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INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 10 INDEPENDENCE AVE. <br /> MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. <br /> 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 <br /> 0 2237 <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 /> Use as much space as necessary to complete the following entries, allowing text to flow onto additional continuation sheets. <br /> ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION: <br /> Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community. <br /> 10 Independence Avenue occupies a comparatively large downtown lot that slopes up gently from the street. A substantial <br /> hedge, small trees and shrubs, and lawn occupy most of the front and sides of the property, with a large paved driveway and <br /> parking area in the center that is framed by the house, its rear ells, and a garage wing. The house consists of a rectangular <br /> main block, a parallel ear extension and perpendicular rear ell, and a garage wing set at an angle to the rest of the house and to <br /> the street. <br /> The main block rises 2 '/2 stories from a granite rubble foundation to a low-pitched, front gable roof with narrow gable returns. <br /> An exterior chimney climbs the front fagade of the main block; an interior chimney is situated near the center of the left slope of <br /> the main block. Walls are sheathed with wood clapboards and are trimmed with plain flat corner boards and a flat fascia with a <br /> narrow crown molding. Windows are typically 6/1 double-hung replacement sash with flat casings. The fagade contains an <br /> offset entrance with a modest gabled hood supported on plain braces. Wide flat trim surrounds the single-leaf door, which has <br /> vertical wood panels and 3 by 3 glass panes above. The door is accessed by a poured concrete stairway with brick treads. A <br /> small window is set between the doorway and exterior chimney on the first floor. Two widely spaced windows are symmetrically <br /> positioned on the second floor, and a smaller window is centered above in the half story. <br /> The left side elevation of the main block has two widely spaced window bays with one window and a small angled bay window at <br /> the first floor and two windows on the second floor. The right side elevation is not easily visible from the street. Observed were <br /> a pair of fixed, multi-light windows towards the front on the first floor and a picture windows towards the back of the first floor, on <br /> the rear extension. <br /> A short stairway addition at the back left corner of the main block connects to a perpendicular, two-story wing with a side gable <br /> roof. The fagade of this wing has a trio of tall windows on the first floor and two individual windows on the second floor. <br /> Projecting from the end of this wing is a 1 '/z story entry bay with a high gable roof and single-leaf doorway at grade. This <br /> sequence of additions is completed by an attached garage that twists at an angle around the parking area/driveway. The garage <br /> has a side gable roof with a saltbox form at the rear, a cross-gabled dormer, and two vehicle bays. <br /> Although well maintained, 10 Independence Avenue is a much-altered example of vernacular, late 19th century architecture near <br /> Massachusetts Avenue. The house is notable for its comparatively large scale, original massing (weighted down by extensive <br /> additions), front gable form, and the handsome proportions of the main volume. <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 /> Present-day Independence Avenue connects Massachusetts Avenue and Locust Street, traversing the base of a low hill that <br /> was known as Mt. Independence in 1853. The roadway originated in the early 19th century, with several extant houses from that <br /> period. Only the eastern, Mass. Avenue end of the street (extending approximately to today's Tower Road) appears on the 1875 <br /> Beers map, curving up to a grid of paper streets which were platted with a multitude of small and narrow house lots, none of <br /> which were developed at that time. (The subdivision plan was abandoned early in the 20th century, likely because of the <br /> challenging hillside topography.) Houses of various shapes and sizes lined both sides of this short section of Independence <br /> Continuation sheet I <br />