pelham-road_0013 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address LEXINGTON 13 PELHAM ROAD MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD 514 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: A brief article appearing in the Lexington Minute-Man on September 21, 1900 confirms the construction of the house in that year: A large gambrel roofed house after the style of building in revolutionary days, is nearing completion for the ownership and occupancy of Mr. Francis Garrison,who is living in the cottage on Mr. James S. Munroe's place on Mass. avenue. The new house is located on the summit of Mt.Vernon and commands a fine view of the surrounding country. It is a fit companion for the other commodious and attractive homes built in this sightly section of the town,which has added to its list of assessed real estate four new houses since last spring, costing in the neighborhood of six to twelve thousand dollars each. The other houses alluded to are the Sias, Chas. Garrison and Dr. Briggs estates, all located within a stone's throw of each other. (Note: The third Garrison brother, William Lloyd Garrison, lived in a house on Percy Road.) The house at 13 Pelham Road was owned and occupied by Francis Garrison until about 1910. By 1913 it was owned and occupied by William Burgess, a banker, and his wife,Ethel. They remained here until about 1926. Carl and Virginia Wheeler owned the property from about 1928 into the 1930s. By 1942 Raymond and Doris(Engstrom)Bond were living here. The house was conveyed by Doris Bond to the Grey Nuns Charities in 1953. The architect of this house, Lois Lilley Howe(1864-1964),was born in Cambridge and studied at the Museum of Fine Arts School in Boston before receiving a degree in architecture from M.I.T. in 1890. She received her first commission to build a house in 1894, and worked alone and with various partners until 1900. She established her own firm in 1901 at 101 Tremont Street,Boston. She was the second woman elected to the American Institute of Architects(A.I.A.),the first woman Fellow of the A.I.A. and the first woman elected to the Boston Society of Architects. Howe concentrated on domestic architecture. She was noted for pioneering the use of stucco and also had a keen interest in the issues of public housing. Howe retired from active practice in 1937. The MACRIS data base has eight listings for residences in Brookline, Cambridge, and Lexington that were designed or remodeled by architect Lois Lilley Howe in the early 20th century. Her other commission in Lexington is the home for Charles Kettell at 10 Eliot Road(#506), designed in 1902. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Cambridge Women's Heritage Project Database http://www.cambridgema.gov/cwhp/bios_h.htm]#HoweLL Lexington Directories,various dates. Lexington Minute-Man, Sept. 21, 1900; Feb. 1, 1902. Massachusetts Historical Commission,MACRIS database. Middlesex County Register of Deeds, Cambridge,Mass. Supplement prepared by: Lisa Mausolf Feb. 2009