HomeMy WebLinkAboutfern-street_0040 FORM B - BUILDING AREA FORM N0.
525
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
294 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON, MA 02108
rn Lexington
tress 40 Fern Street
- ;toric Name Isaac Buttrick House
t: Present residential
_ Original residential
)ESCRIPTION:
:e
c. 1852
ao
;ounce map, deed research
SKETCH MAP
Show property's location in relation Style Greek Revival/ nacular/Contemporary
to nearest cross streets and/or
geographical features. Indicate Architect Isaac Buttrick, carpenter
all buildings between inventoried
property and nearest intersection. Exterior wall fabric clapboard, rustication
Indicate north.
Outbuildings
E3 Major alterations (with dates) contempor-
ary style addition between house and barn
Q E (early 1960s)
OMoved Date
Approx. acreage 40200 ft.2
Recorded by Anne Grady Setting A secluded site below Fern
Organization Lexington Historical Commission Street amid several acres of open fields;
Date April, 1984 several twentieth century houses adjacent
and Moon Hill TAC development close by.
(Staple additional sheets here)
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE (Describe important architectural features and
evaluate in terms of other buildings within the community.)
This is an interesting example of a carpenter-designed late Greek Revival
house which incorporates some features of the Italianate Style. Isaac Buttrick
chose a simple side-hall plan structure with rather vertical proportions and
the gable oriented toward the facade, a typical vernacular profile for its c.
1852 construction date. Perhaps because of his familiarity with up-to-date
features as a carpenter, Buttrick added rustication on the first level of the
facade, three-quarter-round moldings at the front corners of the building,
(see Continuation Sheet)
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 by Isaac Buttrick, a carpenter who moved to Lexington
from Concord in 1830 possibly under the influence of Isaac Melvin, architect,
who came to Lexington from Concord about that time. Melvin designed the East
Lexington Branch Library in 1833 and Buttrick was one of the carpenters who
built it. East Lexington was enjoying a building boom in the early 1830s and
surely Buttrick worked on some of the many houses of that period built along
Massachusetts Avenue and elsewhere.
The property remained in the Buttrick family until 1907; was then owned
by George RE nolds; next by Maud Needham who sold off house lots in 1925; and
after 1961/t e current owners.
In the early 1900s the area was a truck farm. Italian day laborers came
out from Boston by streetcar. Tomatoes were grown and the farm extended to
the top of Moon Hill.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES (name of publication, author, date and publisher)
Proceedings of the Lexington Historical Society, Volume IV, p. 118. Lexington:
Lexington Historical Society, 1912.
Research by Anne Grady in possession of the owner.
1853 map
1875 atlas
1889 atlas
1898 atlas
1906 atlas
10M - 7/82
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET CommLmity: Form No:
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL CCKff SSION Lexington 525
Office of the Secretary, Boston
Property Name: 40 Fern Street
Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below.
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE
mitered hale rotuid moldings on the window and door frames, and projecting window caps
on the second level of the facade. Other features include a one story porch across
the front fitted with three posts with cut-out centers and an overhanging eave with
a robust molding on the fascia.
The house, originally three bays long,had a bay added at the rear after 1900.
The barn to the left is of nineteenth century construction and was built in two
stages.
The contemporary style addition to the left rear which connects the house and
barn was designed in the early 1960s by Betsy Beckwith, architect. The addition
is in keeping with the TAC Moon Hill houses (see Moon Hill area form , which are
south of this property.
Staple to Inventory form at bottom