HomeMy WebLinkAboutaudubon-road_0017 FORM B — BUILDING Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
50/36 Boston
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION North
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Town: Lexington
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Photograph
4 `= � Address: 17 Audubon Road
' Historic Name: Charles Wood Property
+<` Uses: Present: residential
Mill 15-':; Original: residential
} J
Date of Construction: 1904
I-J ` ry ! Source: Minute-man, Aug. 13, 1904
Style/Form: Colonial Revival
Architect/Builder: unknown
Exterior Material:
Foundation: stone
Wall/Trim: wood shingles
Topographic or Assessor's Map
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
t garage
Major Alterations(with dates):
r _ 1 none
#x Condition: good
► V• Moved: no x yes Date
' Acreage: 0.26 acre
i Setting: residential neighborhood
Recorded by: Lisa Mausolf
Organization: Lexington Historical Commission
Date(month/year): May 2008
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 17 AUDUBON ROAD
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
If checked,you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:
Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community.
An example of Colonial Revival architecture that predates its"Dutch Colonial" cousins, 17 Audubon Road also displays a side
gambrel form although the side elevations are deeper giving the house an almost square-shaped plan. The 2 'h-story,wood
shingled house is set on a high foundation of mortared stone and is capped by an asphalt-shingled roof. The nearly full width
shed dormer has a shingled,high gable projection at each end, above a 6/1 window. Fronted by a flight of brick steps with stone
sidewalls,the sidehall entrance contains a glass and panel door with a diamond-paned elevated window adjacent. The door and
window are sheltered by a gabled entrance porch supported by Doric columns. The sides of the porch consist of multi-paned
glass above wooden panels and there is a wooden settee along the south wall of the porch. To the south of the entrance porch the
fagade is punctuated by a pair of double-hung 6/1 windows with blinds. The north elevation of the house has a mix of diamond-
paned windows and 6/1 sash. Two single-story,three-sided bay windows on stone bases project from the south wall. Spanning
the rear elevation is a two-story, flat roofed section.
A paved driveway extends to the south of the house,terminating at a wood-shingled garage with a double-wide overhead on its
broad gablefront. Additional fenestration includes 6/6 windows.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
Discuss the history of the building. Explain its associations with local(or state)history. Include uses of the building, and the role(s) the
owners/occupants played within the community.
This property stands on part of the land subdivided by Augustus Scott(see 277 Waltham Street,MHC#461) in 1903 and was
one of the first houses built on the street. On July 6, 1905 A.E. Scott sold this land, lot 4 of the subdivision,with a dwelling
house to Marion E. Wood,wife of Charles M. Wood. On August 13, 1905 the Minute-man reported that Mr. Charles M. Wood
of Somerville has purchased and taken possession of the cottage house"recently built by A. E. Scott Esq. on Audubon road".
The property was valued at$4,000.
The Woods apparently rented out the house. The earliest known occupant was Howard Nichols who was living here as early as
1908. The 1910 Census indicates that Howard,then 31 years old,was employed as the assistant treasurer of a cotton
manufacturer with offices in Boston. He lived with his wife Bertha,two young daughters and a servant. In 1910 there were just
two houses on this side of Audubon Street-#9 and#17. Marion Wood continued to own the house until 1919 when she sold it
to Freeman Doe who sold it to Elmer Chadwick in 1922. Chadwick, a manufacturer,was still living here in the 1930s with his
wife Helen,two daughters and a servant.
J. Raymond Myers sold the property to Rudolf and Margaret Osgood in 1950. It was owned by Robert and Virginia Brown
before Francis and Catherine Lowry purchased the property in 1959. The Lowrys owned the house until 2006.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Lexington Minute-man,August 13, 1904
Middlesex County Register of Deeds, Cambridge,Mass. —Plan Book 158,Plan 10.
Town Directories
U.S. Census,various years.
Continuation sheet 1