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ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE (Describe important architectural features and <br /> evaluate in terms of other buildings within the community.) <br /> Designed by Willard Brown for his own residence, this is an early example <br /> of a building type which was widely built in the twentieth century -- Colonial <br /> Revival in feeling but without specific stylistic references. The hip roof <br /> with broad overhang and exposed rafter feet was characteristic of I°l-illard <br /> Brown's work in his early career, but at this stage he was more likely to use <br /> it with materials such as stucco and fieldstone combined into a free style <br /> termed by one contemporary account as "Arts and Crafts" (cf. Cary Memorial <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 /> Willard Dalyrimple Brown was one of four sons of Benjamin F. Brown, an <br /> insurance agent in Boston, who came to Lexington in 1876 and settled on Hancock <br /> Street. Before 1906 the Brown property was subdivided and Edgewood Road and <br /> adjoining lots of which this site was one were laid out. Willard Brown <br /> graduated from.. the MIT School of Architecture in 1894. He then trained in the <br /> office of Durgit and Chandler in Boston for two years. He subsequently spent <br /> - several years of travel and study in Europe. According to his daughter, he was <br /> most affected by and spent the most time in the study of Italian architecture. <br /> In 1902 Brown set up practice in Boston. Much of his early work was in <br /> Lexington where he designed the Munroe School (1904) , Cary Memorial Library <br /> (1906) , the Parker School, numerous residences, and several remodelings of <br /> Colonial houses including the Jonathan Harrington house and the i:arrett l`unroe <br /> house. <br /> Willard Brown's early work is among the most interesting architecture in <br /> Lexington. His best buildings are often highly original structures which defv <br /> classification, but which appear to draw upon both traditional sources (Shingle <br /> and Queen Anne styles) and the new movements "in the air" at the time that he <br /> began practice (the Craftsman's Movement, Neo-Rationalism, the Western Stick <br /> Style, and possibly the Prairie Style) . <br /> Characteristic of his buildings are low hip roofs with broad eaves and <br /> exposed rafters, emphasis upon the building's horizontality through various <br /> (see Continuation Sheet) <br /> BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES (name of publication, author, date and publisher) <br /> Album of works by Willard D. Brown, Lexington Historical Societ�r Collections. <br /> Personal communication from Sarah Emily Brown Shoenhut. <br /> 10M - 7/82 <br />