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INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address LEXINGTON 50 BLOOMFIELD ST. MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD 484 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: This house was constructed for Willard O. Armes in 1896 to replace an earlier house on the site which was destroyed by fire on January 24, 1896. The fire,which originated in a new house being built by Mr. Armes in close proximity to the dwelling he occupied, started in some barrels of lime. The fire destroyed the framework of the new house as well as the existing house(Minute-Man, January 31, 1896). On July 3, 1896 the Minute-Man reported that"the home of Mr. O.W.Armes, destroyed by fire last winter,has been replaced by a pretty new house on the old site, on Bloomfield street". Later that same month,the newspaper reported that "E.W. Glass is doing considerable of a job of grading in front of the places owned by E.A. Shaw and W.O. Arms, on Bloomfield Street,which were destroyed by fire some months ago,but since have been rebuilt. Mr. Arms' house is a picturesque and attractive structure and is nearing completion"(Minute-Man,July 31, 1896). The E.A. Shaw dwelling appears to have been 44 Bloomfield Street, next door. Willard Otis Armes(b. 1857)was a cotton broker and continued to occupy this house until about 1920. Fred I. Stone owned and occupied the house from about 1926 until at least 1932. Mr. and Mrs.H. Webster Thomas were living here in 1942. ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE Quite similar to dwelling at 183 Waltham Street(#455),built in 1895. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington. Cambridge: The Riverside Press Co., 1913,vol. 2,p. 13. Lexington Directories, various dates. Lexington Minute-Man, January 31, 1896; July 3, 1896; July 31, 1896. Middlesex County Register of Deeds, Cambridge, Mass. 1898 Atlas. Supplement prepared by: Lisa Mausolf February 2009