HomeMy WebLinkAboutbow-street_0003 FORM B — BUILDING
Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
w 0013000411 Boston N. L—J 635
Town Lexington
A Place (neighborhood or village)
k•.
Address 3 Bow St.
Historic Name Locke Barn
_ Uses: Present Commercial (bike shop)
i.?� I Original Agricultural (barn)
Date of Construction before 1831
Source Lexington Valuation lists
Style/Form Federal
Architect/Builder
Exterior Material:
Foundation Not visible
Wall/Trim Wood Shingle
– Roof Asphalt Shingle
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures
Major Alterations(with dates)
r - Rear addition (date unknown)
Condition Good
Moved ® no [:] yes Date
Acreage 0.1 A.
Setting Next to the bikepath (formerly railroad tracks)
„n behind the house with which it was historically associated
Recorded by Nancy S. Seasholes
Organization Lexington Historical Commission
Date(month/year) April 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.
3 Bow St. is one of the dwindling number of 19th-century post-and-beam barns remaining in Lexington and one of the few that has
been converted to commercial use. The building is rectangular,two stories,three-by-five bays, and front-gabled with a side
chimney. Its foundation is not visible, it is clad with wood shingles, and roofed with asphalt shingles. At the rear is a 1'/Z-story
three-by-two bay gabled addition with a side exterior chimney. There are two entrances on the front gable end with a picture
window between them and an additional entrance at the rear. The barn has eave returns that have been boxed in, comerboards,
side frieze boards, and a hay door on the south elevation.
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.
Lexington assessors' records indicate that this barn was standing in 1831 but not exactly when it was built, for these records do
not list individual buildings before 1831 or between 1831 and 1840. The barn was probably built by Micajah Locke,who lived in
the house in front of it at 109 Massachusetts Ave. (MHC 4634)and had bought the property in 1812. The barn's post-and-beam
framing and five-sided ridge pole are certainly characteristic of Federal period barn construction. In 1847 when the railroad,now
the bikepath, was laid out behind the barn,the surveyors apparently erred, for the railroad's property line cuts through a corner of
the building.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES ❑see continuation sheet
Lexington Valuation Lists. 1812-1870.
Middlesex Registry of Deeds. Deeds. Cambridge, MA. 199: 316.
Douglas Touart, personal communication 1998.
❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked,you must attach a completed National
Register Criteria Statement form.