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INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Office of the Secretary of State, Boston Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below. NATIONAL REGISTER CRITERIA STATEMENT - Continued . . .Greek Revival trim survive to illustrate indigenous building forms at mid-century in Lexington when the town was still a rural farming community. Other remaining examples include: 40 Fern Street (B Form 525) , 847 Massachusetts Avenue (B Form 228) , 996. Massachusetts Avenue (B Form 243) , 49 Parker Street (B Form 426) , and 113 Waltham Street- (B Form 451) . The survival of the Richardson House in its present location adjacent to the central business district is particularly noteworthy. Once a part of a cohesive 19th century streetscape (see attached illustration) , the Richardson House is one of the few 19th century vernacular wood frame structures to survive so close to Lexington ' s major intersection, and is the least altered. ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE - Continued Alterations apparently include the front door, Italianate in style with two arched, glazed panels , . and a Victorian window with small stained glass panes on the left (north) wall of the entry. The foundation of the main body of the house is brick. There is a single, narrow central chimney. The single-story rear ell, added before 1875, has finishes and trim similar to those on the rest of the house . The ell foundation, however , is fieldstone . HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE - Continued The junction of Waltham Street, and Massachusetts Avenue , a block north of the Richardson House, had been the major crossroad in Lexington since the 17th century. As the town grew in the mid-19th century, and particularly after the introduction of the railroad in 1846 , the center expanded and new streets were laid out . Waltham Street , one of the first areas to be built up, remained a locus of residential buildings until after World War II . Thereafter brick commercial buildings gradually replaced the majority of the houses . Staple to Inventory Form at Bottom