HomeMy WebLinkAboutfern-street_0029 FORM B — BUILDING Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
14/123 Boston
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION North
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Town: Lexington
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Photograph East Lexington
. . Address: 29 Fern Street
Historic Name:
Uses: Present: residential
rL . . Original: residential
A - Date of Construction: c.1900 (betw. 1898 and 1902)
Source: maps, deeds
Style/Form:
Architect/Builder: unknown
Exterior Material:
Foundation: rubble
Wall/Trim: clapboards
Topographic or Assessor's Map
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
., none
T�
p, °1Major Alterations(with dates):
r q Date?—addition under first floor porch and to east
41
(`° �iCondition: good
'Y Date� Moved: no x es I l y l l
Acreage: 0.85 acre
64. Setting: mixed 19th century residential on narrow road off
aa.Nz, Pleasant Street
tr. 494
Recorded by: Lisa Mausolf
Organization: Lexington Historical Commission
Date(month/year): Feb. 2010
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 29 FERN STREET.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
If checked,you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:
Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community.
Set above a stone wall on the north side of Fern Street,29 Fern Street is a 2 '/2-story gablefront dwelling which is sheathed in
clapboards and rests on a rubble foundation. The gablefront displays projecting eaves that end in returns and a smaller two-story
gable projection with returns is located on the west elevation. The fagade is spanned by an unusual,two-level porch with hip-
roofed hoods on the lower level sheltering a 2/2 window and a doorway. Above this is a sunporch enclosed by continuous 2/2
windows. A two-story addition extends to the east of the porch. Windows include a mix of original 2/2 sash and modern 1/1
units. A single-story hip-roofed bay at the rear shelters another entrance.
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 early history of this property is somewhat unclear. The 1898 map does not show a house on the land. A 1902 Plan(Plan
Book 137, Page 46)indicates that the house was then present, owned by Maude E. Sim(wife of William Sim). The 1906 map
also shows the house present but indicates it was still owned by the Isaac Buttrick estate(also shown as the owner of the land on
the 1889 map). There is no apparent familial relationship between the Buttricks and the Sims. William Sim was a carpenter and
according to the 1910 Census,was living on Mass. Ave.
Fred and Mabel Longbottom were living here(then 23 Fern Street)by 1922. He was a carpenter. The property was sold to Miss
Harriet Shaw, a teacher,prior to 1928 and she sold it in 1944. It has been owned by Albert Whitcomb since 1945.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Hudson, Charles. History of Lexington, Massachusetts,vol. 2,p. 619.
Lexington Directories,various dates.
Middlesex County Registry of Deeds, Cambridge,Mass.
U.S. Census,various years.
Worthen, Edwin B. Tracing the Past in Lexington, Massachusetts. New York: Vantage Press, 1998.
1898, 1906 maps
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Continuation sheet 1