HomeMy WebLinkAboutcedar-street_0024 FORM B BUILDING Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 50/189 0 0 2201
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town/City: Lexington
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Place: (neighborhood or village):
Photograph
Address: 24 Cedar Street
i
Historic Name:
x!� ■
Uses: Present: residential
�� ( •I ` - - Original: residential
N �
Date of Construction:
Source: assessors; visual observation
Style/Form: No style
x..
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Left side and front (fagade) elevations Foundation: granite rubble
Wall/Trim: wood shingles and trim
Locus Map Roof- asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
None
l gas ¢`
Major Alterations (with dates):
195Front porch roof(E 20t" c); fenestration, replacement sash,
front porch posts and railings, side deck (L 20t"c)
181 tis �1 ��
"y� * Condition: good to fair
0-182 i 197 54240
50-199 Moved: no ❑ yes ❑ Date:
,,y d r.aa99
Acreage: 0.31
54x198
' ' Setting: Set on a cross street between Mass. Ave. and Hill
1 ��73r Street, in an early residential development of mostly small
5 scale, L 19th—early 20th century houses set relatively close
together and to the street. Several recent mega-mansions
appear in the streetscape.
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 24 CEDAR STREET
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
2201
❑ 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.
24 Cedar Street is positioned towards the back of a moderately sized lot. Maintained chiefly in lawn, the land slopes up
gradually from the street. Foundation plantings line the front of the house. A large paved driveway and parking area occupy the
center of the unusually deep front setback.
The rectangular, 1/12 story house rises above a granite rubble foundation and raised basement to a front gable roof with a
shallow pitch and no gable returns. A chimney is situated on the left slope of the roof, near the center and the ridgeline. The
facade contains a full-length front porch with a hip roof and modern wood columns, railing, and stairway. The offset doorway is
comprised of a single leaf wood door with a modern Colonial Revival surround. A large picture window unit is located to its left
on the first floor. Two windows are centered above in the half story.
The left side elevation is distinguished by a large cross gable towards the front; the back section is slightly recessed. Two
narrow windows are centered in the half story of the cross gable, with two variously sized windows below. The recessed portion
of this elevation contains a single leaf door and one small window to its left. The door opens onto a large, contemporary wood
deck. The right side elevation is highly irregular, with three double-hung windows and a small octagonal window near the front
on the first floor, and one small window near the center of the half story.
Well maintained, 24 Cedar Street displays significant contemporary alterations. The building is notable for its very simple form,
large cross gable on the side elevation, and unusual siting, which contrasts with the more suburban streetscape that surrounds
it. Further research is recommended to determine whether this structure had any agricultural functions to which its utilitarian
appearance can be attributed.
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.
Cedar Street is an old country road, appearing on the town maps by 1853 (and perhaps as early as 1830), when it extended
from what is known today as Massachusetts Avenue (a 17th century highway)to the Tophet Swamp in northwestern Lexington.
The town almshouse and poor farm were established on a twenty-acre site at the corner of Hill and Cedar Streets in 1845,
where they remained until 1930. Aside from a house at the corner of Mass. Ave. and Cedar Street, until 1875 there was only
one house on Cedar before its intersection with Hill Street. The late 19th century saw a flurry of construction on this block,
however. By 1898, at least six houses were built on the west side and one on the east side of the road between Mass. Ave. and
Columbus Street. Also by 1898, the Boston Female Asylum (an orphanage) occupied a cluster of buildings east of Cedar Street,
off Mass. Ave., likely deterring nearby residential development.
Early street numbers along Cedar Street are difficult to correlate to present buildings, as they appear to have changed during the
1930s. The building at 24 Cedar Street appears on the 1898 town map, conspicuous by its deep set back. The owner in that
year is not clear. It may have been associated with the building next door(now#20)that was owned by John M. Ryan, who
worked as a janitor, gardener, and farm laborer, and lived there at least through 1920. As late as 1950, the property belonging
to 24 Cedar Street extended through to Lake Street. The first known residents of 24 Cedar Street were Thomas H. Robinson, a
gardener for the Edison electric company(born in Northern Ireland), his wife Jessie F. (born in Canada), and their three children,
who lived here from at least 1918 through 1955. In 1965, the house was occupied by Henry E. Cronier, who worked for the gas
company, and his wife Laura F.
Continuation sheet I
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 24 CEDAR STREET
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
2201
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 Comprehensive Cultural Resources Survey, Period and Area Summaries.
http://historicsurveV.Iexingtonma.gov/index.htm Accessed Jul 23, 2015.
Lexington Directories: 1899, 1908-09, 1918, 1922, 1924, 1926, 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.
SUPPLEMENTARY IMAGES
} 5
Front (fagade) and right side elevations
Continuation sheet 2