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INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 55 FARMCREST AVE. MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 2220 ❑ 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. 55 Farmcrest Avenue stands near the top of a small hill, on a small but comfortably sized lot. The landform slopes down from the back of the parcel to the street, a gradient that is accommodated in the house by a raised basement. The streetscape contains buildings of similar scale, period, and style; it is further unified by consistent building spacing, setbacks, and heights and by regular, medium-sized street trees on both sides. The three by two bay main block rises 2 '/2 stories from a fieldstone foundation to a side gable roof with a small brick interior chimney near the east end. Walls are sheathed with wood shingles and trimmed with a plain flat sill board and a flat fascia with a slender crown molding at the eave lines. Eaves on the gable ends are adorned with sawn concave brackets at the building corners; regularly spaced, slim flat bars applied to the soffits; and a small, decoratively carved finial post at each peak. Windows typically have 6/1 double hung sash with band molding. The building's three-bay fagade (north elevation) contains a center entry vestibule with a shed roof and a single-leaf door with transom on the front. A shallow projecting window bay flanks each side of the door, each displaying a tri-partite window unit. A small porch on a fieldstone base extends to each side of the entry vestibule, its railings comprised of square balusters and posts. The second floor contains a shed roof dormer that extends the plane of the fagade below; its tri-partite center window unit is flanked by paired windows to each side. A low shed-roofed dormer occupies the east side of the roof and is lit by small awning windows. The symmetrical east elevation features paired windows on the first floor, single windows on the second floor, and a single casement window at the peak. The similar but asymmetrical west elevation contains a pair of small 6-light windows near the front corner with two single windows beyond on the first floor, two single windows on the second floor, and a 6/6 window in the peak. A concrete walkway leads from the street to a short flight of cast concrete steps and then an upper flight of fieldstone steps with granite slab treads. Lined with cast concrete curbs, the driveway leads to a two-bay garage that is sheathed with board and batten siding and surmounted by a hip roof. A tall evergreen hedge defines the northeast corner of the property. Well-preserved and well-maintained, 55 Farmcrest Avenue is a good example of relatively modest, early 201h century suburban development in Lexington. Along with its congenial streetscape, the house is noteworthy for its siting, pleasing proportions, careful detailing, and early 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. Farmcrest Avenue was laid out between 1918 and 1922 as part of the suburbanization of southern Lexington. The Remick family lived here from at least 1924 through 1950. Edward J. Remick (b. ca. 1877)was a coal dealer in Somerville; his wife Violet M. Remick (b. ca. 1886) is identified as a housewife. Their daughter Minnie (b. ca. 1907) may have lived here with them initially, but she is not listed at the house in 1930. Between 1922 and 1924, the Remicks moved to Farmcrest Avenue from Arlington, where they had rented a house. Edward Remick was a self-made businessman, as the highest academic level he achieved was the eighth grade. Continuation sheet I