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ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE (Describe important architectural features and <br /> evaluate in terms of other buildings within the community.) <br /> This.house has the plan of the early nineteenth century Federal vernacular <br /> building it was originally: rear chimneys, five-bays wide, one-room deep. Now, <br /> however, its exterior appearance is that of a mid-nineteenth century vernacular <br /> building with elements of Gothic Revival. Features include vertical proportions, <br /> a steep roof pitch, central facade gable, and fascia of the raking eave with <br /> intermittent patera trim. As the only nineteenth century house in an otherwise <br /> mid-twentieth century streetscape, the house becomes a focal point. <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 /> This house originally stood around the corner on the site of 1454 <br /> Massachusetts Avenue. It was built shortly after 1800 by Col. William Munroe, <br /> proprietor of the Munroe Tavern from 1771 until his death in 1827. The house <br /> was occupied by his unmarried daughter, Lucinda, until her death in 1863. <br /> Thereafter it was owned for many years by Albert Griffiths, a saw manufacturer <br /> in Boston. Very likely Griffiths gave the house its mid-nineteenth century <br /> appearance. The house was moved c. 0 to make way for the construction of <br /> the current house at 1454 Massachuset s Avenue. <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. 462. Boston: <br /> Houghton Mifflin Company, 1913. <br /> Note attached by Susan Muzzey attached to historic photograph. Lexington <br /> Historical Society archives. <br /> Worthen, Edwin B. Report prepared for the study committee of the Historic <br /> Districts Commission, 1963. Worthen Collection, Cary Memorial Library. <br /> 10M - 7/82 <br />