HomeMy WebLinkAboutfletcher-avenue_0008 FORM B — BUILDING
Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 10048000174 Boston N. 671, 672
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town Lexington
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Place (neighborhood or village)
Address 8 Fletcher Ave.
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I Historic Name Franklin A. Fletcher/Albert A. Sherman
House
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Uses: Present Residential
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Original Residential
Date of Construction 1875
h` Source Deeds, Lexington Valuation lists
Style/Form Italianate
Architect/Builder
Exterior Material:
' Foundation Granite
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Wall/Trim Asbestos Shingle
Roof Asphalt Shingle
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures Attached barn
CJ -- Major Alterations(with dates)
STREET
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Condition Fair/Deteriorated
UKEPMrMoved ® no [:] yes Date
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Acreage 0.3 A.
Setting On aside street in a neighborhood of modest 19th-
Recorded by Nancy S. Seasholes century houses with some 20th-century infill
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.
8 Fletcher Ave. is one of the few front-gabled Italianate farmhouse in Lexington with an attached barn; another example is at 20
Maple St. (MHC#649). This house (MHC#671) is rectangular with a rear ell, 2'/2 stories,two-by-three bays, and front gabled
with a side chimney. The rear ell is also front-gabled, three bays long, and has a ridge chimney. The house is set on a granite
foundation, clad with asbestos shingles, and roofed with asphalt shingles. The ell has a porch with square pilastered posts on the
south elevation and a one-story flat-roofed addition on a granite foundation on the north. Italianate finishes on the main block
include paired brackets at the cornices, a two-story three-sided bay on the facade and a one-story bay on the south elevation,
elaborate milled brackets and a drop with a cut-out bracket under the Entry hood, and a double front door with roundhead lights.
The attached 2%-story barn (MHC#672) is clad with wood clapboards; it has original barn and hay doors on the south elevation
and a garage door and windows with molded surrounds on the north.
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 built in 1875 by Franklin A. Fletcher, apparently no relation to Charles G. Fletcher,who had a large house on
Massachusetts Ave. on the other side of the railroad tracks (now the bikepath)and would develop the Fletcher St. area in the
1880s and 90s (see Area form G). Charles G. sold Franklin A. the lot on which house is located in 1875 and that same year
Franklin A. was assessed for a house on it, so perhaps this house was already under construction when he acquired the land. (The
house is also shown on the 1875 map of Lexington Center.) In 1883 the house was acquired by Albert A. Sherman, who worked
in Boston at the Custom House.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES ❑see continuation sheet
Beers, F. W. County Atlas ofMiddlesex Massachusetts. New York: J.B. Beers &Co., 1875.
Lexington Valuation lists. 1874-1876.
Middlesex Registry of Deeds. Deeds. Cambridge, MA. 1358: 591.
❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked,you must attach a completed National
Register Criteria Statement form.
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address
Lexington 8 Fletcher Ave.
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD 671, 672
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
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Roll #17,Negative#23
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Roll#7,Negative#3