HomeMy WebLinkAboutgrandview-avenue_0019 FORM B BUILDING Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 51/14C 2223
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town/City: Lexington
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Place: (neighborhood or village):
Photograph
Address: 19 Grandview Avenue
Historic Name:
Uses: Present: residential
. Original: residential
r Date of Construction: ca. 1875-90
Source: architectural features
-- == Style/Form: no style
Architect/Builder:
A T' Exterior Material:
Front (fagade) and right side elevations Foundation: fieldstone
Wall/Trim: artificial siding and trim
Locus Map Roof- asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
'� L---- `"� none visible from street
�a
--� ■ „d.a' Major Alterations (with dates):
�.'�• Front sun porch E 20th c), artificial siding (L 201h c), possibly
`+ k rear addition (20t c)
30• — 16 +
re,
q
Condition: fair
�
4,9� 5 _1¢r Moved: no ❑ yes ❑ Date:
so-
41918 51-14BM
sp• , 4.882 51Acreage: 0.11
-14Ac.c, r
sr. sn• 4 848 +9 5494 SO,
5p 4,813 Setting: Residential side street in a neighborhood
3• consisting mainly of L 20th century suburban houses with
51-22 sa 14. regular setbacks, small scale, and a limited palette of styles
and forms.
Recorded by: Wendy Frontiero
Organization: Lexington Historical Commission
Date (month/year): September 2015
12/12 Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 19 GRANDVIEw AVE.
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
0 2223
❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
If checked,you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.
Use as much space as necessary to complete the following entries, allowing text to flow onto additional continuation sheets.
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:
Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community.
19 Grandview Avenue occupies a small lot that slopes up gently from the street to the house and is maintained chiefly in lawn.
The building is parallel with Grandview Avenue, although the beginning of that road has been bent away from its first three
houses to meet Welch Road at a 90 degree angle. As a result, 19 Grandview has gained a deeper front setback and a paved
parking area where Grandview Avenue once ran in front. A modern, dry-laid fieldstone wall defines the present Grandview
Avenue frontage. A paved driveway extends along the right side of the property, and a walkway lined with paving stones leads
from this driveway to the front entrance. The building consists of a 1 '/2 story main block with a compact rear appendage.
Square-shaped, the main block rises from a fieldstone foundation to a steeply pitched, side gable roof with no returns. Walls are
clad with artificial siding and trim. Windows typically have 2/2 double hung sash with flat casings and artificial trim. The front
facade has a full-length screened porch across the first floor, composed of a hip roof, center entrance, and banded window
openings. Inside, on the main block, a single-leaf, center door is flanked by a single 2/2 window on each side. The porch has a
fieldstone foundation and fieldstone cheek walls flanking its poured concrete steps.
The symmetrical left side elevation has two widely spaced windows on each floor. The right side elevation has one double-hung
window and a triplet of casement windows on the first floor and two windows in the gabled half story. A two-story, cross-gabled
ell projects from the back of this elevation. It appears to have a fieldstone foundation, indicating (if so)that at least the first floor
of the ell may be early construction. A modern wood deck with square balusters at the railings is visible on the remaining part of
the back elevation.
19 Grandview Avenue has lost historic integrity through the application of artificial siding and trim. It survives as an uncommon
example of pre-suburban housing in an outlying area of Lexington, surrounded now by mostly mid-20th century ranches, capes,
and Colonial Revival homes. The house is notable for its simple massing, unusually high and steep roof, and full-length front
porch.
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.
19 Grandview Avenue is located southeast of the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and School Street, in an historically
agricultural section of Lexington. Massachusetts Avenue was established in the 17th century as part of an early highway from
Cambridge to Concord. Development of the section of the road west of Lincoln Street and the town center was sparse,
however, until the beginning of the 20th century. School Street was laid out and had its eponymous school building by 1830.
Grandview Avenue first appears in the town directories between 1906 and 1918. No road or building is shown here on the
historic maps through 1906, although the form of the building suggests a late 19th century date. The first known occupants of 19
Grandview Avenue, in 1922, are thought to be Patrick J. Gilligan, a fireman, and his wife Catherine A (both born in Ireland). The
1930 census identifies Patrick and Catherine living on Grandview Avenue with three young children. The Gilligans continued to
reside here until at least 1945, by which time Mr. Gilligan was retired. Subsequent occupants included David C. Cameron,
employed in sales, and his wife Katherine, a teacher(1955, 1965). They were accompanied here in 1965 by Marcia J.
Cameron, a student, and septuagenarian Emma Ryckarbs (sic).
Continuation sheet I
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 19 GRANDVIEw AVE.
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
0 2223
Further research is recommended to establish a construction date, potential agricultural associations of the property in the late
19th century, and occupants before 1922.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Historic maps and atlases: Walling 1853; Beers 1875; Walker 1889; Stadly 1898; Walker 1906; Sanborn 1908, 1918, 1927,
1935, 1935/1950.
Lexington Comprehensive Cultural Resources Survey, Period and Area Summaries.
http://historicsurvey.lexingtonma.gov/index.htm Accessed Jul 23, 2015.
Lexington Directories: 1899, 1908-09, 1922, 1926, 1934, 1936.
Lexington List of Persons: 1935, 1945, 1955, 1965.
Massachusetts Historical Commission. "MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Lexington." 1980.
U.S. Census: 1930.
SUPPLEMENTARY IMAGES
f.•..•
Front (fagade) elevation, with Grandview Avenue at the left
Continuation sheet 2