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BUILDING FORM
<br /> ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION ❑ see continuation sheet
<br /> Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community.
<br /> 6 Belfry Ten. is one of the best-preserved high-style Italianate houses in Lexington. The house is rectangular, 2'/z stories,three-
<br /> by-two bays, and side-gabled with front, rear, and ridge chimneys. It is set on a fieldstone foundation, clad with wood clapboards,
<br /> and roofed with asphalt shingles. On the south elevation is a two-story gabled-bay and at the rear are a screen porch and a one-
<br /> story five-sided bay. The center entrance has transom lights and full-length sidelights;the windows, including the long ones on the
<br /> first story, are 6/6 double hung sash. Italianate finishes include brackets under the eaves,a wide frieze board, pilastered
<br /> cornerboards, molded window surrounds with a keyblock motif, and a roundhead window in the north gable. What remains of the
<br /> full-width porch has square rusticated porch posts, curved brackets in lieu of capitals,and is surmounted by a balustrade. There is
<br /> a three-car garage behind the house.
<br /> HISTORICAL NARRATIVE ® see continuation sheet
<br /> Discuss the history of the building. Explain its associations with local(or state) history. Include uses of the building, and the
<br /> role(s) the owners/occupants played within the community.
<br /> This house was originally on Massachusetts Ave. across from the Common approximately where the driveway of the Hancock
<br /> Church is today. The house, known as the Hudson house,was actually built in 1848 by a Lexington house painter named Isaac C.
<br /> Wright. In May 1848 Wright bought the half-acre parcel on which the house originally stood for$600 and in April 1849 sold the
<br /> lot"with the building"for$2500, indicating that this house had been built in the interim.
<br /> The purchaser was Charles Hudson (1795-1881),who moved to Lexington from Westminster,where he had been a Unitarian
<br /> minister from 1819 to 1841, a state representative from 1828 to 1833, a state senator from 1833 to 1839, member of the
<br /> Governor's Council from 1839 to 1841, and a U. S. Representative from 1839 to 1849. After moving to Lexington,he became a
<br /> naval officer and served four years at the Custom House in Boston. He also served eight years on the state board of education,
<br /> four years as a federal tax assessor, and reportedly was a personal friend of President Lincoln. Hudson was involved with many
<br /> railroads, serving as president of the Lexington and West Cambridge Branch Railroad, a state director of the Boston and Albany,
<br /> and a commissioner of the Hoosac Tunnel. He published histories of Marlborough,Westminster, and, in 1868, of Lexington;the
<br /> BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES ❑see continuation sheet
<br /> DeSimone, Frank. "The Story of Charles Hudson." Hudson News-Enterprise, 8 June 1966.
<br /> Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington. Revised and continued to 1912 by the Lexington Historical Society.
<br /> Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1913. 2: 313.
<br /> Lexington, Town of. Board of Selectmen. Letter to Sarah E. Robinson, 26 April 1915. In possession of S. Lawrence Whipple,
<br /> Lexington, MA.
<br /> . Board of Selectmen. Letter to Sydney R. Wrightington, 28 May 1828. In possession of S. Lawrence Whipple,
<br /> Lexington, MA.
<br /> Middlesex Registry of Deeds. Deeds. Cambridge, MA. 528: 564; 554: 165.
<br /> ® Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked,you must attach a completed National
<br /> Register Criteria Statement form.
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