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INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 21 TOWER ROAD <br /> MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. <br /> 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 <br /> 0 2275 <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 /> 21 Tower Road occupies a small lot at the base of a hill with narrow front and side setbacks. The land slopes up gradually to the <br /> back, with fieldstone retaining walls at the street edge, right side, and back. A paved driveway takes up most of the right side <br /> yard; foundation plantings and ground cover occupy the front yard; and trees line the left lot line. A brick walk leads from the <br /> driveway to the front entrance. <br /> The rectangular building rises 1 '/2 stories from a fieldstone foundation with deep mortar joints to a broad side gable roof with a <br /> plain flat fascia on the end gables, exposed purlin ends, and no gable returns. There is an interior chimney on the left end wall <br /> of the house. Walls are sheathed with wood clapboards; windows are most commonly 6/6 double hung sash with narrow band <br /> molding. A variety of casement windows is also present. <br /> The fagade contains an offset entrance with a modern wood and glass panel door and plain flat casing. Its high, fieldstone- <br /> veneer stairway has bluestone treads and a modern metal railing. A shallow, rectangular bay window is cantilevered off-center <br /> in the fagade, comprising a multi-light picture window at the front and narrow multi-light sash on the sides. The foundation under <br /> this portion of the building is poured concrete. The side elevations have irregular fenestration of varied sizes, shapes, and types. <br /> The right side elevation has awning windows in the partially exposed basement; single and paired double-hung sash, single <br /> awning windows, and paired casement windows at the main floor; and a triplet of double-hung windows in the attic story. Not <br /> easily visible from the street, the left side elevation has fewer window types, including single, paired, and tri-partite windows at <br /> the main floor and two single windows in the half-story. A short basement door is set near the front of the driveway side of the <br /> house. <br /> Although well maintained, 21 Tower Road has experienced significant alterations in the fenestration of its fagade and right side <br /> elevations. An original front porch, which is typical of the bungalow style, appears to have been re-built to create the present <br /> fagade. The building is notable for its unusually broad gable roof, distinctive bungalow massing, and exposed roof purlins. <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 /> 21 Tower Road represents the early period of suburbanization in Lexington, in which development near Massachusetts Avenue <br /> was sparked by the arrival of street railway service here at the turn of the 20th century. In 1906, the land on which this house <br /> stands was part of a large, mostly undeveloped parcel belonging to C. Fairchild, extending far west of a house located along <br /> Massachusetts Avenue. At this time, Tower Road existed only south of Locust Avenue, although Plainfield Street was already <br /> laid out for its present length—into Fairchild's property—and had one house built on it. Development along Plainfield Street <br /> progressed steadily over the next two decades. By 1927, the street connected with Tower Road. By 1935, Tower Road is fully <br /> illustrated between Locust Avenue and Massachusetts Ave, with five houses built along this stretch, including number 21. <br /> The first known residents at this street address were Ralph W. E. Milliken, a plumber with Milliken &Co., his wife Minnie A., and <br /> Ralph Milliken (probably their son), also a plumber, in 1934. (The Millikens lived at a different address on Tower Road in 1930.) <br /> Subsequent occupants of this house included Frank A. Currier, Jr., a manager, and his wife Marjorie C. (1945) and Edward J. <br /> Winter, a statistician, his wife Priscilla H., and their son Edward J. Winter Jr., who worked as an insurance underwriter(1955, <br /> 1965). <br /> Continuation sheet I <br />