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ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE (Describe important architectural features and <br /> evaluate in terms of other buildings within the community.) <br /> An interesting blend of Colonial Revival design and very Richardsonian <br /> use of fieldstone, this house sits on a dramatic site above Pleasant Street. <br /> The semicircular fieldstone turret is the major design feature of the facade. <br /> The rear facade incorporates a palladian window and several other distinctly <br /> Colonial Revival features. See accompanying photographs of original elevation <br /> drawings. <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 original owners were Sarah Bowman Van Ness, the last of that family <br /> to live in Lexington (c.f. Bowman Tavern in East Lexington Historic District <br /> and the Bowman house of c. 1650 off Watertown Street, burned c.1905i, and <br /> _ Joseph Van Ness, who was the editor of a successful trade publication, The <br /> Superintendent and Foreman, and for a while conducted an advertising agency. <br /> Correpondence between the Van Nesses and the builder are in the possession <br /> of Peter Mimno of Melrose. <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. 717. Boston: <br /> Houghton Mifflin Company, 1913. <br /> Plans in the possession of the current owner. <br /> 10M - 7/82 <br />