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ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE (Describe important architectural features and <br /> evaluate in terms of other buildings within the community.) <br /> This is one of the earliest of the five-bay-wide, one-room-deep with rear <br /> chimneys houses to survive in East Lexington. The building type, which invari- <br /> ably retains the small stair hall with three-run stairs opposite the entrance <br /> door found in Second Period center chimney houses, was built by the dozens in <br /> East Lexington during the economic boom in the first third of the nineteenth <br /> century. <br /> (see Continuation Sheet) <br /> HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE (Explain the role owners played in local or state <br /> history and how the building relates to the development of the community.) <br /> The house was built by Josiah Bryant, who came to Lexington about 1800 <br /> and was a blacksmith here for 35 years. Bryant gave music lessons on the fife <br /> and clarionet and played for military companies. His son, Albert W. Bryant, <br /> who was a poultry raiser, lived in the house until 1902. A.W. Bryant was a <br /> selectman, assessor, town clerk for 25 years, justice of the peace and member <br /> of the school committee. Bryant was one of the leaders of the "old guard" <br /> from whom control of town government was wrested by newcomers in the 1890s. <br /> Also active in the historical society, Bryant wrote an article entitled <br /> "Lexington Sixty Years Ago" for the Proceedings of the Lexington Historical <br /> Society. <br /> BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES (name of publication, author, date and publisher) <br /> Bryant, Albert W. "Lexington Sixty Years Ago." Proceedings of the Lexington <br /> Historical Society, Volume II, p. 49. Lexington: Lexington Historical <br /> Society, 1900. <br /> Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington, reivsed and continued to <br /> 1912 by the Lexington Historical Society, Volume II, p. 73. Boston: <br /> Houghton Mifflin Company, 1913. <br /> Schwemmer, Yvonne. Notes following examination of the building, 1976. <br /> Lexington Historical Commission files. <br /> Worthen, Edwin B. A Calendar History of Lexington, Massachusetts 1620-1946. <br /> Lexington: Lexington Savings Bank, 1946. <br /> 10M - 7/82 <br />