HomeMy WebLinkAboutconcord-avenue_0503 AREA FORM NO.
FORM B - BUILDING T 563 i
i
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
294 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON, MA 02108
Wn Lexington
dress 503 Concord Avenue
storic Name Cutler Farmhouse
.e: Present residential
Original residential
DESCRIPTION:
ite c. 1804
Source John Coles and Associates
SKETCH MAP
Show property's location in relation Style Federal
to nearest cross streets and/or
geographical features. Indicate Architect
all buildings between inventoried
,property and nearest intersection. Exterior wall fabric clapboard
Indicate north.
Outbuildings attached garage
04
_ EDMajor alterations (with dates) ell
ti
o (1827) ; roof raised and rear addition,
east porch, bracketed door hood (1874)
Co
coKD
Moved Date
Approx. acreage 2964.1 ft.2
Cecorded FITancy by S. Seasholes Setting Screened from street with
continual traffic by a row of hemlocks;
Organization Lexington Historical Commission surrounded by much newer houses built on
the farmland formerly associated with
Date February, 1984 this house.
(Staple additional sheets here)
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE (Describe important architectural features and
evaluate in terms of other buildings within the community.)
Built c. 1804, the Cutler farmhouse is one of the remaining Federal
farmhouses along the old Cambridge-Concord Turnpike, now Concord Avenue. Very
little of the original Federal finishes remain, however. On the exterior only
the five-bay facade and the two end chimneys of the central portion date from
- the Federal period. On the interior, the only Federal elements are the "ribbed
molded" chair rail and cornice in the west front parlor; the filled holes on
the stair treads indicating the original balusters were slender, square in
- (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.)
The land on which this house is located was owned in the eighteenth
century by Ebenezer White. After his death, it was sold in about 1789 to a
Joseph Underwood who, in turn, sold the lot to his son Joseph Jr. in 1804. The
house was apparently built about this time, for the deed refers to Joseph
Underwood Jr. 's "new house." Further corroboration is supplied by the Middlesex
County Commissioners records for 1804 which, in describing the Cambridge-Concord
Turnpike built that year (the present Concord Avenue) , mention "the new house of
Joseph Underwood, Jr." (Burgess 1965:84-85) . This house was apparently a
two-story Federal farmhouse, five bays wide, one room deep, with brick ends, two
end chimneys, either a hip or a gable roof, and perhaps an attached shed at the
east end of the back (John F. Cole to Mr. and Mrs. Theodore J. Nussdorfer, March
20, 1969) .
The part of Ebenezer White's estate south of present Concord Avenue was
sold in 1790 to Thomas Cutler who, in turn, sold it in 1802 to his son Nathaniel.
The latter lived in the old White farmhouse (south of the present 502 Concord
Avenue) until 1822 when he purchased Joseph Underwood Jr. 's house from Underwood
relatives. Nathaniel Cutler (1773-1849) was a prosperous farmer, raising and
- selling large quantities of herbs and dealing in lumber. He was also an
important figure in town affairs, serving as moderator, selectman, district
school committeeman, surveyor of highways, overseer of the poor, surveyor of
lumber, and a member of various special town committees. In 1837 the west ell
was apparently added to the house, for the assessors' records mention "sheds and
(see Continuation Sheet
;t
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES (name of publication, author, date and publisher)
Burgess, Marjorie Cutler. 1965. A Genealogy of the Cutler Family of Lexington,
Massachusetts, 1634-1964. Concord, New Hampshire: Evans Printing Company.
Burgess, Marjorie Cutler. Cutler Farm, 503 Concord Avenue, Lexington, Massachusetts.
Typescript, June 1964. On file at Lexington Historical Commission.
John F. Cole to Mr. and Mrs. Theodore J. Nussdorfer. Letter, March 20, 1969.
On file at Lexington Historical Commission.
10M - 7/82
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community: Form No:
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL CC"d SSION Lexington 563
Office of the Secretary, Boston
Property Name: 503 Concord Avenue
Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below.
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE
section, and set on the diagonal; and the original brick ends, visible in the
attic and the west ell basement. The house has had many additions or alterations:
the west ell was added in 1837, the bracketed hood over the front door and the
east porch during an extensive 1874 remodeling (the trellis over the front door
is undoubtedly a later addition) , and the garage before 1923.
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
betterments on the house" (Burgess 1965:85) , and in 1842 Nathaniel Cutler deeded
the farm to his son Thomas in return for the right to live in the west ell. The
ell has subsequently almost always been occupied by a separate household; it is
now a rental apartment.
Thomas Cutler (1801-1890) was also a successful farmer, but not active in
town affairs. He ran the farm with his son Thomas Everett Cutler (1830-1875) ;
under the latter the farm began to specialize in apples and milk and its holdings
were increased, especially in the area north of Shade and east of Spring streets,
in what is now the Woodhaven area (1875 map) . In 1874 the original house was
completely remodeled: the roof was raised, the house was made two rooms deep, the
brick ends covered with clapboards, and the bracketed front doorway and east
porch added. Thomas E. Cutler died in 1875 and his inventory lists the rooms
then existing in the main house: kitchen, dining room, sitting room (east front) ,
front hall, parlor (west front) , parlor chamber, chamber over front hall, sitting
room chamber, bath room, dining room chamber, north chamber, attic, workmen's
chamber, wardrobe (Burgess 1964:8-9) . This inventory also mentions improvements
to a barn and outbuildings; the former, at least, was located on the south side
of Concord Avenue (site of present 502 Concord Avenue) . Thomas Cutler died in
1890 and his inventory cites the house, barn, and three outbuildings (Burgess
1965:54) .
Thomas Cutler left the 150 acre farm to his son's widow and children. It
was purchased in 1898 by Clarence H. Cutler (1869-1933) , a son of Thomas E.
Cutler. Like his great-grandfather, Clarence Cutler was very active in town
affairs, serving as a town meeting member, on the finance committee, planning
board, as a fence viewer, and a delegate to Republican conventions. He was also
a member of the Lexington Grange, Minutemen, Rotary Club, and First Parish Church.
During his ownership of the Cutler farm he continued to specialize in apples and
- milk and many outbuildings were added, all of which have since disappeared: a
wagon shed (late 1890s) next to the barn; a summer house (c. 1915) at the Parker
pine (see Concord Avenue area form) ; a cottage (1920) on the east side of the
property (site of present 501 Concord Avenue) ; workmen's housing (before 1920)
above the wagon shed (Burgess 1964:5, 1965:85-86) . Clarence Cutler apparently
wanted the farm to remain in the Cutler family, but he left it to his wife who,
on her death in 1938, had left it to a niece, so the farm, which had been owned
and operated by the same family for over 100 years, ceased to be owned by the
Cutlers. After World War II the Cutler farmland was divided up and sold off for
residential developments: Woodhaven in the late 1940s, Benjamin Road in the 1950s,
and Five Fields, on the south side of Concord Avenue, in the early 1950s (see
Five Fields area form) . The Cutler barn and workmen's house were torn down in
1953 as part of the latter development.
Staple to Inventory form at bottom