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INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 70 EAST STREET
<br /> MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
<br />220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
<br />Continuation sheet 2
<br /> LEX.710
<br />Little can presently be learned from the attic; the roof framing was significantly augmented and partially replaced in the 1979
<br />work, and more recently the structure has been covered with spray foam insulation. The surviving original portions appear to consist of principal rafters and common purlins supporting vertical roof boards. There does not appear to be a ridge beam;
<br />however, this is presently impossible to verify. 1979 alterations Alterations undertaken in 1979 had a substantial impact on the house. A large addition, containing a garage and family room,
<br />was constructed to the north of the house, attached to the back wall of the east wing. A porch attached to the north face of the house, probably constructed in the early 20th century, was partially demolished and enclosed during this time. It was removed
<br />entirely by work undertaken in 2005. A later plaster ceiling in the west parlor, possibly installed in the 19th century, was removed. The summer beam and girts were
<br />cased and provided with mouldings. Many—perhaps all—of the window sash were replaced in the work undertaken in 1979. Knot bleed-through, indicating recent work, is seen in the canted window surrounds of the best parlor and in the chairrail of the
<br />other parlor; some of the woodwork in those rooms was clearly altered or replicated in 1979.
<br />Much of the hardware in the house appears to have been replaced. Presently, hardware includes ca. 1790-1800 brass oval knob latches, bean-end thumb latches, early 19th century Norfolk latches and others, and spans the entire period ca. 1790-1979,
<br />including reproduction “hand hammered” hardware from the latter era. It is possible that some of the HL hinges that support the doors, and the earlier latch and lock hardware are original, particularly at the second-floor level.
<br /> 2005 work
<br />A major addition was constructed by the present owners in 2005. Work was confined to areas that had previously been altered, with the exception of the application of spray foam insulation in the attic. Office wing
<br />A story-and-a-half wood frame wing, three bays in width and measuring 20’-3” x 16’-5”, is said to have been constructed for the professional office of one of the past owners.
<br />The upper story of this structure appears to have remained unfinished until 1979, when it was remodeled to serve as a guest bedroom. Little else can be said of its construction history at present, as none of its structural components are presently
<br />available for inspection. In form the building appears to date to the period ca. 1790-1860.
<br /> HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
<br />Kathryn Grover & Neil Larson A physical analysis of the house at 70 East Street contradicts the long-held belief that it was built in ca. 1753. No clear evidence was found supporting that construction date. Rather, the design and finishes of the house conforms more to the period following the Revolution. There may be some truth to the account that a house built in ca. 1753 was renovated in ca. 1790, but if that is the case, the earlier house is no longer convincingly represented in this building.1 These conditions lead to the conclusion that the house at 70 East Street was built for Joseph Fiske, Jr. (1752-1837) on land he inherited from his father. This realization refocuses the undocumented accounts of the early history of the house to the Fiske homestead at 63 Hancock Street (LEX.735). The land history, also vague, may provide some background for the property. A Fiske descendant had asserted at some unstated date that the house was built by Henry Harrington (1711/12-91) in 1745, sold by him to his son John Harrington (born 1739) in 1774, and acquired by Joseph Fiske Jr. (1752-1837), also a physician, in 1790.2 A 1774 deed in which Henry Harrington sold his son John 87.75 acres with a house and barn west of Vine Brook was
<br /> 1 A typescript account attributed to Timothy Kennard Fiske, grandson of Joseph Fiske Jr., who owned the house from 1860 to 1873 asserts that the house was built for Henry Harrington in 1745 and was “repaired” by Fiske in 1879-94. “The interior was finished by his friend Mr. Phinney (father of Elias Phinney… The mason work was done by Jacob Robinson, grandfather of Gov. George D. Robinson.” 2 This Fiske family account is recounted in the March 1998 MHC building inventory form for 70 East Street. M. J. Canavan in his undated typescript, Lexington Historical Society, states that John Tidd sold part of his land to John Harrington, that the property passed to Henry Harrington, and that “Henry lived in the old yellow house on East St. afterwards owned and occupied by Dr. Jn. Fiske.” According to Charles Hudson, History of the Town of Lexington, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, from Its First Settlement to 1868 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1913), 2: 208-18, he would have been John Fiske (1731-90), who by 1755 had moved to Pomfret, CT. The Henry Harrington Canavan
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