meriam-street_0028 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Commo±lity: Form Nc: WSSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL, CaMSSION Lexington 385 Office of the Secretary, Boston Property Name: 28 Meriam Street Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below. ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE A contemporary newspaper account addresses the problem of the building's style and gives a hint of the terms under which it was conceived. "Like many of our new houses, this one can not be classified as any particular style of architecture. The strongest suggestion it makes . . . is that it represents what the 'Arts and Crafts' movement stands for" (Lexington Minute Man, July 13, 1907) . The name of the building, "Ogeedankee," an Indian word for home, is inscribed in a leaded glass panel in the front door. The newspaper continues, "The name seems to fit the place for its wooded environment and the out-of- doors suggestiveness which the light and airy house conveys seems in keeping with the Indian's idea of living in the open and as near nature as possible." In designing a house fitting the above description, Brown must have been responding to the wishes of his brother as implied in his choice of an Indian name for his home. The architect's own house, several lots away and built a year earlier, is a much more formal structure on a level lot. Brown's daughter verifies that the architect was always very attentive to the wishes of his clients. The carriage house with quarters for a groom was remodeled into a dwelling in 1982 by Richard Hardway Associates, architects of 128 Derby Street, Newton. One of two carriage houses on Meriam Street to be very effectively remodeled (the other is the Hayes Estate carriage house at 60 Meriam Street) , the building is unchanged on the exterior except for the introduction of a large area of glass with elliptical fanlight above which replaces the original carriage house doors. In the interior, some of the original finish of narrow vertical (cedar?) boards has been preserved, and a patented oats cleaner was left in place. The renovation was featured in the Boston Globe, October 22, 1982. BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES Lexington Minute Man, July 13, 1907. Plans by Richard Hardway, December 1981, in possession of current owner. Plans by Willard Brown, 1906, in possession of current owner. Personal communication from Sarah Emily Brown Shoenhut. Boston Globe, October 22, 1982. Staple to Inventory form at bottom