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INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 25 THERESA AVENUE <br /> MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. <br /> 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 <br /> 0 2272 <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 /> 25 Theresa Avenue occupies a modest corner lot with narrow setbacks at the front and right sides. Maintained chiefly in lawn, <br /> the level lot is lined by hedges, with scattered shrubs and trees throughout. An asphalt drive extends along the left side of the <br /> house. The building consists of a 2 '/2 story main block with several small appendages and a detached garage. <br /> The rectangular building rises from a concrete foundation to a front gable roof with no returns and a small center chimney. Walls <br /> are clad with wood shingles. Windows typically have 1/1 double hung wash with band molding, and applied lintels with cornice <br /> molding. The front facade (south elevation) has a narrow projection across most of the first floor, with a low hip roof and shallow <br /> rectangular bay window with a triplet of windows. The small entrance porch on the western end of the first floor has a hip roof <br /> supported by square posts, a single-leaf door facing the driveway, and a wood stairway with a modern wood railing. Two widely <br /> spaced windows are asymmetrically set on the second floor. The gable peak contains a band of decoratively patterned shingles <br /> and a small center window. The raking fascia boards on the fagade are ornamented with sawn geometric motifs. <br /> The east (right side) elevation contains a single 1/1 window at the first story and a projecting vestibule with a shed roof, single- <br /> leaf door, and a single 1/1 window facing the side. The second story has two widely spaced 1/1 windows. The west(left side) <br /> elevation contains one window in its forward bay and a shed-roofed projection with three visible windows towards the back on <br /> the first floor. Two widely spaced windows are symmetrically positioned on the second floor. <br /> A large, 1 '/2 story garage is located to the west(left)of the house, comprising a shed-roofed front section with two individual <br /> vehicle bays and a large rear section with a front gambrel roof. The garage is sheathed with wood shingles. The half-story of <br /> the gambrel end contains a band of decorative shingles and a small window centered in the peak. <br /> Well maintained, 25 Theresa Avenue appears to have been significantly remodeled, with a consequent loss of historic integrity. <br /> The house is notable for its decorative raking fascia boards. <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 /> Continuation sheet I <br />