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BUILDING FORM ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION ❑see continuation sheet Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community. 241 Marrett Rd. is probably the only house in Lexington that has a Federal profile but was built in the 1850s. The original house is rectangular,two stories, five-by-two bays, and has a low-pitched side-gabled roof with one rear chimney. It is set on a fieldstone foundation with a gable end toward the street, clad with wood clapboards,and roofed with asphalt shingles. From what was originally the center entrance a one-story one-by-three bay front-gabled addition extends east; this addition is on a concrete foundation,has a ridge chimney, and is the location of the present main entry. There is a one-story hip-roofed enclosed porch in the rear reentrant angle. At the rear of the original house another one-story front-gabled addition extends west; it is one-by-two bays, has an exterior chimney, and is on a concrete block foundation.-The only distinctive finish on the original house is the comerboards,which angle inward at the rooiline on the gable ends. The two-car garage has a rear addition. HISTORICAL NARRATIVE ❑see continuation sheet Discuss the history of the building. Explain its associations with local(or state) history. Include uses of the building, and the role(s) the owners/occupants played within the community. It is difficult to date this house through deed research, for in the 19th century it was part of a large farm that already had a house on it—the Matthew Bridge House, now at 271 Marrett Rd. (MHC#586)—so,when deeds refer to the"buildings thereon,"it is not clear whether the"buildings"are just the Matthew Bridge House or whether they include this house. Lexington assessors' records strongly suggest, however, that this house was built in the 1850s. The Bridge farm was sold in 1848 to Jonas C. Wellington and in 1851 he was assessed for a"new house." Wellington then sold the farm in 1854 to Robert M. Copeland, later a noted Boston landscape gardener, and in 1855 the latter was assessed for yet another house. So, according to these records, this house may have been built in 1850 by Jonas C. Wellington or in 1854 by Robert M. Copeland—Worthen says it is the former, i.e.,the house built in 1850. The present owner has heard that the house was once three stories high, more likely the 2'y2 stories typical in Lexington,and the roofline does appear to have been altered. The changes in the roof and the fact that much of the framing is obscured by insulation made it difficult to find any diagnostic features during an interior inspection, except to note that there is no evidence of post-and-beam construction, unusual for a ca. 1850 Lexington house,and that the floor joists are much deeper than wide,a characteristic of mid-rather than early 19th-century construction. In any event,after it was built the house may have been used by the farm manager and,the owner has heard, later served as a tenement for farm workers. BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES ❑see continuation sheet John Adams, personal communication 1998. Lexington Valuation Lists. 1851-1855. Middlesex Registry of Deeds. Deeds. Plans. Cambridge, MA. 679: 42; 767: 538; 1206: 6; 1581: 295; 1651: 181; 1915: 339; 2252: 87; 3938: 28; 4168: 168; 4277: 295; 13523: 309; Pl. Bk. 274, P1. 43. Worthen, Edwin B. Tracing the Past in Lexington,Massachusetts. New York: Vantage Press, 1998. 108. ❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked,you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.