HomeMy WebLinkAboutbloomfield-street_0080 FORM B BUILDING Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 40/105 0 0 2192
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town/City: Lexington
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Place: (neighborhood or village):
Photograph
Address: 80 Bloomfield Street
Historic Name:
Uses: Present: residential
�. Original: residential
Date of Construction: ca. 1918-27
Source: Sanborn maps
Style/Form: Bungalow
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: concrete block
Front (facade) and right side elevations
Wall/Trim: wood shingles and trim
Locus Map Roof- asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
None
Major Alterations (with dates):
Dormers, rear addition, front doorway, garages (E 21St c?)
e•v
v
m
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Condition: excellent
5'
0 y Moved: no ❑ yes ❑ Date:
n , Acreage: 0.24
Setting: Set on an extension of Bloomfield Street across
Highland Avenue, in a secluded subdivision of
46.6 a5c R ` B predominantly mid to late 20th century houses.
Recorded by: Wendy Frontiero
Organization: Lexington Historical Commission
Date (month/year): September 2015
12/12 Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 80 BLOOMFIELD STREET
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
2192
❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
If checked,you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.
Use as much space as necessary to complete the following entries, allowing text to flow onto additional continuation sheets.
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:
Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community.
80 Bloomfield Street occupies a small, mostly flat lot, with large setbacks on the front and left side. Maintained chiefly in lawn,
the land dips down at the back right side to accommodate a paved driveway and garages in the exposed basement. A
fieldstone wall and trees border the back property line, while two unusually large, mature street trees mark the front corners of
the property. A poured concrete retaining wall separates the driveway and front yard, and concrete pavers line a straight walk
between the street and the front entrance. The building consists of a 1 '/2 story main block and a two story hip-roofed addition
across the back.
The roughly three by three bay, square main block rises from a textured concrete block foundation to a low hip roof with full-story
hip roofed dormers on the front and sides. Walls are sheathed with wood shingles and trimmed by a narrow fascia with bed
molding. Windows are typically 6/1 double hung sash with plain flat casings. Windows on the dormers are paired. No chimneys
are visible. Centered on the three-bay facade is a wide, recessed entrance containing a modern paneled wood door and full
height sidelights; its entrance porch and steps have modern wood railings with square balusters. A tri-partite window unit is
centered in each of the outer bays. The assessors' records show the recessed entrance containing a center single-leaf doorway
flanked by a noncontiguous window on each side; a very low, shed roofed dormer with two small horizontal windows is centered
on the front slope of the roof.
The left side elevation comprises two widely spaced, full-height windows flanking a small window set slightly off-center. The
right side elevation contains irregular fenestration, including two single-bay garage openings with shallow hip roofed hoods and a
single-leaf door in the fully-exposed basement, single and paired windows of various sizes, and a small rectangular bay window
at the main floor level. Extending across much of the back of the main block is a full two-story, hip roofed addition detailed
similarly to the main block. A single-leaf door on its left elevation is offset beneath a plain, shed roofed hood.
80 Bloomfield Street is an early building in a predominantly much later 20th century residential subdivision. Although
considerably renovated and expanded (see attached assessors photo), it still retains the spirit of its original Bungalow form in its
horizontal massing and fagade organization. The house is also notable for its uncommon, textured block foundation.
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.
80 Bloomfield Street represents the early expansion of modest, affordable suburban housing in Lexington's town center. The
original part of Bloomfield Street, on the opposite side of Highland Avenue, is an area of large, stylish, and expensive houses,
most of which were built in the 1880s and 90s for prominent members of the community. The street was extended across
Highland Avenue between 1906 and 1918, although it contained only two houses (today's#73 and 76) in the latter year. 80
Bloomfield Street appears on the Sanborn maps between 1918 and 1927. In the latter year, it is depicted as U-shaped, with two
rear wings extending from the main block. Greenhouses are depicted at the end of this short section of Bloomfield Street in
1918 and 1920, indicating continuing agricultural uses in the neighborhood.
The first known resident of 80 Bloomfield Street was Arnold W. Lunt, a teacher in the junior high school, and his wife Emily, who
moved here between 1932 and 1935. Subsequent occupants included Keith L. MacLean, who was in the Navy in 1945 and an
electrician by 1955, and his wife Anna, a registered nurse. The MacLeans occupied the house at least through 1955; they were
followed by James. O. Maxner(occupation unknown) and his wife Dorothy by 1965.
Continuation sheet I
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 80 BLOOMFIELD STREET
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
2192
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Historic maps and atlases: Walling 1853; Beers 1875; Walker 1889; Stadly 1898; Walker 1906; Sanborn 1908, 1918, 1927,
1935, 1935/1950.
Lexington Directories: 1899, 1908-09, 1915, 1922, 1926, 1930, 1932, 1934, 1936
Lexington List of Persons: 1935, 1945, 1955, 1965.
Massachusetts Historical Commission. "MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Lexington." 1980.
U.S. Census: 1930, 1940.
Continuation sheet 2
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 80 BLOOMFIELD STREET
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
2192
SUPPLEMENTARY IMAGES
7
Left side and front (facade) elevations Left side and front (facade) elevations
IN
y
Current assessors' photograph: Front (fagade) elevation
Continuation sheet 3