HomeMy WebLinkAboutbicentennial-way_0012 FORM B - BUILDING AREA FORM N0.592
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
294 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON, MA 02108
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VU Lexington
cress 12 Bicentennial way
;toric Name Cary Estate Caretaker's
use
Present residential
4A
Original residential
-� � :,e c. X1850
Source stylistic analysis
SKETCH MAP
Show property's location in relation Style Vernacular
to nearest cross streets and/or
geographical features. Indicate Architect
all buildings between inventoried
property and nearest intersection. Exterior wall fabric clapboard
Indicate north O
Outbuildings
OO ��ra O Major alterations (with dates) rear els
(west) , rear ell (north; truncated 1978) ,
OJam' porch enclosed (north) (all before 1918)
OMoved Date
v� Approx. acreage 15500 ft
Recorded by Nancy S. Seasholes Setting On cul-de-sac adjacent to large,
Organization Lexington Historical commission recent developer-built houses.
Date April, 1984
(Staple additional sheets here)
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE (Describe important architectural features and
evaluate in. terms of other buildings within the community.)
This Vernacular farmhouse, three bays wide and two deep with a center
entrance on the side and unusual false dormers, retains so few interior finishes
that it is difficult to date. Nevertheless, the brick foundation and the stair-
way details -- a curved curtail step, narrow round newel post topped by a
- handrail spiraled at its end, and plain round balusters -- all suggest a sem
quart- - tee nineteenth century construction date.
(see Continuation Sheet)
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HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE (Explain the role owners played in local or state
history and how the building relates to the development of the community.)
This house served as the caretaker's house for the Cary estate, a 200-acre
estate comprising most of the land bounded by Spring, Shade, and Middle streets
and Marrett Road. Part of this land was first acc7uired by the Carys in 1853
- when William Harris Cary (1798-1861) , whose father Jonathan owned a nearby farm,
purchased the former Hastings farms from Lovett Stimson. The farmhouse near
Shade Street, which had been built in 1843 apparently replacing an earlier one
shown on the 1830 map, was remodeled by the Carys into an elaborate summer house.
William H. Cary was married to Maria Hastings (1801-1881) , daughter of the
old Lexington family who had originally owned the farm. The Carys had no
children but in 1844 adopted Alice Butler, niece of a business partner. William
H. Cary and his brother Isaac were wealthy dry goods importers who lived in
Boston and New York but spent summers and long visits in Lexington. After the
death of William H. , his widow offered the estate to the state for an agricultural
school, but it was refused. The family was a great benefactor of the town,
however, donating, among other gifts, money for a library, town hall, library
building, memorial hall, and lecture series.
The Cary house was completely destroyed in a famous fire on January 25,
1895. Alice B. Cary, the owner at that time, immediately rebuilt a large mansion
on the site. After her death it was used by the Mohawk Club and eventually, in
1957, razed by a developer in order to divide the rest of the estate into house
lots. The house at 12 Bicentennial Way, with a presumed construction date of
(see Continuation Sheet)
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES (name of publication, author, date and publisher)
Land in Lexington, March 1925, Certificate 18905, Book 126, p. 405, Middlesex
Land Court, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Lexington Historical Society. Lexington: A Handbook of its Points of Interest.
Lexington, Massachusetts: Lexington Historical Society, 1891.
Plan of Land in Lexington, August 1918, Certificate 9308, Book 57, p. 489,
Middlesex Land Court, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
"Scenes from Old Lexington." Lexington Minute Man, September 1953.
Worthen, Edwin B. A Calendar History of Lexington, Massachusetts 1620-1946,
pp. 82-84. Lexington, Massachusetts: Lexington Savings Bank, 1946.
1830 map
1853 map
10M - 7/82
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community: Form No:
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL CCNMISSION Lexington 592
Office of the Secretary, Boston
Property Name: 12 Bicentennial Way
Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below.
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE
Since that time but before 1918 (see plan on file with the Lexington
Historical Commission) , the house has had many additions, all on fieldstone
foundations: two rear ells, the first of which has very high ceilings on the
first floor and very low ones on the second; a long, narrow ell to the north
(shown in photo) , which was truncated in 1978; and an enclosed porch on the
north. The kitchen floor was apparently replaced in 1928, perhaps because
of a fire, for newspapers with that date can be seen underneath the floorboards.
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
c. 1830-1850, must have been another house on the property predating the Cary
ownership. It certainly stands next to a road coming in from Middle Street tJ-.at
is still clearly discernible and marked by granite gateposts between 58 and 62 Middle
Street (see plan on file with the Lexington Historical Commission) . After the
demise of the Cary estate but before the development of the Bicentennial Way
area in 1976, the house was at 83 Cary Avenue and was reached by a gravel road
coming in from that street. At that time a large, two-story 15-stall barn with
stalls on both floors, one of three originally on the estate, stood on the lot
now occupied by the house at 10 Bicentennial Way; the barn was taken down by
the developer in 1978.
Staple to Inventory form at bottom