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INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON s ROLLING LANE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 2261 ❑ 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. 5 Rolling Lane occupies a small trapezoidal lot that slopes down gently behind the flat front yard of the house. The house is set close to the street with modest side setbacks. The yard is maintained mostly in lawn, with a paved driveway on the left side of the house and a straight concrete walk from the street to the front door. The building consists of a 2 '/2 story main block with a two-story cross-gabled addition across the rear and a one-story, shed-roofed extension behind that. The rectangular main block rises from a fieldstone foundation to a steeply pitched, side gable roof with slender gable returns. The rear additions rise from poured concrete foundations. There are two exterior chimneys: one centered on the right side elevation of the main block and one offset on the left side elevation of the rearmost addition. Walls are clad with wood shingles and trimmed with a simple bed molding at the eaves. Fenestration is varied, with diverse patterns of double-hung sash and picture windows. The front facade is three bays wide, with an ornamental doorway centered between large, multi-pane picture windows combined with a 4/4 light side sash. The entrance has flat pilasters, no frieze board, and a well-detailed cornice molding. The second floor contains large paired windows in each of the outer bays. The left side (driveway) elevation contains one window centered on each floor of the main block, one smaller window on each floor of the two-story addition (which projects slightly beyond the main block), and a single-leaf door on the one-story addition. The right side elevation has a small 8-light casement window on each side of the chimney at the second floor. The two-story addition has one 1/1 window on each floor of this elevation, and the one-story extension has paired casement windows at the first floor. The rear elevation reveals the two-story addition with a broad cross-gable roof spanning the entire width of the main block; it has three regularly spaced windows across the second floor and a smaller window centered in the half story. The one-story, shed- roofed extension spans the entire first floor of the two-story addition, with a bank of seven large, fixed-glass windows across the rear fagade. The partially exposed basement at the rear elevation has a center door flanked by a pair of small casement windows on each side. Well maintained, 5 Rolling Lane is an idiosyncratic, relatively early house in a neighborhood that was mostly developed much later. The house is notable for its vertical proportions, steep roof shape, varied and unusual fenestration, Classically-inspired but truncated front door enframement, and architectural evolution over many decades, which has left a steady record of significant yet compatible change. 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. Located near the Five Corners area of south Lexington, where Marrett Road, Lincoln Street, and School Street intersect, 5 Rolling Lane represents Lexington's evolution from an agricultural community to a residential suburb. South Lexington was primarily an agricultural area until the mid 20th century, well connected to Lexington Center and nearby towns. Lincoln Street was established as a secondary radial highway from the center of Lexington by the early 18th century. School Street was laid out and had its eponymous school by 1830. This portion of Marrett Road (between Spring Street and Massachusetts Avenue) appeared between 1853 and 1875, giving rise to the present Five Corners configuration. Continuation sheet I