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INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 2 TEWKSBURY STREET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked,you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION: Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community. The house at 2 Tewksbury Street is a two-story hip-roofed dwelling which dates to the early 20th century and is notable for its lack of alteration. Vaguely Craftsman in inspiration, it is sheathed in wood shingles and rests on a mortared stone foundation. The asphalt-shingle roof displays overhanging eaves with exposed rafter tails. The entire facade is spanned by a single-story sun porch enclosed by continuous multi-light windows setting on a paneled wall. The second story of the fagade is punctuated by two irregularly spaced 6/1 windows. Additional windows of this configuration, of varying sizes,numbers and placement, punctuate the lesser elevations. There is a hip dormer on the west roof slope and a brick chimney on the east. Doors include an original glass-and-panel unit on the west side. 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. This property is lot 4 on the Plan of Houselots belonging to George F. Tewksbury in 1898 (Plan Book 112,Page 5). In 1897 Tewksbury had purchased land at the corner of Bedford and Hill Street as well as the adjacent Payne estate and had plans to lay out approximately fifty lots (Minute-man,April 2, 1897). Although that number was never achieved, in 1905 the paper noted that Tewksbury had"built up quite a little colony"in this part of town over the past two or three years (Minute-man,Nov. 18, 1905). Tewksbury Street had not yet been laid out by the time of the 1906 map. In 1902 much of the Tewksbury property on Tewksbury Street was sold to Bowman Patten who laid out his own subdivision in 1910,this being lot 2 of that plan(Plan Book 189,Page 20). Howard Custance purchased this lot from Bowman in Sept. 1912 and erected this house for his own use. Custance had immigrated from Nova Scotia in 1906. In partnership with his brother Theodore,he formed Custance Brothers in 1911. The firm was Lexington's leading contractor in the early to mid 20th century. Howard and Orra Custance were still living here in 1942. The house was later acquired by Albert Bettencourt and is still owned by family today. BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES Middlesex South Registry of Deeds, Cambridge,Mass. (Book 3728,Page 41) Sanborn Insurance Maps Town Directories U.S. Census,various years. 1906 map Continuation sheet 1