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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. 70 East St. is one of the best-preserved of the 21 Georgian houses still standing in Lexington. The original house is rectangular with an integral leanto, 2'/z stories, five-by-one bays, and side-gabled with a large center chimney and an exterior chimney at the west end of the leanto. It is set on a granite foundation, clad with wood clapboards, and roofed with asphalt shingles. A three-by- one bay, side-gabled, 1'/Z-story shed on a fieldstone foundation has been remodeled and attached to the east elevation of the house; behind this is a gabled one-story new addition to which is attached a side-gabled two-car garage. The original house has a center entrance with a surround composed of a projecting molded cornice and fluted pilasters; the 6/9 windows in this house have molded window heads on the first story and are framed into the cornice on the second. 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. According to notes written by a Fiske descendant,this house was built in 1745 by Henry Harrington (1712-1791). The notes say that Harrington's sons John,Jonathan, and Ebenezer were born in this house,but since John was born in 1739 and Jonathan in 1744, either the house was built prior to 1745 or they were not born in it. The notes go on to say that a Miss or Mrs. Harrington conducted a school in the house that was attended by Joseph Fiske(1752-1837)when he was six or seven. Joseph reportedly planted some cherry seeds in one corner of the garden;the large tree that grew from one was eventually cut down about 1848 by Joseph's grandson Timothy K. Fiske and used as finishing lumber. (The schoolteacher, later known as "Granny"Harrington, eventually moved to the base of the hill that is now known as Granny Hill and has Granny Pond at its summit.) Henry Harrington sold the house in 1774 to his son John and it was then acquired in 1790 by the Dr. Joseph Fiske who had once attended school here. It was during Dr. Joseph Fiske's ownership that this house became known as the"pest house,"for he once treated 32 smallpox patients here (perhaps during the 1792 epidemic), marching them up and down the street for exercise and fresh air. Dr. Joseph apparently had the house repaired between 1789 and 1794, for his grandson Timothy K. Fiske had some of the bills for materials and labor. The interior finishing was reportedly done by Benjamin Phinney(1744-1843) BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES ❑ see continuation sheet Fiske, Mary Abbie. Notes on Old Fiske House. "Houses file,"Worthen Collection, Cary Library, Lexington, MA. Hinkle,Alice. "A Spread Fit for a Magazine." Lexington Minute-man, 24 February 1983. 13, 15. Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington. Revised and continued to 1912 by the Lexington Historical Society. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1913. 2: 275-76, 213-15, 217, 218, 528, 584. Middlesex Registry of Deeds. Deeds. Cambridge, MA. 83:73; 103: 272. Sileo, Thomas P. "Then &Now." Lexington Minuteman, 5 October 1995. Who Built the Fiske House and Why?" Lexington Minute-man, 12 October 1995. ® Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked,you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.