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INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address <br /> LEXINGTON 28 MERIAM ST. <br /> MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. <br /> MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING <br /> 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD 385 <br /> BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 <br /> ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: <br /> An interesting description of the house at 28 Menam Street was printed in the Lexington Minute-man on April 30, 1907, <br /> just after its completion: <br /> Ogeedankee <br /> The Indian name which heads this sketch means"home"and has been chosen by Mr. and Mrs. Fred K. Brown to <br /> designate their new home on Merriam street,Lexington. The name seems to fit the place, for its wooded <br /> environment and the out-of-doors suggestiveness which the light and airy house conveys seems in keeping with <br /> the Indian's idea of living in the open and as near to nature as possible. We may have expressed the thought but <br /> poorly, but after friends of the owners of this new home have visited it,they may feel more definitely that which <br /> we fail to express. Mr. Willard D. Brown,the architect, has adapted the building to the wooded hillside on which <br /> it stands and the soft grey and browns of its shingled sides,with its trim of Indian red, blends harmoniously with <br /> the walnut and oak trees, amid which it stands forth in an inviting and picturesque way,with the broad side and <br /> entrance front facing the wood, reached by a graceful,winding driveway. A row of stepping stones, imbedded in <br /> the grassed hillside give a more direct approach to the house. <br /> An enclosed loggia protects the main entrance(screened in summer and glassed in winter), which ushers one into <br /> the entrance hall,with its staircase to the right, and the rooms opening into it from all sides, giving a spacious, <br /> hospitable air. Comfort, convenience and sanitation have been strictly adhered to in planning the interior. Most <br /> of the rooms have a south or southeastern exposure and they are flooded with light and air. There is no white <br /> paint, excepting in the living room,where some white paneling contrasts pleasantly with a Japanese texture wall <br /> covering in a beautiful tone of blue. The dining room has a green-gold finish and the wood in cypress,with an oil <br /> finish. The clustered windows and handsome china closet are features of this room. The den is a corner room <br /> and has a black oak finish,the mantel and fireplace design being especially noticeable. A glass door opens from <br /> this room on to a piazza that has pergola suggestions. The upper hall is square and roomy and the sleeping <br /> apartments give the idea of space and airiness. Here the natural wood finish prevails, making a handsome <br /> contrast with carefully chosen papers. The bath is a model and the dressing room is of unusual proportions. A <br /> loggia out of the main room provides for an out-of-doors sleeping apartment and is protected by casement <br /> windows. The halls and the passage ways all have the rough plaster finish,tinted in water colors. A fern <br /> window,with leaded glass casement windows, gives a charming touch to the second landing on the staircase. <br /> The domestic department is unusual for its many convenient devices. The ashes from the kitchen go into a <br /> bricked receptacle outside the house;the kitchen refuse goes into an enclosure reached by a chute;there are <br /> chutes for soiled clothing,concealed dumb waiters, and in fact too many details of this sort to note here. The <br /> butler's pantry,kitchen pantry, linen closet are all models, and as for closet room, storage cabinets and drawers,- <br /> we never saw so many before. Even the cellar is equipped with its closets for special uses,besides a laundry, <br /> carpenter's work room,cold closet, storage closets and the usual compartments for furnace supplies. The <br /> kitchen,together with the back staircase and halls,have the walls tinted a pale green and the wood work is <br /> stained dark green. This shows how much thought has been given to the working part of the house and that <br /> everything has been done for practical purposes and to observe the comforts of life,rather than to aim at display <br /> and shall we say discomfort? In the third story is a servant's room and bath,a large recreation room,besides <br /> large store closets, cabinets for drawers built into the walls, so that there is a place for everything and everything <br /> in its place. <br />