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Home My WebLink Aboutforest-street_0036 FORM B - BUILDING In Area no. Form no. K 442 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Office of the Secretary, State House, Boston wnLexington dress 36 Forest Street - _ - me sent use Dwelling - sent owner George C Barry �1 3cription: — an ;e c. 1885 - - source map, genealogy research - _ - le Stick after published design. by 4. Map. Draw sketch of building location Architect Frank D. Nichols, Bridgeport, CT. in relation to nearest cross streets and White clapboard, shingles other buildings. Indicate north. Exterior wall fabric (scalloped & square) , stir trim j Outbuildings (describe) Barn left rear. ( Other features Brick foundation; off-center door to right, tower above. Three narrow windows front second floor, stick trusswork ga6Tee, Gross gabled, am - left - rear, shed off back. Altered two stories added Date 1896 Moved Date 5. Lot size. 15750 ft.2 One acre or less Over one acre Approximate frontage 66 Approximate distance of building from street 25' DO NOT WRITE IN THIS SPACE 6. Recorded by Barbara C. Stewart; Anne Grady USGS Quadrant Organization Lexington Historical Commission MHC Photo no. Date April 22, 1976; April, 1984 (over) 5M-2-75-R061465 7. Original owner (if known) Abram C. Washburn Original use Subsequent uses (if any) and dates 8. Themes (check as many as applicable) Aboriginal Conservation Recreation Agricultural Education Religion Architectural Exploration/ Science/ The Arts settlement invention Commerce Industry Social/ Communication Military humanitarian Community development x Political Transportation 9. Historical significance (include explanation of themes checked above) Abram C.. Washburn, Lexington's most prolific late-nineteenth century builder/contractor, and his family owned this house from before 1889 until the 1940s. Washburn was born in Vermont in 1853 and educated in Orford, New Hampshire. He came to Lexington in 1884 and very likely built this house shortly thereafter, at first as a one-story cottage (he added two stories in 1896) . In 1885 the Lexington Minute Man enters the first of many references to construction work being carried out by Washburn. If the newspaper accounts are an accurate reflection, Washburn built many more houses than his next nearest competitor. Many of Washburn's houses were built speculatively. He built speculative housing in the Parker/Forest area, on Bloomfield Street, and on Winthrop Road, and is the only contractor to have done so on Meriam Hill. The source of Washburn's house designs, except for his own house and that of G.S. Norris, has not been documented. Very likely he purchased some designs and modified others or created them himself. The house at 6 Glen Road, built speculatively by Washburn, for instance, is repeated exactly on Forest Street (builder unknown) and on Grove Street in Newton. This would seem to indicate a published source. Washburn's houses are fairly standard Colonial Revival or Shingle Style Vernacular/Queen Anne designs. The latter ones tend to have similar cross gable profiles and asymmetrical massing and are characteristically trimmed on the second level with staggered butt shingles. The house at 24 Clarke Street, for example, has a nearly identical plan but different finishes from that at 86 Bloomfield Street. (see Continuation Sheet) 10. Bibliography and/or references (such as local histories, deeds, assessor's records, early maps, etc.) Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington, revised and continued to 1912 by the Lexington Historical Society, Volume II, p. 723. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1913. Lexington Minute Man, November 27, 1885, May 7, 1886, May 21, 1886, May 27, 1887, September 23, 1887, May 5, 1891, August 28, 1891, September 19, 1891, September 26, 1891, January 22, 1892, April 29, 1892, April 28, 1893, July 20, 1894, August 3, 1894, September 21, 1894, November 23, 1894, April 3, 1896, August 8, 1896, December 4, 1896. (see Continuation Sheet) INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community: Form No: MASSACHUSE17S HISTORICAL CCf+1ISSION Lexington 442 Office of the Secretary, Boston Property Name: 36 Forest Street Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE Washburn also built for others from architects' designs (e.g. 2 Oakland Street, 20 Percy Road) . The following is a partial list of buildings built by Washburn: 36 Forest Street, c. 1885, 1896 38 Forest Street, c. 1885 , 8 Raymond Street, 1885 16 Clarke Street, 1896 24 Clarke Street, 1886 2 Oakland Street, 1894 27 Oakland Street, 1887 3 Chandler Street, 1895 4 Chandler Street, c. 1900 6 Chandler Street, c. 1900 4 Glen Road, c. 1900 9 Winthrop Road, c. 1900 86 Bloomfield Street, 1894 10 Stratham Road, 1894 26 Parker Street, date unknown 25 Parker Street, date unknown 20 Percy Road, date unknown ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE This house began as a one-story cottage. In 1896 two additional stories were added by the owner, contractor Abram C, Washburn. In 1887 Washburn built a house at 39 Highland Avenue for G.S. Norris. He chose to use the same design for the enlargement of his own house nine years later. The design was published in the Supplement to the Scientific American- Architects and Builders Edition of October 1886 under the title "An $1800 Dwelling designed by Frank D. Nichols, Bridgeport, Conn." (see accompanying illustration) . Scientific American published from 1880 to 1905 a monthly maga- zine intended to inform the public about good building practices and modern construction techniques. It became by the mid-1880s the builder's magazine with the largest circulation in the world. Each month the magazine published color plates and specifications for two buildings. Washburn or Norris must have had access to this publicaiton, and Washburn must have translated the illustration into the actual buildings. While room dimensions are given in the plans, there is only a perspective drawing to show the configuration of the elevations. Evidently it was not possible to order working drawings, as was the case with some designs published in the late nineteenth century. Washburn's house is a near copy of the illustration. Although he does not include the oculus windows, he does apply the stickwork as shown and uses areas of patterned shingles and diagonal flush boarding as indicated between the stickwork. He chose to use staggered butt shingles on the gables and hexagonal ones on the tower rather than the suggested hexagonal ones only. The Porch of the house has been enclosed and glazed. Very likely the porch looked (see Continuation Sheet) Staple to Inventory form at bottom INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community: Form No: MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL CCRAISSION Lexington 442 Office of the Secretary, Boston Property Name: 36 Forest Street Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below. ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE (continuation sheet 2) originally like that of the house at 39 Highland Avenue which retains trim similar to that shown in the illustration including the diagonal stickwork under the raking eave at the end of the porch. It is useful to have this documentation of the source of one of Washburn's designs. Washburn built a number of houses on speculation and may have copied or purchased designs for the others from similar sources. A check of all issues of the Scientific American-Architects and Builders Edition should be undertaken to determine if Washburn used more designs illustrated in the magazine. BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES Mitchell, Eugene, compiler. American Victoriana. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1979. Personal communication from S. Lawrence Whipple. 1889 atlas 1898 atlas 1887 Directory milk now MEN KM - ---- ELM slum s F -- n Staple to Inventory form at bottom .�s - . ISO�Tll }�-.,tw-2.T'�,� t- ♦ - j,''~ bM w; az MA 1m�.- =.�� _ '# ' � "�P-� r+. �'��4.t�`. � �� im ill �fi •j r:+�•'+-• e-•sya•� _._{ r - ��'',.. ^'- .ice �� • �� '. _�. .�j, LL - �'a.