HomeMy WebLinkAboutallen-street_0056 AREA FORM NO. I
FORM B - BUILDING W 581 j
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
294 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON, MA 02108
1 WII Lexington
dress 56 Allen Street
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w storic Name Munroe-Roberts-Frost
Farmhouse
Um -.
I
e: Present residential
Original residential
- _ - -- DESCRIPTION:
SHEy to c. 1811
stylistic analysis;
Source Hudson 1913, 11:472
SKETCH MAP
Show property' s location in relation Style Federal
to nearest cross streets and/or
geographical features. Indicate Architect
all buildings between inventoried
property and nearest intersection. Exterior wall fabric shingle; brick
Indicate north.
❑ Outbuildings none
ti
Major alterations (With dates) two rear
❑ � pm
two-story ells; lean-to on east ell
Q
QMoved Date
r
Approx. acreage .5 A.
Recorded by ivancy S. Seasholes Setting On quiet back street (see Allen
Street area form) ; across From large
Organization Lcxington Historical Commission Federal barn formerly part of this
property (see Carroll farra area form) ;
Date March, 1984 and near 1960s houses.
(Staple additional sheets here)
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE (Describe important architectural features and
evaluate in terms of other buildings within the community.)
This Federal brick-ended house with end chimnevs is one of five such houses
in the South Lexincton area (see 130 Pleasant Street, 177 Concord Avenue, 272
Concord Avenue, and 503 Concord Avenue forms) and the only one with both brick
ends still visible. It has a low hip roof, like the houses at 272 Concord Avenue
and 130 Pleasant Street, and retains some of its exterior finishes, particularly
the Federal trim on either side of the front door and the window surrounds on all
except the west first-story windows.
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE (Explain the role owners played in local or state
history and how the building relates to the development of the community.)
According to an antic-ua i acc u t thi f as o . lv o ,ned b-
Hezekiah Smith (?706-1760) ,/aaboheranecgelo�' eG�os} nSni �einae house
at 26 Blossom Street and uncle of the Abraham Smith in the house at 92 Blossom
Crest Street (see forms for these houses) . The farm was then sold to Ebenezer
Munroe (1744-1826) , who fought in the Battle or Lexington and served in the New
jersey campaign in 1776. The next owner was Ebenezer T.unroe's son john (1785-1865) ,
who married in 1811, suggesting a verb- probable date for the construction of this
house. After john Munroe's death, the farm was sold to Mloses H. Roberts, a farmer
who moved to Lexington in 1868 and who, in 1906, still owned the house and faxx;ed
the land. Later in the twentieth century it was owned by Laurie Frost and knownoasiem/
The house has had some alterations over the years, most notably the two
two-story crabled-roofed ells on the rear, apparentIV added at different tines
(since they are joined by a curious flat roof) , but before 1923, when they are
visible in a photograph. This photo also shows the house with a balustraded
porch, now gone.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES (name of publication, author, date and publisher)
Smith, A. Bradford. "Kite End" (1891) . Proceedinc-s of the Lexington Historical
Societv II (1900) :115.
Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington II, pp. 467, 472, 634. Boston:
Houghton ,ifflin Company, 1913.
1876 map
1889 map
1906 map
1887 Directory
1906 Directory
10M - 7/82