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INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 12 FERN STREET. <br /> 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 <br /> Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. <br /> If checked,you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form. <br /> ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION: <br /> Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community. <br /> The modest house at 12 Fern Street may well date to the late 18th or early 19th century. Interior inspection may help narrow <br /> down its period of construction. It appears to be a well-preserved example of the one-story-plus nineteenth century cottage <br /> found most frequently in the Woburn Street area. The 2-story, 3 x 1-bay structure is oriented to face north;the gable eaves are <br /> without overhang. The center entrance contains a modern paneled door with integral glass and is set into a simple trabeated <br /> surround. Windows on the main house contain 6/6 sash and are fitted with storm windows. There is no window above the <br /> center entrance. Extending behind the main house block is a tall, single-story addition punctuated by modern 1/1 windows <br /> topped by 3 x 2-light transom panels. <br /> HISTORICAL NARRATIVE <br /> Discuss the history of the building. Explain its associations with local(or state)history. Include uses of the building, and the role(s)the <br /> owners/occupants played within the community. <br /> This house probably dates to the early 19th century. The earliest deed found for the property indicates that it was sold by Isaac <br /> Buttrick, a carpenter, in May 1852. Buttrick may have acquired it from C. Robbins in 1838 or J. Brown in 1837. He appears to <br /> have sold 12 Fern Street at about the same time he built 40 Fern Street(see#525). <br /> Thomas H. Earle, a tailor,purchased the property from Buttrick in May 1852. Earle enlisted in the 1St Calvary at the time of the <br /> Rebellion, September 1861, and died July 24, 1863 in Hilton Head, South Carolina. In 1864 the administrator of Earle's estate, <br /> Sylvanus Smith, sold the property to his widow,Emily Earle, for$400. Mrs. Earle was born in Nova Scotia in 1822 and lived in <br /> the house until her death in 1900 at the age of 78. The 1870 Census lists her occupation as tailoress. <br /> Mrs. Earle took in a niece,Annie Jones, as a young child and educated her. In 1895 Annie Jones married Herbert Teele of <br /> Arlington. The couple continued to live in the Fern Street house with Mrs. Earle and cared for her when she became an invalid. <br /> An 1895 newspaper account notes that the house had been enlarged, an apparent reference to the single-story rear section. <br /> In 1910 Annie Jones Teele of Arlington sold the property at 12 Fern Street to Dominick and Nancy Yanushkis. He was <br /> employed as a machinist and they had formerly lived in a tenement over the post office. It was sold by the Yanushkis to Peter <br /> Caspir in 1917 who sold it in 1921 to James Alexander Wilson. Felix and Clara Blume owned the property from 1929 until <br /> 1951. He was employed as a carpenter. Later owners included L. Tyler& Lillian Barnes (1951-1960), Harry Stubbs(1960- <br /> 1965),Amelia Leiss (1965-1971), Livia and John Bowditch(1971-1980) and Barbara Ausubel(1980-1998). Rebecca Edelson <br /> acquired the property in 1998. <br /> BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES <br /> Middlesex County Register of Deeds, Cambridge, Mass. <br /> Town Directories <br /> U.S. Census,various years. <br /> 1853, 1875, 1889, 1898, 1906 maps <br /> Continuation sheet 1 <br />