HomeMy WebLinkAboutcottage-street_0029 AREA FORM NO. —
FORM B - BUILDING F I 361
I
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
294 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON, MA 02108
_ 1 Lexington
ress 29 Cottage Street
toric Name William Stevens House
- — Present residential
-
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE (Describe important architectural features and
evaluate in terms of other buildings within the community.)
This house, set in a neighborhood of modest nineteenth century houses,
has lost all its exterior finishes. It was moved to this location from elsewhere
in town and, although its five-bay-long, two-room-wide profile with a center
entrance in the side is similar to that of a Second Period house, documentary
sources suggest this house was actually built c. 1850.
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE (Explain the role owners played in local or state
history and how the building relates to the development of the community.)
Thishouse was originally on the south corner of Massachusetts Avenue and
Wallis Court. It belonged to William Stevens, a clerk in the Customs House in
Boston, who moved to Lexington in 1845, suggesting a possible date of construc-
tion. The house appears on the 1853 map and is shown on the 1876 map with a
long rear ell. By 1889 the property was owned by Lewis Hunt, a hardware merchant
who owned a great deal of real estate in Lexington. Sometime between that year
and 1895 he moved the main section of the house to this location on Cottage
Street and the ell to 31-33 Cottage Street and built a new house on the
Massachusetts Avenue site. On Cottage Street this house was presumably rented,
for Hunt is still shown as the owner on the 1906 map.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES (name of publication, author, date and publisher)
Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington, revised and continued to
1912 by the Lexington Historical Society, Volume II, p. 671. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1913.
Worthen, Edwin. Notes Made in 1941-1942. No. 83, Worthen Collection, Cary
Memorial Library, Lexington, Massachusetts.
1853 map
1876 map
1889 map
1898 map
1906 map
10M - 7/82
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address
LEXINGTON 29 COTTAGE STREET
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD 361
BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE:
On October 30, 1896 the Lexington Minute-man contained what appears to be a reference to this house:
The house owned by the Lewis Hunt estate has been removed from the corner of Wallace Court and Mass.
avenue to a location on Woburn street,not far from the railroad crossing.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Lexington Minute-man, October 30, 1896.
Supplement prepared by:
Lisa Mausolf
March 2009