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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 /> 27 Maple St. is one of only 10 side-gabled Greek Revival cottages in Lexington and one of the most intact;the only comparable <br /> example is at 43 Adams St. (MHC#706). The house is rectangular with a rear ell, 1'/i stories, five-by-two bays, and side-gabled <br /> with a side chimney. The long front-gabled rear ell has a ridge chimney. The house is set on a granite foundation, clad with wood <br /> clapboards, and roofed with asphalt shingles. A rear extension of the ell is on a concrete foundation and to it is attached a side- <br /> gabled one-car garage. The main entry, now in the west gable end of the original house, has a simple molded surround with corner <br /> blocks and half-length sidelights;windows are 6/6 double hung sash. There are two gabled dormers on the front slope of the roof, <br /> a shed dormer on the rear, and a frieze board across the front of the house. At the rear is a large three-vehicle garage clad with <br /> vertical wood siding. <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 /> The plaque on the front of this house says, "Edward L. Tyler Dairy Farm 1831"and research shows that for once the plaque is <br /> right, at least about the date of the house and name of the original owner. Edward L. Tyler(1806-1864),a Chelmsford carpenter, <br /> bought a 15-acre farm in Lexington known as the Peter Place in 1831 and built the house soon afterward, for in December 1831 <br /> he was assessed for a house and barn, having not been listed at all in 1830. When Tyler bought the property Maple St. did not yet <br /> exist—it is not shown on the 1830 map of Lexington, was not mentioned in the deed to Tyler, and is described in an 1835 deed as <br /> the"new road leading from Eben Pierce's [on Mass. Ave.] to Nathan Fessenden's [the house now 162 Maple St. (MHC#661)at <br /> the corner of Lowell St.] After Tyler's death,his son Henry H. Tyler and wife Mary ran a diary business here, delivering milk on <br /> routes in Arlington, Cambridge, and Somerville. Worthen, who grew up next door, describes the couple as "drudges,"always <br /> scrubbing everything and never allowing visitors in the house. Worthen adds,however, that they were well off, providing music <br /> lessons and later building adjacent houses for their sons, Arthur at 29 Maple St. (MHC#653) and Edward at 31 Maple St. <br /> BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES ❑ see continuation sheet <br /> Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington. Revised and continued to 1912 by the Lexington Historical Society. <br /> Boston: Houghton Mullin, 1913. 2: 713. <br /> Middlesex Registry of Deeds. Deeds. Cambridge, MA. 302: 168; 358: 382; 351389. <br /> Worthen, Edwin B. Tracing the Past in Lexington,Massachusetts. New York: Vantage Press, 1998. 38-39. <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 />