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BUILDING FORM (9-11 Shirley Street) ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of the building in terms of other buildings within the community. The house at 9-11 Shirley Street is a good example of a Queen Anne-style duplex and bears some resemblance to the house at 154 Bedford Street(MHC#1027). The 2 1/2-story gablefront building is set above a rubble foundation with a clapboarded first floor, outlined by simple cornerboards. A wide molding separates the first floor from the wood shingled upper story. The bottom course of shingles is flared slightly and the projecting eaves end in returns. A single-story,three-bay porch fronts part of the facade, supported by Roman Doric columns with stick balusters above a lattice airspace. The balustrade above the porch has been removed. Above the entrance porch is a three-sided bay containing a central glass-and-panel door flanked by windows. Under the porch, the front door also contains a glass-and-panel door;to the side is a diamond-paned stairhall window. Adjacent to the porch is a three-sided,two-story bay window which is recessed under the front pediment. The remaining windows consist primarily of 2/1 sash and for the most part display molded surrounds. The 2/1 windows in the front gable are capped by an entablature lintel. On the west elevation, a 2 1/2-story cross gable projects slightly with the same gable detailing. The entrance to the basement contains a wooden door with an upper glass over three horizontal panels and is sheltered by a shed door hood. On the east side there is a two-story, three-sided, hip-roofed bay window with a gable dormer with cornice returns resting on the roof. Spanning the rear elevation is a single-story porch which has been rebuilt recently and is partially enclosed. HISTORICAL NARRATIVE Deskribe 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. This house was constructed between 1906 and 1910 and comprises Lot 19 of the subdivision laid out by George Tewksbury in 1898. Tewksbury still owned the land in 1903 and there is no house on this site at the time of the 1906 Lexington map. The Town Valuation List indicates that in 1910 Theodore Custance owned a double house on the 6,896 square foot lot, valued at$6000. Theodore Custance of Custance Brothers, carpenters and builders, occupied one of the two units and also in 1917 erected the house across the street at 12 Shirley Street(MHC#1119). What is now 9-11 Shirley Street was known as 1 Shirley Street until about 1930. By the 1920s the hotnse was owned by William and Annie Burke who occupied one of the two units. William Burke was employed as a section foreman; Francis Burke, an attorney, lived in the other. The property was sold by William Burke's estate to Henry and Marie Hawkins in 1944,who also lived in the house. The present owners purchased the duplex in 1979 and rent it out. BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES 1 1xington Assessors Records. L"xington Directories, various dates. Lexington Valuation Lists, various dates. Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked,you must attached a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.