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ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE (Describe important architectural features and evaluate in terms of other buildings within the community.) Typical of the late nineteenth century development of Meriam Hill, and particularly well documented, this house draws upon the Shingle Style for its massing, cruciform gambrel roof extending down over the second floor (called a duplex gambrel in the contemporary account quoted below) , exterior fieldstone chimney, and "eyelid" lintel on a second-story window (right side) . Other features such as the polygonal and semicircular balustraded bay windows, on the right and left sides respectively, leaded glass windows and deep console bracket at the right front corner derive from the Queen Anne style. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE (Explain the role owners played in local or state history and how the building relates to the development of the community.) Matthew H. Merriam (b. 1824) moved to Lexington before 1875. He resided first in the Italianate Samuel Chandler mansion on Goodwin Road. When his partner died in 1880, Merriam relocated his shoe findings factory to Oakland Street from Charlestown. At the age of 60, Merriam built a new house directly across from his factory. The architect, WaltertJ. Paine of Boston, had xinon designed the Hancock Church bordering the Eree a year earlier. The contractor, Abram C. Washburn, was Lexington's most prolific carpenter/contractor/speculative builder in the late nineteenth century. Because Matthew Merriam was one of Lexington' s most prominent citizens as proprietor of its most successful factory and trustee of the Lexington Savings Bank, his house was thoroughly described in the newspaper: Mr. M.H. Merriam and family removed from their mansion house off Hancock street to their attractive new home on Oakland street, last week, Thursday, and are now quite at home in their new quarters. The house is picturesque in design, is conveniently planned and is finished inside with much taste. It is a shingled structure with a duplex gambrel roof, and one of the most striking features is a handsome outside chim- ney built of fieldstone and granite, which is built in conjunction with the foundation story of the large circular (see Continuation Sheet) BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES (name of publication, author, date and publisher) Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington, revised and continued to 1912 by the Lexington Historical Society, Volume II, p. 431. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1913. Hurd, D. Hamilton, editor. History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Volume I, p. 631. Philadelphia: J.W. Lewis and Company, 1890. Lexington Minute Man, March 16, 1894, July 20, 1894, October 19, 1894. 1889 atlas 1906 atlas 10NI - 7/82