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HomeMy WebLinkAboutburlington-street_0009 FORM B - BUILDING Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 10071000304 1Boston N. 742 MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town Lexington BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Place (neighborhood or village) to Address 9 Burlington St. + �l Historic Name Simonds House s -Uses: Present School i, Original Residential Date of Construction 1732-1767 1 - Source Whipple notes Style/Form Georgian (altered) i n Architect/Builder Exterior Material: Foundation Granite Wall/Trim Vinyl Siding Roof Asphalt Shingle Outbuildings/Secondary Structures Classrooms and synagogue (mid-1990s) v Major Alterations(with dates) Side ell removed, present ells added, interior"restored" (1953) Front dormer, siding(mid-1990s) Condition Fair Moved ® no ❑ yes Date Acreage IA. STFE_. �a�' ' / Setting At an intersection of five streets and across from a large garden center Recorded by Nancy S. Seasholes Organization Lexington Historical Commission Date(month/year) February 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. 9 Burlington St. is one of only 21 Georgian houses still remaining in Lexington but has lost its architectural integrity. The house is rectangular, 2%s stories, five-by-three bays, and side-gabled with a large center ridge chimney. There are shed-roofed additions on either side elevation and a very small hip-roofed addition at the rear. The house is set on a granite foundation, clad with vinyl siding, and roofed with asphalt shingles. The center entrance is flanked by full-length sidelights and windows are 6/9 double hung sash. A shed-roofed dormer has been added on the front slope of the roof. At the back of the lot are three connected new buildings,presumably added to house the school and synagogue that now occupy the site. 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 probably built by Joseph Simonds (1652-1733)or by his son Joshua(1687-1768), for in 1732,when Joseph sold his farm to Joshua, it contained a"mansion house"and when Joshua died in 1767 he left his sons considerable property including his "dwelling house." The Simonds had moved to Lexington from Woburn in 1681 and in the 18th and 19th centuries were large landowners in the north part of town. This house remained in the Simonds family until 1848 when Joseph F. Simonds, a great- grandson of Joshua, sold the 132-acre farm to Charles W. Johnson from Wayland, who became known as "Potato Johnson"in recognition of his major crop. In 1889 the farm was acquired by Timothy Kinneen, one of the largest Irish-born landowners in Lexington in the late 19th century, and in 1923 by John and Anna Millican. The Millicans lost the farm to a bank foreclosure in 1935,however, and then acquired the property that is now Lexington Gardens (Area Al). A ca. 1923 photograph of this house shows it with a long side-gabled ell on the east elevation. This ell has a Greek Revival entry with a projecting molded cornice and full-length sidelights at the junction with the original house. The center entrance in the main block appears to be flanked by pilasters rather than by sidelights, as is now the case. There is a hip-roofed porch on the west elevation of the main block and various rear outbuildings. The ell was removed,the present side additions added, and the interior gutted in 1953 by Lexington realtor Harvey Nugent; fireplace paneling and wide-board flooring now remain only in the east front room. The siding was installed, dormer added, and rear buildings constructed in the mid-1990s after the property had been acquired by a school and synagogue. BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES ❑see continuation sheet Church, Burr. Photograph Collection. Lexington Historical Society, Lexington, MA. Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington. Revised and continued to 1912_ by the Lexington Historical Society. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1913. 2: 619-20, 627. Whipple, S. Lawrence. Handwritten notes on 9 Burlington St. In possession of S. Lawrence Whipple, Lexington, MA. Worthen, Edwin W. Deed research on 9 Burlington St. for Robert S. and Anne B. Ives. In possession of S. Lawrence Whipple, Lexington, MA. ❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked,you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.