|
7. Original owner (if known) Abram C. Washburn
<br /> Original use
<br /> Subsequent uses (if any) and dates
<br /> 8. Themes (check as many as applicable)
<br /> Aboriginal Conservation Recreation
<br /> Agricultural Education Religion
<br /> Architectural Exploration/ Science/
<br /> The Arts settlement invention
<br /> Commerce Industry Social/
<br /> Communication Military humanitarian
<br /> Community development x Political Transportation
<br /> 9. Historical significance (include explanation of themes checked above)
<br /> Abram C.. Washburn, Lexington's most prolific late-nineteenth century
<br /> builder/contractor, and his family owned this house from before 1889 until the
<br /> 1940s. Washburn was born in Vermont in 1853 and educated in Orford, New
<br /> Hampshire. He came to Lexington in 1884 and very likely built this house
<br /> shortly thereafter, at first as a one-story cottage (he added two stories in
<br /> 1896) .
<br /> In 1885 the Lexington Minute Man enters the first of many references to
<br /> construction work being carried out by Washburn. If the newspaper accounts are
<br /> an accurate reflection, Washburn built many more houses than his next nearest
<br /> competitor.
<br /> Many of Washburn's houses were built speculatively. He built speculative
<br /> housing in the Parker/Forest area, on Bloomfield Street, and on Winthrop Road,
<br /> and is the only contractor to have done so on Meriam Hill. The source of
<br /> Washburn's house designs, except for his own house and that of G.S. Norris, has
<br /> not been documented. Very likely he purchased some designs and modified others
<br /> or created them himself. The house at 6 Glen Road, built speculatively by
<br /> Washburn, for instance, is repeated exactly on Forest Street (builder unknown)
<br /> and on Grove Street in Newton. This would seem to indicate a published source.
<br /> Washburn's houses are fairly standard Colonial Revival or Shingle Style
<br /> Vernacular/Queen Anne designs. The latter ones tend to have similar cross
<br /> gable profiles and asymmetrical massing and are characteristically trimmed on
<br /> the second level with staggered butt shingles. The house at 24 Clarke Street,
<br /> for example, has a nearly identical plan but different finishes from that at
<br /> 86 Bloomfield Street.
<br /> (see Continuation Sheet)
<br /> 10. Bibliography and/or references (such as local histories, deeds, assessor's records,
<br /> early maps, etc.)
<br /> Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington, revised and continued to
<br /> 1912 by the Lexington Historical Society, Volume II, p. 723. Boston:
<br /> Houghton Mifflin Company, 1913.
<br /> Lexington Minute Man, November 27, 1885, May 7, 1886, May 21, 1886, May 27, 1887,
<br /> September 23, 1887, May 5, 1891, August 28, 1891, September 19, 1891,
<br /> September 26, 1891, January 22, 1892, April 29, 1892, April 28, 1893, July
<br /> 20, 1894, August 3, 1894, September 21, 1894, November 23, 1894, April 3,
<br /> 1896, August 8, 1896, December 4, 1896.
<br /> (see Continuation Sheet)
<br />
|