HomeMy WebLinkAboutedgewood-road_0032 FORM B BUILDING Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
0 0 608
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 56/946
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town/City: Lexington
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Place: (neighborhood or village):
Merriam Hill
Photograph
Address: 32 Edgewood Road
Historic Name: "Ogeedankee" carriage house
Uses: Present: residential
Original: residential
- Date of Construction: 1907
� . Source: MHC Inventory form for Area LEX.H
Style/Form: Craftsman /Arts and Crafts
Architect/Builder: prob. Willard Brown
Exterior Material:
Front(facade)elevation Foundation: fieldstone
Wall/Trim: wood shingles and trim
Locus Map Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
4 o`-qW None
0 0 o n . Major Alterations (with dates):
°3 a Fenestration (L 20th c)
` Condition: good
s Moved: no ❑ yes ❑ Date:
sF Acreage: 0.36
4
_ Setting: Located on a residential side street, surrounded
mostly by early- mid 20th century houses with similar
` setback, spacing, style, and scale. Sidewalks and street
trees in planting strip. Adjacent to original estate house (E
�G 20th c) at corner of Meriam Street and Edgewood Road.
Recorded by: Wendy Frontiero
Organization: Lexington Historical Commission
Date (month/year): September 2015
12/12 Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 32 EDGEwooD ROAD
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
�H 608
❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
If checked,you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.
Use as much space as necessary to complete the following entries, allowing text to flow onto additional continuation sheets.
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:
Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community.
32 Edgewood Road occupies a generous lot that is enclosed at the street edge by a high stucco wall with double-leaf wood
gates at the driveway and a single-leaf gate at a small pedestrian entrance. The building is positioned towards the back left
(northeast) corner of the parcel. The deep front setback is occupied mainly by an extensive asphalt driveway and parking area,
bordered by densely planted beds of shrubs, small trees, perennials, and ground cover. Fieldstone retaining walls form terraces
to the right of the house, and mid-size and mature trees line the street edge and sides of the property. The building consists of a
nearly square 1 '/2 story structure.
The house rises above a fieldstone foundation and fully exposed basement at the fagade (west) elevation to a side gable roof
with exposed rafter ends. Clad with wood shingles, the base of the main floor wall flares slightly above the foundation and a
wood sill board. Windows typically consist of single-light casement sash with narrow band molding. Centered on the fagade is a
three story tower with a hip roof and exposed rafter ends, an arched recessed entrance at ground level (with a single-leaf door),
a modern angled bay window at the main floor above, and a band of three 2/2 windows with a continuous sill in its upper story.
The fagade of the main block includes a single-bay garage door at the basement level and asymmetrical, single and paired
casement windows on the main level above. The roofscape contains a slender chimney at the ridgeline just to the right of the
tower and a small shed-roofed dormer adjacent to the right side of the tower. A small cupola at the left side of the roof features
a shingled base, louvers, a flared hip roof with exposed rafter ends, and a metal weathervane.
The left side elevation is not visible from the street. Only portions of the right side (Meriam Street) elevation are visible from a
public way. The upper portion contains a projecting gable peak supported on four heavy, sawn brackets. Interspersed between
them, two high square windows flank a large 6/6 window recessed behind curved side walls. This window surmounts a large
center doorway on the main level, composed of a semicircular transom, heavy molded trim, a decoratively sawn lintel with
keystone motifs, and cornice molding. Barely visible on the left end of this elevation is a gabled door hood supported on sawn
brackets.
Most likely built as a barn or carriage house, 32 Meriam Street survives as an important example of a major outbuilding for an
early 20th century estate. Although fenestration on the Edgewood Road elevation has been significantly altered for re-use as a
residence, the building is notable for its largely intact massing and materials, cupola, and original/early detailing on the Meriam
Street side elevation.
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.
Built in 1907, the property now constituting 32 Edgewood Road was originally the carriage house for the mansion at what is now
28 Meriam Street. Edgewood Road was a turn-of-the 201h-century addition to the development of Merriam Hill, appearing
between 1898 and 1906. The street developed slowly, with only one house built along it in 1906, and two others appearing
between 1918 and 1927. By 1935, however, all but one of the lots along Edgewood were finally developed.
Known as "Ogeedankee", the large and fashionable house at 28 Meriam Street was constructed in 1907 for Boston banker Fred
K. Brown (LEX.385). It is thought that the carriage house was constructed at about the same time as the main house; the
prominent tower on the carriage house's Edgewood Road fagade appears to be original. Brown (b. 1862)and his wife Sylvia
occupied the estate at least through 1942.
Continuation sheet I
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 32 EDGEWOOD ROAD
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
�H1 608
The residence and presumably its carriage house, which share a similar Craftsman/Arts & Crafts style character, were designed
by architect Willard Brown, Fred K. Brown's younger brother. A native of Lexington,Willard (1871-1944)was educated at
Harvard and trained at MIT's School of Architecture. He opened his own practice in Boston in 1902. MACRIS identifies 46
buildings designed by Brown, 45 of which are in Lexington. They include the Hancock Congregational Church (1892), Munroe
Primary School —Munroe Junior High School (1904), the Cary Library(1906), and the Isaac Harris Cary Memorial Hall (1928),
as well as numerous residences. For the town of Scituate, Brown designed the Allen Memorial Library(1911).
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Historic maps and atlases: Walling 1853; Beers 1875; Walker 1889; Stadly 1898; Walker 1906; Sanborn 1908, 1918, 1927,
1935, 1935/1950.
Lexington Directories: 1899, 1908-09, 1922, 1934, 1936, 1942.
Lexington List of Persons: 1935, 1945, 1955, 1965.
Massachusetts Historical Commission. "MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Lexington." 1980.
U.S. Census: 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940.
Lexington Comprehensive Cultural Resources Survey, "Area H —Meriam Hill" Summary.
http://historicsurvey.lexingtonma.gov/index.htm Accessed Jul 23, 2015.
Massachusetts Historical Commission, Area Form LEKH, 2000.
MACRIS search, Jul 23, 2015.
"MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Lexington." 1980.
SUPPLEMENTARY IMAGES
i
Right side (Meriam Street) elevation
Continuation sheet 2