. Dendrochronology would provide useful information. Based upon the style of builder’s marks and details of the framing, supported by documentary history, the initial construction period for this house is estimated to be in the Second Period somewhere between 1720 and 1760. The basement is excavated only under the oldest part of the house and may not extend as far as the southern wall of that portion of the dwelling. There are two sets of stairs. One leads to the surface from an opening on the west wall immediately to the south of the chimney base; another is located in the center of the north wall. The former presently rises within the lean-to. The latter is covered by a bulkhead door and gives access to the outside yard. It is not presently clear which was constructed first. The chimney base, like the chimney above it, dates to the early 19th century, and did not have a fireplace at the basement level. The present chimney mass is not integrated into the adjacent stone foundation, another indication that it is of later date. There is, however, no indication of the former location a chimney base or bases in the stonework of the foundation. Two possibilities present themselves: either the original chimney was located in one of the two center bays (the house consists of four structural bays) and its base was removed when the chimney was replaced in the late-18th or early 19th century, or the chimney was supported on the earth contained within the unexcavated portion of the foundation, at the south end of the house. Precedent for this treatment is known in the late 17th and early 18th centuries: the Bowne house in Flushing, Queens (1669) and the Mabee house in Rotterdam, Schenectady County (1705), both in New York and dated via dendrochronology, each have this feature. The present chimney, with its closed-up firebox facing the lean-to (west) side, is composed of 18th century and early 19th century bricks measuring 7 ½” x 3 ¾” x 1 ½” and 8” x 4” x 1 ¾” in size. The construction of the chimney must be contemporary with or post-date the construction of the lean-to; a post which supports a beam in the lean-to is fitted snug against the surface of the chimney and appears to have been installed previous to the laying of the brick. The firebox of the first-floor fireplace has Rumford proportions, indicating a late-18th century date of construction at the earliest, but as noted above, the presence of early-19th century bricks in the chimney mass indicates that it was rebuilt at that time. The north face of the chimney mass has an unusual, curved surface; this is an indication that room was being made for a passage on the north of the chimney. There is no partition in that location at present, but older plans of the house—executed previous to alterations undertaken by the present owner—indicate a partition with a door in this location. A much smaller firebox is located on the second floor, directly above the first-floor fireplace. There is no present indication in the basement of the former existence of a chimney in the southern half of the house. The members of the superstructure of the original portion of the house are oak, and all components are riven or hewn. Much of the wood used in the construction of the house is of irregular form, perhaps indicating either a scarcity of available material or a necessary economy in building. A brace was formerly attached to the post where the front door is presently located, indicating that the principal entrance had been located elsewhere. Much of the framing of the first-floor platform was replaced in the late 19th century, particularly at the north end of the house, which incorporates subflooring with beaded edges. Additional replacements have been inserted during the 20th century. The current owners have replaced, in kind, a number of the structural components of the frame, which had been compromised either by having been cut into or by insect predation or rot. Although originally covered with casings or