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INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address <br /> LEXINGTON 8 HANCOCK AVENUE <br /> MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. <br /> MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING <br /> 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD © 110 <br /> BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 <br /> HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: <br /> This house was occupied(if not built) in the early 1870s by local builder and contractor John L.Norris who was <br /> responsible for constructing the other late 19t'century houses on Hancock Avenue between 1872 and 1874. On <br /> November 14, 1875 the Minute-man reported that Norris had sold his Hancock Avenue residence with barn and an acre <br /> of land to G.W. Taylor for$5,600. <br /> Norris also built the Norris Block at Lexington Center and was a trustee of the Lexington Savings Bank. He went onto <br /> become the driving force behind the development of the Bloomfield Street neighborhood in the 1880s. After leaving <br /> Hancock Avenue,he later built larger,more stylish residences for himself at 1430 Massachusetts Avenue(corner of <br /> Bloomfield Street)and 1404 Massachusetts Avenue. <br /> By 1889 the house at 8 Hancock Avenue was owned by James A. Barker, a carpenter. Barker is last listed at this address <br /> in the 1902 directory. In 1905 he sold the property including house, stable and one acre of land(Lexington Minute-man, <br /> Sept. 30, 1905). <br /> BIBLIOGRAPHY: <br /> Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington. Cambridge: The Riverside Press Co., 1913,vol. 2,pp. 155-156. <br /> Lexington directories,various dates. <br /> Lexington Minute-man,November 14, 1875; Sept. 30, 1905. <br /> 1889 map. <br /> Supplement prepared by: <br /> Lisa Mausolf <br /> July 2009 <br />