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INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 24 THERESA AVENUE <br /> MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. <br /> 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 <br /> 0 2271 <br /> ❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. <br /> If checked,you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form. <br /> Use as much space as necessary to complete the following entries, allowing text to flow onto additional continuation sheets. <br /> ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION: <br /> Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community. <br /> 24 Theresa Avenue occupies a small corner lot that is lined by hedges around the perimeter. The building is set near the street <br /> corner, with modest front and right side setbacks. Maintained chiefly in lawn, the land is level with a few mature trees. A short <br /> asphalt walkway leads to the front entrance, and a small paved driveway occupies the east side of the parcel. <br /> The small, nearly square house rises 1 '/2 stories from a combination stone and concrete foundation to a side gable roof with <br /> exposed rafter ends, no gable returns, and a small center chimney. Walls are clad with wood shingles. Windows typically have <br /> 6/1 double hung sash with band molding. The front facade (north elevation) has an off-center, single leaf-door with one 1/1 <br /> window to the left and four 1/1 windows to the right, appearing to be an enclosed porch or sun room recessed under the main <br /> roof. Paired 1/1 windows form the side elevations of this sunroom. A modern wood stairway with wood railings accesses the <br /> front door. A low shed dormer with a triplet of windows is centered on the front slope of the roof. <br /> The west(right side)elevation contains a single window and a set of paired windows beyond the sunroom on the first floor and <br /> paired 6/1 windows at the half story. The east (left side) elevation has on the first floor a single-leaf basement doorway with a <br /> shed roof centered at grade, paired windows to the left, and a small horizontal window with multiple panes to the right. On its <br /> half-story, a center 6/1 window is flanked by smaller 4/1 windows of different sizes. The south (rear)elevation consists of two <br /> awning windows at the basement level, a single 1/1 window and a casement window at the first floor, and a half-story dormer <br /> with a low shed dormer and a triplet of 1/1 windows. <br /> Well preserved, 24 Theresa Avenue is a typical example of modest, early 20th century suburban housing in Lexington. The <br /> house is notable for its broad roof with exposed rafter ends, integral sun porch, and decorative Queen Anne-style window. <br /> HISTORICAL NARRATIVE <br /> Discuss the history of the building. Explain its associations with local(or state)history. Include uses of the building, and the role(s)the <br /> owners/occupants played within the community. <br /> The neighborhood centered around Bow Street and Hillcrest, Cliffe, and Rindge avenues covers a steep hillside between <br /> Massachusetts Avenue and Lowell Street along the Arlington town line. The Great Meadows and Arlington Reservoir are <br /> located to the west and east, respectively. By 1898, a very short stub of road between Mass. Avenue and the B&M Railroad <br /> tracks is labeled Bow Street. North of the tracks, it continues as a pathway to a farmhouse identified as J. A. Wilson. The 1899 <br /> directory identifies a James Wilson, farmer and market gardener, with a house off Bow, and a James A. Wilson, market <br /> gardener, with a house on Bow. The land remained undeveloped as part of the Wilson Farm until at least 1906. <br /> Most of the streets here were laid out and platted for house lots by 1927; development most likely began after 1918. <br /> Development slowly crept up the hillside through the early and mid 20th century, most densely along the grid of streets closest to <br /> Massachusetts Avenue. The Wilson farm remained in existence east of Bow Street (in the area now traversed by South Rindge <br /> Street) until at least 1950, at which time it encompassed a substantial farmhouse and greenhouse and two other large <br /> outbuildings. <br /> The area was likely developed in response to the electric street railway, which began service on Mass. Avenue in 1899. Like <br /> Liberty Heights to the south of Massachusetts Avenue (which it resembles, architecturally; LEX.Q), this neighborhood—known <br /> as Massachusetts Avenue Terrace and Arlington Heights Terrace—was laid out by Jacob W.Wilbur, a prolific Brookline <br /> developer. Wilbur typically sited his subdivisions near streetcar lines and appealed to working class residents. <br /> Continuation sheet I <br />