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INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address Lexington 265 Lowell St. MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Areas) Form No. MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD 660 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION (continued) circular bay surmounted by an elaborate balustrade, and a small hexagonal dormer similar to that on the facade. The north elevation is characterized by two large gables that match those on the-south elevation though with egg-and-dart rather than rope- and-flower molding, a shed-roofed dormer between them, small windows with broken pediment heads, a projecting one-story bay surmounted by a balustrade whose diamond-patterned rail echoes the design of the porch capitals,another one-story bay with a stained glass window and bell-shaped copper roof, and a similar bell-shaped copper roof supported by Tuscan columns and acanthus brackets over a side entry that has egg-and-dart molding at the cornice and leaded side-and transom lights. To this original house have been added unsympathetic additions;those closest to the house are clad with wood clapboards and the rest with brown brick. HISTORICAL NARRATIVE (continued) nursing home residents, much of which is substantiated by deeds,Whipple's wife was an invalid who lived at the Parker House, but Whipple had fallen in love with the Parker House cashier, Mary A. Morrill, and bought Shagbark Farm for her. Whipple used the farm's produce, which included over 100 head of cattle,to supply his hotels and kept thoroughbred horses at Winning Farm in Woburn,which he also owned. In 1898 Whipple and Mary Morrill began to transform the estate,that year adding a high-style Colonial Revival stable with interior paneling and a brass names plate on each horse's stall, a structure pictured in historical photographs of the estate. In 1903 they began to remodel the house, which they called Cedarcrest, into the present English Revival Style mansion. That year the farm barn was also enlarged and a windmill and a hexagonal water tower added, the last also pictured in historical photographs. Whipple died in 1910, Mary sold the property in 1912,and in 1917 the farm was acquired by Harvey C.Wheeler of Roxbury,the founder of the Towel Cleaning Supply Company,which distributed cloth towels throughout the Boston area. The Wheelers traveled extensively but used Fairlawn, as they called the Lexington house, as a summer residence. The Wheeler Place, as it was known in Lexington, included a pool surrounded by statues and a greenhouse. There were elaborate gardens including a Dutch garden, Italian rose garden, and English rose garden, connected by a system of paths that led over a brook and bridges to a windmill and fruit orchards. In 1930, however,the Wheelers purchased a house on Pelham Rd. in Lexington, Fairlawn was closed down, and the farm was then sold off in various lots. In 1949 Fairlawn was acquired by the Walshes and converted into a nursing home. BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES (continued) Smith, George O. "The Milk Business and Milk Men of Earlier Days." Proceedings of the Lexington Historical Society 2 (1900): 194. Whipple, S. Lawrence. Notes on Putnam/Whipple/Wheeler House(Fairlawn Nursing Home). In possession of S. Lawrence Whipple, Lexington, MA.