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INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 10 OAKMOUNT CIRCLE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 2158 ❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked,you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form. Use as much space as necessary to complete the following entries, allowing text to flow onto additional continuation sheets. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION: Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community. 10 Oakmount Circle occupies a deep, narrow lot on a residential side street in Merriam Hill, overlooking a small pond across the street. Neighbors to the left are mainly traditional Colonial Revival houses; uphill to the right is the mansion of a large, early 20th century estate. The land slopes down to the back, with scattered mature trees and shrubs; small patches of lawn flank the driveway. The front yard is bermed up to meet the front entrance. Slate stepping stones lead from the wide gravel driveway on the left of the house to the front door and its wood stoop. A wood post and rail fence lines the street edge. The modernist house consists of a rectangular one-story volume with a shallow-pitched gable roof, high raised basement, mid- level entrance, and an attached carport on the side. The building rises from a poured concrete foundation to the overhanging main floor and a side gable roof whose ridgeline extends significantly farther than the eave, for a prow-like effect. A wide, low chimney rises slightly off center from the ridgeline. The walls of the main floor are clad with vertical wood boarding; window casings consist of plain wood boards. Roof edges are trimmed with a plain flat fascia, and exposed joists or beams at the eaves have shaped ends. Exposed joist or beam ends also appear beneath the overhanging main floor. Fenestration includes a variety of casement, awning, and fixed glass windows. The main entrance is located off-center in a recess with three vertical frosted glass fixed panels to the side and a high transom above. Two large fixed/casement window units are located to the left of the entry, and a narrower band of fenestration with two pairs of windows extends to the right. Banded horizontal windows occupy the raised basement level above the foundation. The right side elevation contains a horizontal band of windows at the basement level and, at the main floor, an off-center pair of vertical windows (each a tall fixed sash above an awning sash)that extends nearly the full height of the main floor. Also asymmetrical, the left side elevation has a slightly recessed flush panel door at the basement level and a large window unit on the main floor consists of a pair of sliding glass doors with a trapezoidal window extending to the eave above. At the rear elevation, the main floor significantly overhangs the basement level and is supported by a slender metal lally column at the left corner. The two-car carport attached to the left side of the house is open on three sides. It has a flat roof and slender metal lally columns at its outer corners. A small utility shed is set just behind and to the left of the carport. It displays a low-pitched gable roof and board and batten siding on its street-facing elevation. Well-preserved and well-maintained, 10 Oakmount Circle is a good example of mid-20th century Modernist house design in Lexington. It is distinguished by its location in an area of much more conventional houses and in a natural setting that is enhanced by the pond view across the street. Architecturally, it is notable for its overhanging main floor, glazed front entrance composition, banded windows, exposed roof and floor joists, and attached carport. HISTORICAL NARRATIVE Discuss the history of the building. Explain its associations with local(or state)history. Include uses of the building, and the role(s) the owners/occupants played within the community. On the 1906 map, this area of Merriam Hill was still part of the Hayes Estate, with buildings only along the perimeter roads (Adams and Grant streets). The land had been surveyed and laid out in house lots in 1903, however, as part of the Oakmount Park subdivision. One of the most recent houses in the neighborhood, 10 Oakmount Circle appears to have been constructed in 1964-65. The first known residents were Ernest A. Giroux, in the real estate business, his wife Dorothy C., and Chadwick A. Giroux, a student(1965). Ernest Giroux was the developer of the eponymous Giroux Block on the corner of Mass. Ave. and Meriam Street. The home is one of only a few known examples of Deck House design in Lexington. The house is presently Continuation sheet I