HomeMy WebLinkAboutfletcher-avenue_0007 FORM B — BUILDING
Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 10048000198 1Boston N. 670
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town Lexington
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Place (neighborhood or village)
Address 7 Fletcher Ave.
gel photo
�. ilm roll Historic Name
oto to
!photos Uses: Present Residential
i A Original Residential
Date of Construction 1880s
Source Lexington Valuation lists;Maps
Style/Form Italianate
Architect/Builder
Exterior Material:
Foundation Concrete
!ation to Wall/Trim Wood Clapboard
ures.
-�� nd Roof Asphalt Shingle
,' ets er the Outbuildings/Secondary Structures Garage
Major Alterations (with dates)
South and rear additions (dates unknown)
TREET 5
U111 ❑
'o Condition Good
W
J '
Moved _® no [:] yes Date
151%ePATif ,a
:2-_ Acreage 0.2 A.
� Cos� -
Setting On a side street of modest late 19th-century houses
with some 20th-century infill
Recorded by Nancy S. Seasholes
Organization Lexington Historical Commission
Date(month/year) March 1998
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
BUILDING FORM
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION ❑ see continuation sheet
Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community.
7 Fletcher Ave. is one of a number of front-gabled Italianates in Lexington. The house is rectangular, 2'/2 stories,two-by-three
bays, and front-gabled with two side chimneys. It is set on what appears to be a concrete foundation but could be just concrete
veneer, clad with wood clapboards, and roofed with asphalt shingles. There are one-story shed-roofed additions on the south and
rear elevations. The Italianate finishes are very similar to those on 8 Fletcher Ave. (MHC#671)directly across the street: paired
brackets at the cornice(those on this house have drops), a two-story three-sided bay on the facade,milled brackets under the entry
hood(again with drops), and a double front door with roundhead lights. There is, however, no one-story three-sided bay on either
side of this house as there is at 8 Fletcher. At the rear is a three-car garage.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE ❑see continuation sheet
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.
This house was probably built in the 1880s, for it is not shown on the 1875 map of Lexington Center but is on the 1889. It is
apparently one of the houses for which Charles G. Fletcher,who owned the land on which it is located,was assessed in 1886 and
thereafter. The reason for its similarity to the house at 8 Fletcher Ave. is not clear. Fletcher almost certainly built it as a rental
property,as he did the houses now at 10-12, 11-13, 16, 17, 20, and 21 Fletcher Ave. (see Area form G), and perhaps had this
house designed to match the one across the street.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES ❑ see continuation sheet
Beers, F. W. CountyAtlas ofMiddlesex Massachusetts. New York: J.B. Beers &Co., 1875. Lexington Center plate.
Lexington Valuation Lists. 1883-1889.
Walker, George H. &Co. Atlas ofMiddlesex County. Boston: George H. Walker&Co., 1889. 191.
❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked,you must attach a completed National
Register Criteria Statement form.