Laserfiche WebLink
Breadcrumb Navigation:
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE (Describe important architectural features and <br /> evaluate in terms of other buildings within the community.) <br /> This house is the surviving rear ell of one of Lexington's most <br /> elaborate late nineteenth century houses. Paired round-headed windows, window <br /> trim and particularly the elaborately-carved foliate panels on the east end of <br /> the house give evidence of its past embellishment. There must have been some <br /> changes made to the structure when it was moved in 1930. <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 /> The house was built by Edward Emerson shortly after he purchased the <br /> property in 1848. The house, described as large, was sold in 1852 for $12,000 <br /> to Charles Octavius Whitmore of Boston for use as a summer house. In 1877 <br /> Benjamin Franklin Brown, an insurance agent in Boston, purchased the house and <br /> "modernized" it (E.B. Worthen) . In 1897 its valuation for taxes of $12,500 <br /> was one of the highest in Lexington. The last owner of the house, Hallie Blake, <br /> demolishe Mo t of it in 1930 during the depression because he was unable to <br /> O'1S <br /> sell. it./ Y1ie i cn6n winr,evidently was salvaged and moved back from Hancock <br /> Street to its present site. The carriage house to the estate survive s a <br /> Oil was se r�ted� rom it <br /> dwellinct at 15 Patriots Drive; a building attached �o iEe rear the carriage <br /> and survives remodeled into the house at 6 Wadman Circle. <br /> BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES (name of publication, author, date and publisher) <br /> Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington, revised and continued to <br /> 1912 by the Lexington Historical Society, Volume II, p. 70. Boston: <br /> Houghton Tifflin, 1913. <br /> Lexington Historical Society Photograph Collection. <br /> MSiddlesex County Registry of Deeds, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Plan Book 180, <br /> Plan 1, 1909. <br /> Worthen, Edwin B. Unidentified newspaper clipping in scrapbook in possession <br /> of Elizabeth Wright. <br /> Personal communication from Reynolds Brown. <br /> 10M - 7/82 <br />