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ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE (Describe important architectural features and evaluate in terms of other buildings within the community.) There are relatively few Italianate houses in Lexington, and this is one of the most carefully detailed. Features include a central pavilion with first story porch, second-story rectangular bay window, and projecting wall dormer with round headed window and heavy brackets. A rope molding trims the front corners of the building. The windows of the facade have broad friezes and those on the first level have projecting caps. There is a double round- headed window in the gable. A glazed circular porch to the left rear and an oriel window on the right hand side are probably later additions. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE (Explain the role owners played in local or state history and how the building relates to the development of the community.) Levi Prosser laid out Bloomfield Street in house lots in 1872 and named the street after his birthplace in Connecticut. In 1875 he owned this house and one across the street at number 29. Where he actually resided is uncertain but this house being the more elaborate is the likely candidate. Prosser was a member of the first board of trustees of the Lexington Savings Bank and a selectman in 1883-1884. By 1886 Prosser had moved to Hartford, Connecticut. In 1887, Samuel H. Gookins, a dry goods merchant, owned the house. He was a member of the Boston Board of Trade and was on the committee .to receive the Prince of Wales in his visit to Boston in 1860. BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES (name of publication, author, date and publisher) Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington, revised and continued to 1912 by the Lexington Historical Society, Volume II, pp. 246, 548. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1913. Lexington Minute Man, October 9, 1886. Middlesex County Registry of Deeds, Plan Book 25, plan 18, 1872. 10M - 7/82