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BUILDING FORM
<br /> ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION ❑see continuation sheet
<br /> Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community.
<br /> 168 East St. appears to be one of a number of side-gabled,three-bay, simple Italianate farmhouses in Lexington but is actually an
<br /> early vernacular Federal that was renovated in 1900; comparable examples in Lexington of three-bay early Federals are at 176
<br /> Cedar St. (MHC#692)and 321 Concord Ave. (MHC#558). The original part of 168 East St. is rectangular, 2'/2 stories,three-
<br /> by-one bays, and side-gabled. To it has been added a front-gabled, 2'/2-story, one-by-one bay rear ell with a side chimney, a two-
<br /> story shed-roofed addition at the rear of the ell,and a one-story shed-roofed addition in the reentrant angle. The house is set on a
<br /> fieldstone foundation, clad with wood clapboards, and roofed with asphalt shingles. The center entrance in the main block,
<br /> covered by a one-bay porch,has a door with a lancet-paned light;windows are 6/6 double hung sash. An interior inspection found
<br /> that the original chimney, now removed, was supported by a wood timber resting on two brick piers, construction characteristic of
<br /> the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
<br /> HISTORICAL NARRATIVE ® see continuation sheet
<br /> Discuss the history of the building. Explain its associations with local(or state) history. Include uses of the building, and the
<br /> role(s) the owners/occupants played within the community.
<br /> This house was built by Isaac Blodgett(1744-1830)perhaps as early as 1785 but definitely by 1806. In November 1784 Isaac
<br /> sold the house and 18 of the 35 acres that he had acquired from his father in 1769, leaving 17 acres (described in later deeds as
<br /> about 14'/, acres)that included the land on which this house is located. It is reasonable to think that Isaac had already built, or
<br /> was about to build, a new house for himself on this land. The Direct Tax of 1798 does not, however, list Isaac Blodgett as the
<br /> owner of a dwelling house, which may mean that this house had not yet been built or that the Direct Tax is not as reliable as has
<br /> hitherto been thought, for Lexington assessor's records show that Isaac Blodgett did own real estate in 1797 and 1798 (although,
<br /> since at that time these records do not distinguish between land and buildings, it is not clear whether Isaac's real estate included
<br /> this house). In any event, it is clear that this house was standing in 1806 when Isaac's son Samuel (b. 1783)mortgaged the entire
<br /> property, most of which was south of East St., for the deed mentions the"house of Isaac Blodgett." Samuel and Isaac were
<br /> husbandmen, i.e., they raised livestock, and together mortgaged the property again in 1814; at that time the property was described
<br /> as two parcels: 14 acres south of East St. and'/, acre with the house north of East St. The Blodgett property then changed hands a
<br /> number of times in the late 1820s and early 30s—it was sold at auction on October 10, 1826, "by order of the Probate Court"
<br /> (because Samuel Blodgett had died?), the purchaser mortgaged it and then defaulted on the mortgage, and it was
<br /> BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES ❑ see continuation sheet
<br /> Direct Tax of 1798. Microfilm. Cary Library, Lexington, MA.
<br /> Guy and Elaine Doran,personal communication 1998.
<br /> Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington. Revised and continued to 1912 by the Lexington Historical Society.
<br /> Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1913. 2: 38-39, 18-19.
<br /> Lexington Minute-man, 1900.
<br /> Lexington Valuation Lists. 1797-1892, 1900-1902.
<br /> Middlesex Registry of Deeds. Deeds, Plans. Cambridge, MA. 88:57; 88: 58; 181: 402; 209: 384; 323: 144; 404: 569; 406: 86;
<br /> 969: 128; 1686: 337; 12452: 121; Plan No. 850 of 1960.
<br /> ❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked,you must attach a completed National
<br /> Register Criteria Statement form.
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