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INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 32 EDGEwooD ROAD MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 �H 608 ❑ 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. 32 Edgewood Road occupies a generous lot that is enclosed at the street edge by a high stucco wall with double-leaf wood gates at the driveway and a single-leaf gate at a small pedestrian entrance. The building is positioned towards the back left (northeast) corner of the parcel. The deep front setback is occupied mainly by an extensive asphalt driveway and parking area, bordered by densely planted beds of shrubs, small trees, perennials, and ground cover. Fieldstone retaining walls form terraces to the right of the house, and mid-size and mature trees line the street edge and sides of the property. The building consists of a nearly square 1 '/2 story structure. The house rises above a fieldstone foundation and fully exposed basement at the fagade (west) elevation to a side gable roof with exposed rafter ends. Clad with wood shingles, the base of the main floor wall flares slightly above the foundation and a wood sill board. Windows typically consist of single-light casement sash with narrow band molding. Centered on the fagade is a three story tower with a hip roof and exposed rafter ends, an arched recessed entrance at ground level (with a single-leaf door), a modern angled bay window at the main floor above, and a band of three 2/2 windows with a continuous sill in its upper story. The fagade of the main block includes a single-bay garage door at the basement level and asymmetrical, single and paired casement windows on the main level above. The roofscape contains a slender chimney at the ridgeline just to the right of the tower and a small shed-roofed dormer adjacent to the right side of the tower. A small cupola at the left side of the roof features a shingled base, louvers, a flared hip roof with exposed rafter ends, and a metal weathervane. The left side elevation is not visible from the street. Only portions of the right side (Meriam Street) elevation are visible from a public way. The upper portion contains a projecting gable peak supported on four heavy, sawn brackets. Interspersed between them, two high square windows flank a large 6/6 window recessed behind curved side walls. This window surmounts a large center doorway on the main level, composed of a semicircular transom, heavy molded trim, a decoratively sawn lintel with keystone motifs, and cornice molding. Barely visible on the left end of this elevation is a gabled door hood supported on sawn brackets. Most likely built as a barn or carriage house, 32 Meriam Street survives as an important example of a major outbuilding for an early 20th century estate. Although fenestration on the Edgewood Road elevation has been significantly altered for re-use as a residence, the building is notable for its largely intact massing and materials, cupola, and original/early detailing on the Meriam Street side elevation. 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. Built in 1907, the property now constituting 32 Edgewood Road was originally the carriage house for the mansion at what is now 28 Meriam Street. Edgewood Road was a turn-of-the 201h-century addition to the development of Merriam Hill, appearing between 1898 and 1906. The street developed slowly, with only one house built along it in 1906, and two others appearing between 1918 and 1927. By 1935, however, all but one of the lots along Edgewood were finally developed. Known as "Ogeedankee", the large and fashionable house at 28 Meriam Street was constructed in 1907 for Boston banker Fred K. Brown (LEX.385). It is thought that the carriage house was constructed at about the same time as the main house; the prominent tower on the carriage house's Edgewood Road fagade appears to be original. Brown (b. 1862)and his wife Sylvia occupied the estate at least through 1942. Continuation sheet I