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INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 4 CAROL LANE <br /> MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. <br /> 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 <br /> 2198 <br /> ❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. <br /> If checked,you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form. <br /> Use as much space as necessary to complete the following entries, allowing text to flow onto additional continuation sheets. <br /> ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION: <br /> Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community. <br /> 4 Carol Lane occupies a large lot now set behind modern development along Bedford Street, at the beginning of a cul-de-sac <br /> subdivision of mid to late 20 century houses. Maintained chiefly in lawn, the ground slopes up from Carol Lane, with mature <br /> trees at the perimeter of the lot and a low fieldstone retaining wall at the end of the gravel driveway along the left side of the <br /> property. The roughly L-shaped building consists of a 2 '/2 story main block and a series of rear ells and additions. <br /> The two by two bay, rectangular main block rises to a front gable roof(facing Bedford Street, at the left side of the lot)with gable <br /> returns and one chimney in the center of its right slope. Walls are clad with wood clapboards, narrow flat corner boards, and a <br /> plain fascia with bed molding. Windows typically have 1/1 and 2/2 double-hung sash with plain flat casings and a narrow <br /> projecting cap. The fagade (facing Bedford Street) is not easily visible from a public way. It contains an offset entrance with a <br /> gabled portico supported on square posts. The second floor has two widely spaced windows that align with the doorway and <br /> window below, and a smaller window is centered in the half-story. <br /> The right side elevation (facing Carol Lane) has two widely spaced windows on each floor on the main block. The gable end of a <br /> 1 '/2 story rear ell, facing the right side of the lot, has gable returns, an offset door with classical enframement, and one window <br /> centered in the half-story. Facing Carole Lane is a one-story side addition that contains a pedimented gable end, a recessed <br /> entrance porch supported by large square posts, two windows on the gable end facade, and two windows on its right side <br /> elevation. <br /> Although it has lost its original frontage on Bedford Street, 4 Carol Lane is an important survivor of Lexington's mid-19th century <br /> agricultural history. Relatively large in scale, the house is notable for its relatively large scale, its large lot, largely original <br /> massing and fenestration, and molded window caps. <br /> HISTORICAL NARRATIVE <br /> Discuss the history of the building. Explain its associations with local(or state)history. Include uses of the building, and the role(s) the <br /> owners/occupants played within the community. <br /> 4 Carol Lane demonstrates the evolution of Lexington from an agricultural community to a suburban residential community in the <br /> late 19th and early 20th centuries. Bedford Street is an early roadway in Lexington, on the axis of a Native American trail system <br /> that was upgraded in the Federal period along with other radial highways through the town. The street was sparsely developed <br /> throughout the 19th century, when Lexington's economy was principally devoted to farming. <br /> Little is known of the history of 4 Carol Lane. A building is first depicted in the location of today's 4 Carol Lane between 1853 <br /> and 1875. The house is identified as "F. Wyman" in 1875 and just"Wyman" in 1898. The Wyman family was established and <br /> respected in Lexington in the late 18th century, with members serving in the Revolutionary War, as town assessor, and as <br /> selectman. The specific individual associated with this property, however, is not presently known, nor is the use. Two men <br /> named Francis Wyman, uncle and nephew, were in Lexington in the mid 19th century, one living from 1789-1886, the other born <br /> in 1827. In 1850, a Francis Wyman who was farming in Lexington owned 40 acres of land valued at$3,000, owned a small <br /> number of horses, milk cows, and swine, and was growing rye and Indian corn. <br /> In 1906, this property appears to belong to E. H. Bowman, of whom no information is presently known. By 1935, the property <br /> was occupied by Axel Sorensen, a florist, and his wife Katrine. Both Sorensens were born in Denmark and immigrated to the <br /> United States in the 1910s. The couple lived here with their four children at least through 1945. The 1935 Sanborn map shows <br /> Continuation sheet 2 <br />