pleasant-street_0069 (new address-linc cole-lane_0011-0017)

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INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 69 PLEASANT ST. (11-15-17 LINC COLE LANE) MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 2 LEX.2512 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. Dating to 1895, the Wellington House is a two-story, 3 x 2-bay, hip-roofed dwelling that looks to the Colonial Revival for inspiration while freely mixing in elements of the Queen Anne style. Sheathed in clapboards, the house is set on a mortared fieldstone foundation and capped by an asphalt-shingled roof with two hip-roofed dormers punctuating the front roof slope. A two-story, fluted pilaster set on a paneled base is located at each end of the façade. The cornice is decorated by modillions and originally the roof was crowned by a balustrade. Centered on the three-bay façade, the center entrance contains double doors flanked by partial sidelights. The entrance is sheltered by a flat-roofed porch displaying pilasters and pairs of fluted columns set on brick bases. Historic photos indicate that originally there was an ornate balustrade on the porch roof and the front appears to have been enclosed by conservatory glass. The stone patio platform fronting the façade appears to have originally been enclosed by a balustrade. The variety of windows on the building reflects the concurrent Queen Anne style. The first floor windows on either side of the entrance porch are double-hung 18/2 with entablature lintels; originally they were flanked by blinds. Centered above the porch is an ornate multi-pane Palladian window which is flanked on each side by a smaller 24/4 sash that is without an entablature lintel. The secondary entrance on the southwest elevation displays an entablature surround with Ionic pilasters and partial sidelights; the adjacent window is an angled bay window while upstairs there are 24/4 windows. The northeast (side) elevation has a six- sided, single-story projection with 2/1 windows toward the façade and a two-sided bay window on brackets toward the rear. Behind the main house block, the two-story hip-roofed ell is simpler in its detailing, lacking the modillion cornice and punctuated by simple 12/2 and 2/2 windows. The foundation is brick. A small single-story wing is located beyond the ell. Until recently (2022) a single-story detached barn with back shed was located to the west of the house. Along Pleasant Street there were two distinctive pillars constructed of mortared fieldstone. Each consisted of a taller post with a curving section linking to a shorter outside post. The stone pillars were removed in 2023. There were also at one time a windmill (not extant), chicken coop (removed 1960), a Colonial Revival well house (removed about 2017).1 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. This house was built about 1895 for Cornelius Wellington and his three sisters after they sold the historic Wellington farm on the old Concord turnpike that had been in the family since 1707 (177 Concord Avenue, LEX.553). Cornelius Wellington (1828-1909) was one of thirteen children of Peter and Hepzibah Wellington. He was a dry goods merchant and farmer and also served as tree warden for many years. Late in life, Cornelius lived here with his three sisters, Mrs. Louisa Peaslee, Miss Eliza Wellington and Miss Caroline Wellington.2 Caroline Wellington (1820-1916) and Louisa Peaslee (1834-1924) were early members of the Woman Suffrage League of East Lexington, formed in 1887.3 In July 1895 the Lexington Minute-Man reported that the Wellington siblings would “move nearer the village and build a house on a lot of land which they own on Pleasant Street”.4 1 Information from Ann Storer, 2023. 2 Lexington Minute-Man, 4 Sept. 1909 3 Lexington Minute-Man, 7 Dec. 1912 and 6 Nov. 1915. 4 Lexington Minute-Man, 14 July 1895.