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INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 17 AUDUBON ROAD MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked,you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION: Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community. An example of Colonial Revival architecture that predates its"Dutch Colonial" cousins, 17 Audubon Road also displays a side gambrel form although the side elevations are deeper giving the house an almost square-shaped plan. The 2 'h-story,wood shingled house is set on a high foundation of mortared stone and is capped by an asphalt-shingled roof. The nearly full width shed dormer has a shingled,high gable projection at each end, above a 6/1 window. Fronted by a flight of brick steps with stone sidewalls,the sidehall entrance contains a glass and panel door with a diamond-paned elevated window adjacent. The door and window are sheltered by a gabled entrance porch supported by Doric columns. The sides of the porch consist of multi-paned glass above wooden panels and there is a wooden settee along the south wall of the porch. To the south of the entrance porch the fagade is punctuated by a pair of double-hung 6/1 windows with blinds. The north elevation of the house has a mix of diamond- paned windows and 6/1 sash. Two single-story,three-sided bay windows on stone bases project from the south wall. Spanning the rear elevation is a two-story, flat roofed section. A paved driveway extends to the south of the house,terminating at a wood-shingled garage with a double-wide overhead on its broad gablefront. Additional fenestration includes 6/6 windows. 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 property stands on part of the land subdivided by Augustus Scott(see 277 Waltham Street,MHC#461) in 1903 and was one of the first houses built on the street. On July 6, 1905 A.E. Scott sold this land, lot 4 of the subdivision,with a dwelling house to Marion E. Wood,wife of Charles M. Wood. On August 13, 1905 the Minute-man reported that Mr. Charles M. Wood of Somerville has purchased and taken possession of the cottage house"recently built by A. E. Scott Esq. on Audubon road". The property was valued at$4,000. The Woods apparently rented out the house. The earliest known occupant was Howard Nichols who was living here as early as 1908. The 1910 Census indicates that Howard,then 31 years old,was employed as the assistant treasurer of a cotton manufacturer with offices in Boston. He lived with his wife Bertha,two young daughters and a servant. In 1910 there were just two houses on this side of Audubon Street-#9 and#17. Marion Wood continued to own the house until 1919 when she sold it to Freeman Doe who sold it to Elmer Chadwick in 1922. Chadwick, a manufacturer,was still living here in the 1930s with his wife Helen,two daughters and a servant. J. Raymond Myers sold the property to Rudolf and Margaret Osgood in 1950. It was owned by Robert and Virginia Brown before Francis and Catherine Lowry purchased the property in 1959. The Lowrys owned the house until 2006. BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES Lexington Minute-man,August 13, 1904 Middlesex County Register of Deeds, Cambridge,Mass. —Plan Book 158,Plan 10. Town Directories U.S. Census,various years. Continuation sheet 1