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INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 26 CLIFFS AVENUE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 2207 ❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked,you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form. Use as much space as necessary to complete the following entries, allowing text to flow onto additional continuation sheets. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION: Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community. 26 Cliffe Avenue occupies a small corner lot at the corner with modest setbacks along its street frontages. The house sits on a low berm above street level. Its front yard is heavily landscaped with shrubs; the side and back yards are maintained chiefly in lawn. At the front yard, a concrete walkway and concrete steps lead to the front porch. A garage stands behind the house along Theresa Avenue, accessed by a paved driveway. The house consists of a nearly square main block with a side addition. The main block rises 1 '/2 stories from a stone foundation to a hip roof with a center chimney at the ridge line. The walls are sheathed in vinyl with vinyl trim. Windows typically have 1/1 double hung sash with band molding. A front porch whose shed roof extends the slope of the main roof covers most of the front fagade (east elevation); it comprises square posts, vinyl half walls, and a center entrance. Three 1/1 windows are set to the left of the off-center single-leaf door, and a small square window is to the right of the entry. Centered on the front slope of the main roof, a hip-roofed dormer contained paired windows. The north (right side) elevation contains a casement window on the first floor. A hip-roofed dormer is centered above in the half- story, with one double-hung window and a pair of smaller casement windows. Towards the back of this elevation is a one-story addition (perhaps an enclosed sunporch), which is set on a wood post foundation and capped by a shed roof. Clad in vinyl, it contains four 1/1 windows on its elevation facing Cliffe Avenue. The south (left side)elevation of the main block contains one single window and a group of paired windows; a half-story dormer above has a hip roof and paired windows on its face. The west(rear)elevation of the main block contains two windows and a gable-roofed entrance vestibule. Centered on the back slope of the roof is a hip-roofed dormer with two windows. A one-bay garage with a front gable roof stands at the back of the house, facing Theresa Avenue. This structure is also clad in vinyl. Although it has lost architectural integrity through the application of artificial siding and trim, 26 Cliffe Avenue retains its characteristic building form and massing and is typical of modest, early 20th century suburban housing in Lexington. It is notable for its solid proportions, multiple dormer windows, front porch, and early or original garage. HISTORICAL NARRATIVE 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. The neighborhood centered around Bow Street and Hillcrest, Cliffe, and Rindge avenues covers a steep hillside between Massachusetts Avenue and Lowell Street along the Arlington town line. The Great Meadows and Arlington Reservoir are located to the west and east, respectively. By 1898, a very short stub of road between Mass. Avenue and the B&M Railroad tracks is labeled Bow Street. North of the tracks, it continues as a pathway to a farmhouse identified as J. A. Wilson. The 1899 directory identifies a James Wilson, farmer and market gardener, with a house off Bow, and a James A. Wilson, market gardener, with a house on Bow. The land remained undeveloped as part of the Wilson Farm until at least 1906. Most of the streets here were laid out and platted for house lots by 1927; development most likely began after 1918. Development slowly crept up the hillside through the early and mid 20th century, most densely along the grid of streets closest to Massachusetts Avenue. The Wilson farm remained in existence east of Bow Street (in the area now traversed by South Rindge Continuation sheet 2