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BUILDING FORM ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION ❑ see continuation sheet Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community. 176 Cedar St. is one of several three-bay early Federal houses in Lexington; comparable examples are at 321 Concord Ave. (MHC#558)and 168 East St. (MHC#717). This house is rectangular with a rear ell,two stories,three-by-one bays,and side- gabled (the southwest gable end faces the street)with a rear chimney in the main block and an exterior chimney on the ell. The two-story ell is front-gabled and, at the rear of the house,half of the rear roof has been raised to accommodate the ell. The house is set on a granite foundation,clad with wood shingles, and roofed with asphalt shingles. What was probably originally a center entrance has now been moved to the side at the junction between the main block and the ell, and the former main entrance is now covered by an enclosed sun porch. At the rear is a side-gabled one-story addition. The recent garage is on a concrete foundation and is clad with vertical wood siding. HISTORICAL NARRATIVE ❑ see continuation sheet 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 house was probably built by Robert Parker(1771-1840)about 1802. Robert Parker is not listed in the Direct Tax of 1798, suggesting that he did not have a house then,but,when he sold the 25-acre parcel on which this house is located in 1806,the sale included"the buildings thereon"(the formulaic expression for a house), so this house was probably built sometime between 1798 and 1806. Its construction can be dated even more closely by Lexington assessors' records,which indicate that Robert Parker had no real estate in 1802 but was assessed$900 for real estate in 1803, an amount sufficient to cover a house and land,thus strongly suggesting that this house had been built in 1802. (Unfortunately there seems to be no recorded deed for the sale of this land to Robert Parker, so this conclusion cannot be verified in the deeds.) Robert Parker was a son of Capt. John Parker,who had commanded the Minute Men on the Lexington Green on April 19, 1775; after selling this house, Robert lived elsewhere in Lexington. This house then changed hands frequently; the 1811 deed of sale mentions the rights of the"widow Mary Parker"to the house, perhaps a reference to the widow of Robert's uncle Thaddeus Parker(1731-1789), but this is not clear nor is the reason for her claim on the house. This house seems to have been used as a rental property throughout most of its existence;the only owner who apparently lived in it himself was Patrick Fitzpatrick, who owned it from 1864 to 1889. After World War 1I the former 25-acre farm was subdivided and the parcel with this house set off in 1949. BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES ❑see continuation sheet Direct Tax of 1798. Microfilm. Cary Library, Lexington, MA. Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington. Revised and continued to 1912 by the Lexington Historical Society. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1913. 2: 512-13, 516-17. Lexington Valuation Lists. Assessors' Office,Town Hall, Lexington, MA. 1802-1808. Middlesex Registry of Deeds. Deeds. Cambridge, MA. 168: 134 (1806); 195: 88 (1811); 208: 489 (1814); 207: 478 (1814); 587: 229 (1850); 924: 221 (1864); 1904: 116 (1889); 1920: 548 (1889); 2037: 134 (1891); 4841: 424 (1925); 6561: 250 (1941); 7504: 394 (1949); 12333: 241 (1972). ❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked,you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.