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INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 40 RINDGE AVENUE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 2260 ❑ 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. 40-42 Rindge Avenue occupies a small, level, corner lot. The two-family house is roughly centered on the property, which is maintained chiefly in lawn with foundation plantings and street trees. A paved driveway extends halfway through the northern end of the parcel. The brick steps with bluestone treads occupy most of the front setback between the street and the main entrance of the house. The building sits on a level lot. The parcel consists of a front and side yard of mostly lawn with a few small to medium sized foundation plantings and street trees. The building consists of a 2 '/2 story main block with several varied projections. The nearly square main block rises from a concrete foundation to a hip roof with a center chimney. Walls are clad with vinyl and vinyl trim. Windows typically have 1/1 double hung sash. The front fagade (east elevation) is dominated by a shallow, two-story high projection with a flat roof, which covers the right half of the fagade, and a two-story angled bay window on the left end. A gabled entry portico is offset on the rectangular projection, supported by Tuscan columns. Railings composed of square balusters connect the columns to the fagade. The single-leaf main entry door has paired windows on the left and is surmounted by a triplet of windows on the second story. Each face of the angled bay window has one window on each floor. A half story dormer with a hip roof and flat fascia board is centered on the front slope of the main roof and contains a single 1/1 window. The north (right side) elevation has a small, rectangular two-story projection near its centerline and irregular, mostly small fenestration at various heights. A square Queen Anne-style sash is set towards the front of the first floor, along with a single-leaf entrance to the basement; a small utility shed with a low shed roof projects from the wall behind the two-story bay. A half story dormer with a hip roof and single 1/1 window is offset on the right slope of the main roof. The south (left side) elevation contains three regular but asymmetrical window bays, with one window in each on each floor. A half story dormer with a hip roof and a single 1/1 window is centered on the left slope of the main roof. The west(rear) elevation has two casement windows and a second story egress door accessed by a long wood staircase with square posts. Although it has lost architectural integrity through the application of vinyl siding and trim, 40-42 Rindge Avenue is a good example of ambitious, two-family suburban housing in Lexington in the early 20th century. The house is notable for its comparatively large size, solid massing, two-story high fagade modulations, modestly stylish entry portico, and multiple dormers. 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 Continuation sheet I