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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 /> 8 Fletcher Ave. is one of the few front-gabled Italianate farmhouse in Lexington with an attached barn; another example is at 20 <br /> Maple St. (MHC#649). This house (MHC#671) is rectangular with a rear ell, 2'/2 stories,two-by-three bays, and front gabled <br /> with a side chimney. The rear ell is also front-gabled, three bays long, and has a ridge chimney. The house is set on a granite <br /> foundation, clad with asbestos shingles, and roofed with asphalt shingles. The ell has a porch with square pilastered posts on the <br /> south elevation and a one-story flat-roofed addition on a granite foundation on the north. Italianate finishes on the main block <br /> include paired brackets at the cornices, a two-story three-sided bay on the facade and a one-story bay on the south elevation, <br /> elaborate milled brackets and a drop with a cut-out bracket under the Entry hood, and a double front door with roundhead lights. <br /> The attached 2%-story barn (MHC#672) is clad with wood clapboards; it has original barn and hay doors on the south elevation <br /> and a garage door and windows with molded surrounds on the north. <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 in 1875 by Franklin A. Fletcher, apparently no relation to Charles G. Fletcher,who had a large house on <br /> Massachusetts Ave. on the other side of the railroad tracks (now the bikepath)and would develop the Fletcher St. area in the <br /> 1880s and 90s (see Area form G). Charles G. sold Franklin A. the lot on which house is located in 1875 and that same year <br /> Franklin A. was assessed for a house on it, so perhaps this house was already under construction when he acquired the land. (The <br /> house is also shown on the 1875 map of Lexington Center.) In 1883 the house was acquired by Albert A. Sherman, who worked <br /> in Boston at the Custom House. <br /> BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES ❑see continuation sheet <br /> Beers, F. W. County Atlas ofMiddlesex Massachusetts. New York: J.B. Beers &Co., 1875. <br /> Lexington Valuation lists. 1874-1876. <br /> Middlesex Registry of Deeds. Deeds. Cambridge, MA. 1358: 591. <br /> ❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked,you must attach a completed National <br /> Register Criteria Statement form. <br />