meriam-street_0017 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address LEXINGTON 17 MERIAM ST. MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD 3 80 BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: The architect of the church was Edgar Allan Poe Newcomb(1846-1916), son of another Boston architect, Levi Newcomb. E.A.P.Newcomb was a partner in the firm of Levi Newcomb from 1866 to 1876 and headed the firm from 1876 until 1901 when he moved to Honolulu,Hawaii. Among the younger Newcomb's known designs are a number of residential commissions in the Back Bay,the First Baptist Church in Haverhill,the Frank Carpenter House in Manchester,NH,the George Tower House in St. Louis,Missouri,the high altar in Albany Cathedral,Albany,New York and a number of buildings in Honolulu. In addition to his architectural works,Newcomb was a writer of some note and wrote a number of poems which were set to music and an opera"The Maid of Marblehead" . HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The lot of land for the church at the corner of Oakland and Meriam Streets was purchased in October 1884. On October 15, 1885 the parish was officially incorporated and Messrs. Robbins, Griffiths, Clarke, Lawrence, and Jackson were elected a building committee. Plans for the church building were drawn by E.A.P.Newcomb of Boston. The first services were held in the church on June 24, 1886. In 1910 the parish house addition was constructed. The new structure joined the church at right angles on the rear on the north side and measured roughly 54' x 27'. The architect for the addition was Edward Reed of Lexington, a communicant of the parish. Reed had graduated from Harvard in 1908 with a degree in architecture(see also 50 Percy Road). John McKay was the contractor and builder(Hudson,vol. 1,p. 375-6;Minute-man, July 16, 1910). BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington,revised and continued to 1912 by the Lexington Historical Society. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1913. Lexington Directories,various dates. Lexington Minute-Man,July 16, 1910. Massachusetts Historical Commission, MACRIS data base. Middlesex County Register of Deeds, Cambridge,Mass. Sheppard, Susan. National Register Nomination for George Tower,Jr. House, St. Louis,Missouri,2005. U.S. Census Records, 1900-1930. http://awt.ancestr liy brM.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=andrewsgd&id=1:86369&ti=5542 (Information on E.A.P. Newcomb) Supplement prepared by: Lisa Mausolf June 2009