HomeMy WebLinkAboutforest-court_0005 FORM B - BUILDING
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
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Recorded by: Lisa Mausolf
Organization: Lexington Historical Commission
Date(month/year): January 2010
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
49/58 Boston
North
Town: Lexington
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 5 Forest Court
Historic Name:
Uses: Present: residential
Original: residential
Date of Construction: 1907
Source: maps
Style/Form:
Architect/Builder: unknown
Exterior Material:
Foundation: rubble
Wall/Trim: vinyl siding
Roof: tar
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
barn
Major Alterations(with dates):
Date?—vinyl siding
Condition: fair(due to siding)
Moved: no I x l yes I I Date
Acreage: 0.51 acre
Setting: residential court off Forest Street
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 5 Forest Court
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
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.
The building at 5-7 Forest Court is an example of an early 20th century, side-by-side duplex. The two-story structure rests on a
rubble foundation and is now sheathed in vinyl siding with a flat roof with overhanging eaves. Projecting from the center of the
four-bay facade is a single-story porch supported by plain posts with stick balusters. It shelters two simple doorways. Windows
on the 4 x 4-bay dwelling contain a mix of original 2/1 wooden sash and 1/1 replacement units. Projecting from the center of the
two side elevations is a three-sided, single-story bay window with a Queen Anne fixed window with margin of colored lights on
the face and double-hung units flanking. To the rear of the bay window there is a back porch which on the northeast side has
been expanded to shelter the adjacent bay window as well.
To the west of the duplex is a well-preserved but deteriorated carriage house, sheathed in wood clapboards. A gable wall dormer
breaks through the front eaves above an offcenter set of paneled double doors. Adjacent is a single door sheltered by a
decorative shed hood on brackets. A hip-roofed ventilator is centered on the ridge of the gable roof.
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.
This two-family dwelling was constructed about 1907. There is no building on this site at the time of the 1906 map(although
the barn appears to be standing). It was apparently built shortly thereafter as it is shown on the 1908 Sanborn map. Deed
research suggests that the building was erected by Hammon Reed(d.1911), a prominent local resident who resided at 87
Waltham Street and earned his living in real estate. The property was sold by his son William W. Reed to Clifford Currier in
1922 although Currier was occupying one of the two units as early as 1920. Currier was employed as a salesman of dairy
products(milkman?). His widow,Amy, and daughter,Daisy, continued to own the property for many years. The property was
sold to Alice Harris in 1961.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington. Cambridge: The Riverside Press Co., 1913.
Middlesex County Registry of Deeds, Cambridge,Mass.—Plan Book 97, Page 18
Sanborn Insurance Maps.
U.S. Census
1898, 1906 maps.
Continuation sheet 1
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 5 Forest Court
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
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Continuation sheet 2