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BUILDING FORM ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION ❑ see continuation sheet Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community. 17 Adams St. is one a number of front-gabled Greek Revival houses in Lexington,but, in spite of many additions, is quite well- preserved and contributes to the group of 19th-and early 20th-century houses on lower Adams St. Furthermore, it was built by one of Lexington's most prominent 19th-century builders. The original house is rectangular with a rear ell. The main block is 2'/Z stories,three-by-four bays, and front-gabled with a side chimney;the rear ell is two stories and has a gabled roof with a small ridge chimney. The house is on a brick foundation, clad with wood clapboards, and has an asphalt shingle roof. The front entrance is now enclosed in a pedimented entry that has pilasters and a dentil course; a secondary entry on the side of the main block has full-length sidelights; and a third entry on the north side of the ell has a hood supported by cut-out brackets. The house has 6/6 double hung windows;the main block has cornerboards, side frieze boards, and gabled dormers on both slopes. On the south side are two additions, both on brick foundations though they appear to be of early 20th-century construction. The larger is two stories and hip-roofed with small-paned casement windows and a molded cornice;the smaller, abutting it on the east, is one- story and shed-roofed. At the rear is a one-story,gabled-roofed attached garage. HISTORICAL NARRATIVE ❑see continuation sheet 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 in 1858 by David A. Tuttle, a prominent 19th-century Lexington builder, for Charles L. Pook, a cooper from Charlestown. Pook had owned the farm at 43 Adams St. (MHC#706) since 1846, but had continued to reside in Charlestown and presumably rented out the farm. In 1858, however, he sold the 43 Adams St. property in February,bought the land at 17 Adams St. in March, hired Tuttle to build this house,and moved to Lexington. In 1871 Pook's widow sold the house to Edward W. Bettinson, a farmer, and the Bettinsons owned the house into the 1890s. It then became the home of William Hunt, a real estate and insurance agent, who in 1903 built the Hunt Building, now at 1752 Massachusetts Ave. (MHC#24). BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES ❑see continuation sheet Middlesex Registry of Deeds. Deeds. Cambridge, MA. 789: 598; 481: 557; 787: 391; 1154: 46. Tuttle, David Ainsworth. List of buildings erected in Lexington. Presented to the Lexington Historical Society, April 4, 1904. On file at Lexington Historical Society, Lexington, MA. ❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked,you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.