HomeMy WebLinkAboutdover-lane_0003 FORM B — BUILDING Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
8/170 Boston
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION North
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Town: Lexington
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Photograph East Lexington
Fr._ Address: 3 Dover Lane (was 91 Pleasant St.)
Historic Name: Ralph & Caroline DiNunzio House
Uses: Present: residential
Original: residential
Date of Construction: 1950
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tI* Source: owner
�, •. Style/Form: International Style
Architect/Builder: Hugh Stubbins, Jr.
Exterior Material:
Foundation: concrete block
Wall/Trim: vertical boards
Topographic or Assessor's Map
Roof: tar and gravel
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
carport
Major Alterations(with dates):
1985—sold 2.54 acres of original parcel
d
Condition: good
Moved: no x yes Date
O,y Acreage: 0.76 acre
'1°
Setting: mixed 20th century neighborhood
Recorded by: Lisa Mausolf
Organization: Lexington Historical Commission
Date(month/year): January 2010
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 3 Dover Lane
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
_x_Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:
Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community.
This house was constructed in 1950 by architect Hugh Stubbins,Jr. for Ralph and Caroline DiNunzio and is similar and located
near the house Stubbins designed for his own family(6 Dover Lane). The house exhibits the influence of the International Style
and was sited to blend in with the rural character of the property. It is capped by a flat roof displaying a considerable overhang.
The main house block is rectangular in plan with a covered walkway leading from the front door to the carport. The structure
rests on a cinder block foundation. Exterior walls are constructed of two by four studs and four by four posts which are sheathed
with vertical tongue and groove boarding. Windows include casements and large fixed glass windows which are without trim.
The setting of the house has been altered by the reduction of the original 3.3 acres to .76 acre. The wooded buffer which
originally existed between the house and Pleasant Street has been lost due to the construction of new houses on this portion of
the original lot. The house is now accessed from Dover Lane,which is lined by c.1985 houses.
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.
The land on which this house stands was sold by Marcel Breuer to Ralph and Caroline DiNunzio in 1950. Breuer had purchased
the land on Pleasant Street with fellow architect Hugh Stubbins, Jr. (1912-2006)who built a house on his portion of the land for
his own use(6 Dover Lane). Stubbins designed a house for the DiNunzios in 1950. The house included a two-car carport.
There have been noadditions made to the house and it is still owned by the original owner. In 1985 the DiNunzios sold part of
the original parcel of land to Boyd-Smith Development corporation which laid out a street on the land,now named Dover Lane.
Hugh Stubbins graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1931 and was awarded the MArch by the Harvard
Graduate School of Design in 1935. In the late 1930s he worked briefly with Royal Barry Wills. At the invitation of Walter
Gropius, Stubbins taught for more than a decade during the 1940's and 1950's at the GSD; in 1954 he left teaching to devote
himself to his architectural firm,which was to become a highly successful international practice. Stubbins is perhaps best-known
as the architect of large-scale structures which have become recognizable landmarks in urban skylines: the Berlin Kongresshalle,
Manhattan's Citicorp Building and Boston's Federal Reserve Bank. Stubbins is also widely recognized for his education-related
designs,which range from a number of suburban schools to Harvard's Countway Library,Pusey Library and Loeb Drama
Center(Harvard University, Stubbins Collection).
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
DiNunzio, Caroline(current owner), information. September 2007.
Hugh Stubbins Archive: The Early Years Collection, Special Collections Department,Frances Loeb Library,Harvard Design
School,Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
Collection has project and construction drawings for this house(A133)/Date(s): 1949/Quantity: 10 items in set
Content: Architectural drawings: 1. Foundation Plan--2. Floor Plan-- 3. Elevations--4. Roof. Framing Plan—
5. Framing Elevations -- 6. Structural Sections--7. Sections and Full Size Patterns-- 8. Exterior Details-- 9. Interior
Elevations -- 10. Details.
Folder: B 133.01 Photostats and Other Small Scale Drawings : Dinunzio House/Date(s): 1949/Quantity: 1 item/
Dimensions: 10-1/2" x 16-1/2" /Medium: stat/Support: paper
Note: Stat with exterior axonometric drawing of Dinunzio House,Lexington,Massachusetts, 1949.
Ludman,Dianne M.,Hugh Stubbins and his Associates: The First Fifty Years, 1986.
Middlesex County Registry of Deeds.
Continuation sheet 1