HomeMy WebLinkAboutconcord-avenue_0461-0463 AREA FORM NO.
FORM B - BUILDING T 562
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
294 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON, MA 02108
wn Lexington
dress 461-463 Concord Avenue
storic Name Underwood House
Poo
Ji 'e: Present residential
1jOriginal residential:
_.�. � -
DESCRIPTION.
_ ate c. 1850
Source 1852 map; stylistic ana.
SKETCH MAP 1920s-1930s reconstruction
Show property's location in relation Style of a GrQ-& .&evival design
to nearest cross streets and/or
geographical features. Indicate Architect Lester McKenzie (1937
all buildings between inventoried
property and nearest intersection. Exterior wall fabric stucco
Indicate north.
Outbuildings
D �
c c�Mc�Rb O Major alterations (with dates) f
a V � D 1920) ; rebuilt with cement block
4VE
V .
71 roof lines changed, stuccoed {19;
44
t Q
m Moved Date
°L V —
m
Approx. acreage 38700 ft.
Recorded by Nancy S. Seasholes Setting On street with continual
Organization Lexington Historical Commission across from contemporary houses,
Date March, 1984 1950s houses; backs onto school
formerly associated with this he
(Staple additional sheets here)
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE (Describe important architectural features and
evaluate in terms of other buildings within the community.)
Although this house appears to have a raid-nineteenth century profile
with some Greek Revival elements, it actually is a twentieth century recon-
struction on a nineteenth century granite foundation. An undated nineteenth
century photograph (xerox on file with the Lexington Historical Commission)
shows a three-by-two bay, two-and-a-half story gable-roofed house with
basically the same profile as the present one. The additions on the original
house were also in the same places and about the same size as the present
(see Continuation Sheet)
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE (Explain the role owners played in local or state
history and how the building relates to the development of the community.)
According to an antiquarian account, this property was owned at the
beginning of the nineteenth century by Joseph Underwood (1749-1829) , the
father of the Joseph Underwood who built both the Cutler farmhouse and the
house at 353 Concord Avenue (see 503 and 353 Concord Avenue forms) . At that
time, however, this property apparently did not include a house, for none is
indicated on the 1830 mars. A house in this location does appear on the 1852
map and was owned by John Underwood (1780-1855) , son of the original owner.
In 1876 the house was owned by Royal T. Bryant, a farmer, and in 1906 by his
widow Sarah H. Brvant.
Sometime between 1906 and the 1920s the original house was destroyed
by fire, for the one that was rebuilt has decorative courses of rusticated
cement block of a type popular in the 1920s. In 1928 the property was owned
- by William L. McCullough, who owned 21 cows and was apparently in the dairy
business. In 1937 the house and 53 acres of land were bought for taxes by
Charles Teeter, a professor, and his wife; they altered the house as
described above and farmed the land until the late 1940s. The property was
then sold and subdivided and, by the time the present owners acquired it in
1955, consisted of just the present house lot.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES (name of publication, author, date and publisher)
Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington, II, p. 715. Boston:
n Houghton I,ifflin Company, 1913.
Smith, A. Bradford. "Kite End" (1891) . Proceedings of the Lexinc7ton Historical
Society II(1900) :104.
1830 map
1852 map
1876 map
1889 map
1906 map
1887 Directory
1906 Directory
1 O - 7
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Comity: Form No:
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL CM1ISSION Lexington 562
Office of the Secretary, Boston
Property Name: 461-463 Concord Avenu
Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below.
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE
ones: an Italianate portico instead of the present closed entry, a two-story
shed-roofed ell in place of the present gabled one, and a space for wagons
underneath a one-story shed where the present garage now is. There was also
a large barn on the east side of the property.
After the fire, a cement block house was rebuilt on the original
foundation which was essentially of the original proportions except that the
main house had a hip roof with dormers. The owners who bought the house in
1937 hired architect Lester McKenzie to modify it; he put the gable roof on
both the main house and two-story ell, added the Greek Revival entablatures,
and stuccoed the exterior (Martha Teeter, personal communication) . No part
of the original house remains with the possible exception of the garage,
which is now a separate apartment and was not visited. The barn was
demolished before 1950 but the foundation is still visible.
Staple to Inventory form at bottom
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