HomeMy WebLinkAbouteliot-road_0006 FORM B - BUILDING AREA FORM NG.0 507
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ASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
294 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON, MA 02108
L Lexington
ess 6 Eliot Road
oric Name Richard Engstrom House
7 WR
.ws
- s _ Present Armenian sisters Academy
Original residence
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- x -- -_ 'SCRIPTION:
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c. 1920 ,r
-jurce stylistic analysis
SKETCH MAP
Show property's location in relation Style Colonial Revival
to nearest cross streets and/or
geographical .features. Indicate Architect
all buildings between inventoried
1 property and nearest intersection. Exterior wall fabric brick
Indicate north.
RoAa Outbuildings
!+ ❑ O Q
OMajor alterations (with dates)
0 0
kk
Moved Date
OApprox. acreage 130577 ft.2
Recorded by Anne Grady Setting on spacious lot with several
specimen trees; in residential neighborhood
Organization Lexington Historical Commission of turn of the twentieth century and mid-
twentieth century houses; lot extends
Date March, 1984 through to Pelham Road. .
(Staple additional sheets here)
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE (Describe important architectural features and
evaluate in terms of other buildings within the community.)
One of the largest residences ever built in Lexington, this house is a
formal Colonial Revival composition. Central pedimented pavilions on the front
and rear facades are the chief focus of decorative features. The north pavilion
incorporates a semicircular entrance portico with Corinthian columns; the south
pavilion, a modified palladian window which is a close copy of that found on the
house at 29 Chestnut Street in Salem built 1882-1885. The grounds of the estate
extend from Eliot Road to Pelham Road. On the Pelham Road side is a formal
sunken garden.
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE (Explain the role owners played in local or state
history and how the building relates to the development of the community.)
The house was built between 1918 and 1922 by Richard Engstrom, a
successful patent medicine manufacturer. Later purchased by the Grey Nuns for
a convent, the house is now an Armenian school for girls. An early 1930s real
-- estate guide to Lexington indulged in wishful thinking when it called this
mansion "typical of the many fine homes in which Lexington takes just pride."
Only one other house in Lexington (Hayes castle) compared with it in size.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES (name of publication, author, date and publisher)
Guide to Lexington, undated, but probably 1930s. Worthen Collection, Cary
Library.
1918 Directory
1922 Directory
10M - 7/82
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community: Foran No:
1,ASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL CUM SSION Lexington 507
Office of the Secretary, Boston
Property Name: 6 Eliot Road
Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below.
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R
Staple to Inventory form at bottom
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address
LEXINGTON 6 ELIOT ROAD
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD 507
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE:
This Georgian Revival mansion was not constructed for Richard Engstrom as previously believed,but rather was built as
a summer residence for Harry Fay in 1907.
Several brief notes appearing in the Lexington Minute-Man in 1906 and 1907 document the construction of the house. On
December 8, 1906 the paper reported:
The materials are on the ground for an expensive country house Mr. Harry F. Fay is to build on a large lot of land
lying between Pelham and Eliot roads. Mr. Fay is president of a well known copper concern and Lexington is to
be congratulated on securing such a citizen and the prospect of adding to its realty holdings. It has been stated
that the house is to cost fifty thousand dollars.
On March 23, 1907,the paper noted that"Lexington Golf Club will open the season on April 19t`. Mr. Fay, who is
building the imposing house on"Munroe Heights,"is president of the club.
An update on May 4, 1907 stated:
The brick walls now enclose the superb Georgian mansion being built for Mr. H. E. Fay,whose winter residence
is at 409 Beacon street,Boston. One now gets a very good idea of the unusual size,handsome proportions and
dignified architectural plans which are features of this structure,which is by far the most expensive private
dwelling that has been built in Lexington since the F.B. Hayes estate was completed.
The summer home was designed by New York architect Oswald C. Hering(1874-1941). Hering graduated from MIT in
1897 and later studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. He opened an office in New York in 1900 and his early work
concentrated on designing large country homes in Westchester County, on Long Island, in the Philadelphia suburbs and
throughout New England and the mid Atlantic states. This is the only known building by Hering in Massachusetts.
Photographs of the Fay House appeared in the national publication Brickbuilder in 1908.
In 1910 the Fay residence consisted of 59 year old Harry,his wife Mary, daughter Helen and three servants. The last
listing for the family at this address is in the 1918 directory. The 1920 Census lists Harry and Helen as"boarders"at the
Russell House, 347 Massachusetts Avenue. Richard Engstrom, a chemist,was living at 6 Eliot Road in 1922 and was still
here in 1942.
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address
LEXINGTON 6 ELIOT ROAD
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD 507
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Brickbuilder, Jan. 1908,vol. 17 pl. fol. p. 154. ("House at Lexington,Massachusetts").
Lexington Directories,various dates.
Lexington Minute-Man,December 8, 1906; March 23, 1907;May 4, 1907.
Massachusetts Historical Commission,MACRIS database.
U.S. Census, 1910, 1920.
Withey,Henry F. Biographical Dictionary ofAmerican Architects (Deceased). Los Angeles: Hennessey&Ingalls, Inc.,
1970.
Supplement prepared by:
Lisa Mausolf
March 2010