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HomeMy WebLinkAboutbelfry-terrace_0006 FORM B - BUILDING Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number 0049000154 Boston N. 682 * Town Lexington Place (neighborhood or village) Address 6 Belfry Terr. MAZ,\ Historic Name Charles Hudson House Uses: Present Residential , Original Residential Date of Construction 1848 Source Deeds Style/Form Italianate Architect/Builder Exterior Material: A 4 Foundation Fieldstone iff, ■ Wall/Trim Wood Clapboard Roof Asphalt Shingle Outbuildings/Secondary Structures Garage Major Alterations(with dates) II \ N Rear porch (date unknown) 0 Condition Good •r to LcE eELFa Moved ❑ no ® yes Date 1921 / Acreage 0.3 A. t � Setting On a cul-de-sac with 19-and early 20-century houses Recorded by Nancy S. Seasholes Organization Lexington Historical Commission Date (month/year) March 1998 Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form. BUILDING FORM ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION ❑ see continuation sheet Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community. 6 Belfry Ten. is one of the best-preserved high-style Italianate houses in Lexington. The house is rectangular, 2'/z stories,three- by-two bays, and side-gabled with front, rear, and ridge chimneys. It is set on a fieldstone foundation, clad with wood clapboards, and roofed with asphalt shingles. On the south elevation is a two-story gabled-bay and at the rear are a screen porch and a one- story five-sided bay. The center entrance has transom lights and full-length sidelights;the windows, including the long ones on the first story, are 6/6 double hung sash. Italianate finishes include brackets under the eaves,a wide frieze board, pilastered cornerboards, molded window surrounds with a keyblock motif, and a roundhead window in the north gable. What remains of the full-width porch has square rusticated porch posts, curved brackets in lieu of capitals,and is surmounted by a balustrade. There is a three-car garage behind the house. HISTORICAL NARRATIVE ® see continuation sheet 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 house was originally on Massachusetts Ave. across from the Common approximately where the driveway of the Hancock Church is today. The house, known as the Hudson house,was actually built in 1848 by a Lexington house painter named Isaac C. Wright. In May 1848 Wright bought the half-acre parcel on which the house originally stood for$600 and in April 1849 sold the lot"with the building"for$2500, indicating that this house had been built in the interim. The purchaser was Charles Hudson (1795-1881),who moved to Lexington from Westminster,where he had been a Unitarian minister from 1819 to 1841, a state representative from 1828 to 1833, a state senator from 1833 to 1839, member of the Governor's Council from 1839 to 1841, and a U. S. Representative from 1839 to 1849. After moving to Lexington,he became a naval officer and served four years at the Custom House in Boston. He also served eight years on the state board of education, four years as a federal tax assessor, and reportedly was a personal friend of President Lincoln. Hudson was involved with many railroads, serving as president of the Lexington and West Cambridge Branch Railroad, a state director of the Boston and Albany, and a commissioner of the Hoosac Tunnel. He published histories of Marlborough,Westminster, and, in 1868, of Lexington;the BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES ❑see continuation sheet DeSimone, Frank. "The Story of Charles Hudson." Hudson News-Enterprise, 8 June 1966. Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington. Revised and continued to 1912 by the Lexington Historical Society. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1913. 2: 313. Lexington, Town of. Board of Selectmen. Letter to Sarah E. Robinson, 26 April 1915. In possession of S. Lawrence Whipple, Lexington, MA. . Board of Selectmen. Letter to Sydney R. Wrightington, 28 May 1828. In possession of S. Lawrence Whipple, Lexington, MA. Middlesex Registry of Deeds. Deeds. Cambridge, MA. 528: 564; 554: 165. ® Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked,you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form. INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address Lexington 6 Belfry Tern MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD 682 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 HISTORICAL NARRATIVE (continued) town of Hudson, which was established in 1866,was named for him. In Lexington he was selectman from 1868 to 1875 and chairman of the Centennial committee in 1875. After Hudson's death the house remained in his family into the 20th century. Then, in 1921 when the Hancock Church put on a rear addition,the Hudson house was moved back onto the extension of Forest St. that had been built in 1915 perhaps with the intention of continuing it through to Massachusetts Ave., although the selectmen denied it at the time. When the house was moved, the main block and ell were separated,the house placed in its present location and the ell at what is now 15 Belfry Terr. (MHC#683). In 1927 Forest St. was extended to Massachusetts Ave., but as a continuation of the main part of Forest St. rather than of the arm built in 1915, and in 1928, in response to a petition from the residents of the former Forest St. extension, the name of that street was changed to Belfry Ten.