marrett-road_0271 Enhanced Building Form

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INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 271 MARRETT ROAD MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 3 LEX.586 Late 1920s Early 20th century alterations to the house included the installation of a large kitchen and a bathroom with modern appliances. Many of the renovations undertaken in the late 1920s were documented in the pages of The Modern Priscilla, a popular women’s magazine of the period. “The Old House,” as it was then named, was a used as a “proving ground” for old house rehabilitation and interior design. A tearoom occupied the former “summer kitchen” space, and it was stripped of its acquired interior finishes to give it a rustic appearance. The kitchen in the rear of the main house and connecting to the tea house wing was remodeled by early 1928.7 It was noted, in 1928, that a furnace had not many years earlier been introduced to the house, and that there was indoor plumbing including bathrooms, which were noted as in need of updating.8 A bathroom on the second floor, described as having been “off the end of the upstairs hall” was renovated in 1928, removing “the old wooden, zinc-lined tub” and an “unspeakable” toilet.9 Renovation of a second hall bathroom, this one located directly over the entry, necessitated the lowering of a portion of the ceiling in the lower hall and the construction of a chase in the front corner to facilitate the installation of new plumbing.10 Front and east-side porches were removed in 1928-29, and the remaining rear (north) porch was substantially reconstructed creating a screened porch with a glazed section at its west end, behind the west wing. An elm tree around which the porch was built no longer exists.11 The floorboards in the east parlor, described as in very poor condition, were removed and replaced with specially treated oak boards of random widths in 1928.12 French doors had by that date replaced the door in the north wall of the parlor. What was identified as “the book room” in 1928 was located at that time just to the north of this room and was remodeled at about the same time. Photographs published in July 1928 show a ca. 1830 cast iron Franklin stove as a supplemental heating source in this room.13 Although not explicitly discussed in the pages of the magazine, door types and hardware in the second floor of the wing point to a modernization of this part of the house during this same period. Whether the partitioning was altered at that time is not presently possible to determine. A photograph of the house published in The Modern Priscilla of February 1930 shows the conversion of the carriage barn into a one-bay garage (at its west end) and the insertion of three conjoined double-hung sash in the former east bay, indicating its probable conversion by that time for use as an antique shop, which had been discussed in the pages of the magazine. A similar group of windows in the north elevation of this part of the wing were probably installed at the same time. 1966-1969 An article published in the Lexington Minute-Man in 1969 referred to work undertaken at the house since the ownership had changed in 1966.14 This included replacing the wainscotting and preserving the stenciled floors in the west front rooms and hall that were “uncovered when later flooring was removed. Only the stenciling of the west parlor appears to survive at present, unless that in the center hall is preserved under more recent flooring. The old flooring in the east living room was replaced in 1928 with no mention of stenciling having been discovered.15 The owners at that time, stripped the paint from the woodwork in the “front rooms” replacing it with the “original Hazard Putty” color, a soft grey. Late-20th century alterations Changes made to the house at a more recent date include the replacement of the west door in the south wall of the wing with a window, introduction of several closets into the north part of the first-floor center passage, and replacement of the large restaurant kitchen with two smaller kitchens, the latter undertaken as part of the work done to create a rental unit in the wing. 7 Della T. Lutes,” The Old, Old Kitchen in a Brand-New Dress,” The Modern Priscilla, February 1928. 8 Della T. Lutes, “The Old House and its Old, Old Elms,” The Modern Priscilla, April 1928. 9 Della Thompson Lutes, “An Old Bathroom Made New,” The Modern Priscilla, January 1929. 10 Della T. Lutes, “The Hall at the Old House,” The Modern Priscilla, February 1929. 11 Della T. Lutes, “Outdoor Porch, The Old House,” The Modern Priscilla, May 1929. 12 Della T. Lutes, “Living Room at the Old House,” The Modern Priscilla, September 1928. 13 Della T. Lutes, “More About the Old House Book Room,” The Modern Priscilla, July 1928. 14 Anne R. Scigliano, “The Old House”—Memorial to the Past,” Lexington Minute-Man, 16 October 1969. 15 Della T. Lutes, “Living Room at the Old House,” The Modern Priscilla, September 1928).