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INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 32 RINDGE AVENUE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 2259 ❑ 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. 32 Rindge Avenue occupies a small lot that slopes up slightly from the street. The house is positioned near the back right corner of the property, with a detached garage to the left. The front and side yards are maintained chiefly in lawn, with foundation plantings around the house. A broad driveway lined with concrete pavers leads from the street to the garage and is bordered by a low stone retaining wall enclosing the corner of the front yard. A stone-paved walkway extends from the street to the front entrance. The house consists of a 2 '/2 story, nearly square main block and a low rear addition. The two by two bay main block rises 2 1/2 stories from a concrete foundation to a hip roof with a center chimney. Walls are sheathed with vinyl and vinyl trim. Windows typically have 1/1 double hung sash. The front fagade (east elevation)contains an angled bay window and wide entrance porch on the first floor, surmounted by paired windows over the bay window and a triplet of windows centered above the porch. Due to the slope of the yard, the basement is partially exposed at the front of the house, with a long flight of wood steps leading to the front entry porch. Thin square posts support the porch's low hip roof, and vinyl railings span the posts. The single-leaf doorway is offset to the right of a set of paired windows underneath the porch. The half story dormer is centered on the front slope of the main roof and contains paired 1/1 windows. The north (right side) elevation contains three small awning windows at the basement level, three small symmetrically placed, 1/1 windows on the first and second floors, and a small modern bow window on the first floor. A narrow, 1-story extension spans half of the rear elevation of the main block, displaying a very shallow-pitched shed roof and one window on its right side. The south (left side) elevation of the main block contains two widely spaced window bays with a single window on each story. Standing to the left of and well back from the front fagade of the house, the garage has concrete block walls, a hip roof, and two individual vehicle bays on its front fagade. Although the house has lost architectural integrity through the application of artificial siding and the replacement of porch components, 32 Rindge Avenue is well maintained and preserves many of the defining elements of its style. The house is notable for its simple massing; angled bay window and wide entrance porch; employment of single, paired, and tripled windows; and original or early garage. 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. The neighborhood centered around Bow Street and Hillcrest, Cliffe, and Rindge avenues covers a steep hillside between Massachusetts Avenue and Lowell Street along the Arlington town line. The Great Meadows and Arlington Reservoir are located to the west and east, respectively. By 1898, a very short stub of road between Mass. Avenue and the B & M Railroad tracks is labeled Bow Street. North of the tracks, it continues as a pathway to a farmhouse identified as J. A. Wilson. The 1899 directory identifies a James Wilson, farmer and market gardener, with a house off Bow, and a James A. Wilson, market gardener, with a house on Bow. The land remained undeveloped as part of the Wilson Farm until at least 1906. Most of the streets here were laid out and platted for house lots by 1927; development most likely began after 1918. Development slowly crept up the hillside through the early and mid 20th century, most densely along the grid of streets closest to Massachusetts Avenue. The Wilson farm remained in existence east of Bow Street (in the area now traversed by South Rindge Street) until at least 1950, when it encompassed a substantial farmhouse and greenhouse and two other large outbuildings. Continuation sheet I