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INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address LEXINGTON 627 MASS. AVENUE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD 211 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: The house at 627 Massachusetts Avenue is a unique structure, constructed c.1800 in the Federal style with brick ends and center entrance but renovated into a Greek Revival temple-form dwelling in 1839 by carpenter Curtis Capell. The broad triangular pediment extends the full width of the facade and projects forward, supported by four,two-story fluted Ionic columns. The shafts were constructed in Lexington but the capitals were carved in Boston. The front windows were apparently extended at the same time(Piper: 117). The door surround appears to be based on Plate XXVI of Asher Benjamin's pattern book, The Practice of Architecture,published in 1833 (Reinhardt: 34). It is one of a number of Asher Benjamin-inspired doorways which survive in East Lexington(see also 715, 782, 870, 884, 1106 Massachusetts Avenue). HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The house at 627 Massachusetts Avenue was constructed about 1803 by Obadiah Parker,the proprietor of a private school on Pleasant Street. Parker left town due to financial difficulties c.1804 and the house was reportedly never occupied until it was purchased by N.Ambrose Morrell, a French emigrant who came to Lexington before 1798 and was engaged in the fur dressing business. He married Sally Holbrook in January 7, 1805 and they began their residence here on their wedding day. The couple had five daughters. Elizabeth married Otis Dana in 1836 at Follen Church. Another daughter, Sarah, married Abraham Millet in 1838. The house was renovated in 1839 and the changes to the house and the laying out of the garden were planned by Sarah Millet(Piper: 117). Curtis Cappell was the carpenter in charge of the work. In 1880 the house was owned and occupied by Otis and Elizabeth Dana,their daughter Ellen, and Elizabeth's sister, Sarah Millet. After Otis' death,Ellen Dana continued to live here with her mother and later,with servants. When Miss Dana died in 1913 the house and the remainder of her estate were left to the Lexington Home for Aged People which was incorporated in 1905. The house was sold in 1916 and the proceeds helped fund the purchase of 2027 Massachusetts Avenue for"The Dana Home". BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington. Lexington Directories, various dates. Lexington Minute-man,March 18, 1892. Middlesex County Register of Deeds, Cambridge,Mass. Piper,Fred Smith. "Architectural Yesterdays in Lexington,"Proceedings of the Lexington Historical Society,vol. IV, 1912, p. 117. Reinhardt, Elizabeth and Anne A. Grady. "Asher Benjamin in East Lexington,Massachusetts", Old-Time New England, vol. LXVII, nos. 3-4, Winter-Spring 1977,pp. 34-35. Worthen, Edwin B. Tracing the Past in Lexington, Massachusetts. New York: Vantage Press, 1998. Supplement prepared by: Lisa Mausolf June 2009