HomeMy WebLinkAboutfairview-avenue_0011 FORM B BUILDING Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
0 0 2218
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 59/24C
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town/City: Lexington
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Place: (neighborhood or village):
Photograph
Address: 11 Fairview Avenue
f.J
Historic Name:
Uses: Present: residential
■ � " , Original: residential
Date of Construction: ca. 1906-15
Source: historic maps, town directories
f
- Style/Form: Four-Square
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Left side and front(facade) elevations Foundation: fieldstone
Wall/Trim: artificial siding and trim
Locus Map Roof- asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
None
f59-24B
8,108 P
sr Major Alterations (with dates):
Enclosed front porch (M — L 201H c), artificial siding (L 20tH
�s o #. lac c), replacement windows (L 20tH— E 21St c)
l sp 59-25A
6,300
51-79
Condition: fair
13.895
^' ' 8p
Moved: no ❑ yes ❑ Date:
55.3 X35'
51-77 Acreage: 0.10
r 9 5510 0:500
Setting: Located on a residential side street near busy
51-64R 51-68
21
.507 r 7,110 thoroughfare of Wood Street, along a steep hill.
5,_ss Heterogeneous surrounding development consists mostly of
6a� mid to late 20th century houses of similar scale.
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 I I FAIRVIEw AVENUE
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
2218
❑ 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.
11 Fairview Avenue is set toward the street edges of a small corner lot. The land slopes up steeply from left to right across the
lot, maintained mostly in lawn with some shrubs at the front foundation. A long paved driveway at the right side of the lot
occupies what looks like a planned extension of Hayward Avenue.
The small rectangular house rises 2 '/2 stories from a fieldstone foundation with deeply recessed joints to a hip roof with a single,
shed-roofed dormer on the front slope. One chimney projects from the right slope of the roof, near the peak. Walls are clad with
artificial siding and trim. Windows typically have 6/1 double hung wood sash or 1/1 replacement sash with aluminum trim. The
first floor of the front (Fairview Street)facade is spanned by an enclosed sun porch with a hip roof, center door, modern picture
window units, and a brick stairway with brick cheek walls. Two widely spaced 6/1 windows are symmetrically set on the second
floor, and the dormer contains a horizontal, six-light window sash.
The symmetrical right side elevation has two widely spaced window bays with one window on each floor(6/1 sash on the second
floor, 1/1 on the first). The irregular left side elevation has a variety of window sizes and mostly 6/1 sash, with three smaller
windows on the first floor and three taller windows at the second floor. On the rear elevation, the first floor has a modern wood
deck with cross-braced railings and a small shed-roofed entry vestibule at the back left corner, with a single-leaf door facing the
right side of the property. There are two window bays with one window on each floor, three of them having 6/1 sash.
11 Fairview Avenue is a very modest example of early 20th century housing in an outlying area of Lexington. The house is
notable for its intact massing, rustic masonry foundation, and some original or early window sash.
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.
11 Fairview Avenue represents Lexington's evolution from an agricultural economy to a suburban community in the early 20th
century. The street appears in the town directories between 1906 and 1918. Earlier maps (1898 and 1906)show a large tract of
undeveloped land between Wood Street and Massachusetts Avenue, with a large house and barn farther out on Wood Street
belonging to Ernest K. Ballard, a farmer. By 1922, two households were present on Fairview, and there were still only two
through at least 1945.
The first occupant of 11 Fairview was James W. Denney, a teamster born in Nova Scotia, who moved here between 1911 and
1915 and stayed through at least 1945. The 1920 census shows his household including his wife Julia (born in Ireland); brother-
in-law John J. Garten, also a teamster; and three young boys between the ages of 5 through 13 (all with different last names),
who were boarding with them. Members of the Garten family continued to occupy the house through at least 1965. These
included Henry J. Garten, a boilermaker, and his wife Helen from at least 1945 through 1965; their son Henry G., who was in the
Army and later employed as a manager(1945 and 1955); and Constance B. Garten, a secretary, and Paul G. Garten, a
manager(1955).
Continuation sheet I
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON I I FAIRVIEw AVENUE
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
2218
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Boston directory: 1911.
Historic maps and atlases: Walling 1853; Beers 1875; Walker 1889; Stadly 1898; Walker 1906; Sanborn 1908, 1918, 1927,
1935, 1935/1950.
Lexington Comprehensive Cultural Resources Survey, Period and Area Summaries.
http://historicsurveV.Iexingtonma.gov/index.htm Accessed Jul 23, 2015.
Lexington Directories: 1899, 1908-09, 1915, 1918, 1922, 1934, 1936.
Lexington List of Persons: 1935, 1945, 1955, 1965.
Massachusetts Historical Commission. "MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Lexington." 1980.
U.S. Census: 1870, 1880, 1930.
Historic maps and atlases: Walling 1853; Beers 1875; Walker 1889; Stadly 1898; Walker 1906; Sanborn 1908, 1918, 1927,
1935, 1935/1950.
Lexington Comprehensive Cultural Resources Survey, Period and Area Summaries.
http://historicsurvey.lexingtonma.gov/index.htm Accessed Jul 23, 2015.
Lexington Directories: 1899, 1908-09, 1922, 1924, 1926, 1934, 1936.
Lexington List of Persons: 1935, 1945, 1955, 1965.
Massachusetts Historical Commission. "MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Lexington." 1980.
U.S. Census: 1920.
SUPPLEMENTARY IMAGES
ZZ
Right side and rear elevations
Continuation sheet 2