HomeMy WebLinkAbouteast-street_0049 FORM B - BUILDING
Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 10063000112 1Boston N. L 709
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town Lexington
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Place (neighborhood or village)
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Address 49 East St.
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1l Historic Name David Fiske House
s Uses: Present Residential
Original Residential
ti16 7 �,
Date of Construction ca. 1820
SII , Source Worthen
Style/Form Federal with Greek Revival/Italianate doorway
Architect/Builder
Exterior Material:
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Foundation Brick
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J to Wall/Trim Wood Clapboard
Roof Asphalt Shingle
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures
`�' '_ _► �_ Major Alterations(with dates)
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Rear addition (date unknown)
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Condition Good
ail I� Moved ❑ no ® yes Date 1860
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(e 0 Acreage almost IA.
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Setting Very close to the street; now part of a 1970s
condominium development
Recorded by Nancy S. Seasholes
Organization Lexington Historical Commission
Date(month/year) March 1998
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
BUILDING FORM
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION ❑ see continuation sheet
Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community.
49 East St. is probably a Federal house with some later Greek Revival/Italianate finishes. The original house is rectangular, 2'/Z
stories, five-by-one bays, and side-gabled with two small ridge chimneys. It is set on a brick foundation, clad with wood
clapboards, and roofed with asphalt shingles. The center entrance has a pedimented surround with side pilasters and full-length
sidelights. The windows on the facade are 2/2 double hung sash and those on the second story are framed into the cornice;the
windows on the gable ends are new casements. At the rear is a recent two-story gable-roofed addition.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE ❑ see continuation sheet
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.
According to Worthen,this house was built by a David Fiske on or near Burlington St. and was moved to this location before the
Civil War. Worthen surmises that the house was built by the David Fiske who lived from 1759-1820 but it could also have been
built by his son David,who was born sometime between 1789 and 1793 and was married in 1820. Worthen goes on to say that
sometime before the Civil War a grandfather of William E. Fiske, a son of Timothy K. Fiske who built the house at 71 East St.
(MHC #711), bought this house when it was on Burlington St.,took it apart, moved it, and reassembled it on this site. Worthen is
probably right, for the lot on which this house is located was purchased in 1856 by John Peters (1806-1886), a German who came
to Lexington in 1855 and whose daughter Barbara married Timothy K. Fiske in 1857,thus making Peters the grandfather of
Barbara and Timothy's son William E. Fiske. If Peters did move the house he did so in 1860, for he is first assessed for a house
on this lot in 1861. It was probably at the time of the move that the present Greek Revival/Italianate doorway and small ridge
chimneys were installed. After her father's death in 1886,this house was owned by Barbara Peters Fiske and remained in the
Fiske family until 1944.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES ❑ see continuation sheet
Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington. Revised and continued to 1912 by the Lexington Historical Society.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1913. 2: 214, 215, 217, 524.
Lexington Valuation Lists. 1854-1861.
Middlesex Registry of Deeds. Deeds. Cambridge, MA. 738: 187; 6816: 558.
Worthen, Edwin B. Notes on buildings burned, torn down, and moved. "Houses"file,Worthen Collection. CaryLibrary,
Lexington, Mass.
❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked,you must attach a completed National
Register Criteria Statement form.