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HomeMy WebLinkAboutgrant-street_0125 FORM B -BUILDING Assessor's number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number 55/41 Boston N. 1055 Town Lexington Place (neighborhood or village) Address 125 Grant Street Historic Name McKearney House i Uses: Present Residential Original Barn? ' fw a Date of Construction 19th century Source visual inspection Style/Form --- 1 Architect/Builder unknown Exterior Material: Foundation stone brick Wall/Trim wood shingles Roof asphalt shingle 1 j9 53 Outbuildings/Secondary Structures barn/garage 1 _ \ '�'• , Major Alterations (with dates) by 1906 -moved to present site(?)and/or converted to residential use l � Condition good Moved El no yes es Date betty. 1875 & 1906 1 , o Acreage 21,321 SF Recorded by Lisa Mausolf Setting mixed residential neighborhood adjacent to Organization Lexington Historical Commission c.1960 subdivision Date (month/year) June 2000 Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form. BUILDING FORM(125 Grant Street) ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of the building in terms of other buildings within the community. Located at the corner of Grant Street and Saddleclub Road, 125 Grant Street is a vernacular two-story building which may have been originally constructed as an outbuilding or barn and which may have been moved to this site in the late 19th or early 20th century. The side-gabled building is sheathed in wood shingles and rests on a stone foundation with a brick veneer on the front of the foundation. A single brick chimney with a corbel cap rises off the ridge of the asphalt-shingled roof. The facade displays a fenestration pattern which is irregular and appears to substantiate the building's original non- residential use. There are five openings on the first floor of the facade including an offcenter modern six-panel door with upper glass panes in the second bay. The door is set in a simple surround and is fronted by a brick stoop. The other first floor openings contain 6/6 sash with heavy muntins and molded surrounds. There are three windows on the second story of the facade, placed roughly at the center and two ends of the elevation and extending under the front eaves which project slightly. The east end of the building is a single bay deep with a modern casement window on the first floor and a 6/6 sash above. The west end displays two bays of 6/6 windows and is fronted by a single-story screened porch of recent construction. Behind the main block there is a single-story bump-out on the east side and a two-story ell aligned with the west end. The)house is set close to Grant Street with a 1 1/2-story barn/garage located to the east. The wood-shingled building preently rests on a concrete foundation and displays a saltbox profile. There are two overhead vertical board doors facing the Ttreet and a hatch door above. A modern 6/6 window lights the east end. HISTORICAL NARRATIVE Describe 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. The early history of this house is not known with any certainty. There are those that believe that the house was originally constructed as a barn and moved to this site and converted to residential use in the late 19th or early 20th century. (There is no house on this site at the time of the 1875 map.) It has been suggested that the building may have been relocated from the Hayes Estate although this could not be verified. In Tracing the Past, Edwin Worthen makes no mention of the house being moved to its present location. He notes that the house"sits at an angle to the street and, in the old style, faces due south." According to Worthen in 1830 Otis Locke bought 4 1/2 acres of turf meadow from Dr. Leonard Proctor and in 1835 he was assessed for a new house(the present 125 Grant Street). In 1852 the major part of the farm passed to Hiram Reed who immediately sold it to George W. Piper. In 1856 the property passed to Emory Piper who sold it to Jasper Ferdinand in 1860. The property was subsequently deeded to Francis B. Hayes on May 21, 1863 (Worthen, p. 25-26). Hayes (1819-1884)owned nearly four hundred acres on Granny Hill, Meriam Street. The 1906 Atlas indicates that this property (then including two buildings and two smaller outbuildings)was then owned by the,Hayes Estate. By 1908 the house had been sold by the Hayes estate to John McKeamey. The house is located on part of Lot 109 of the Oakmount Park subdivision. In 1909 McKeamey was assessed for a cow and a house valued at$750. The town history indicates that John Francis McKeamey came to Lexington in 1882 and had nine children. Directories indicate that he was employed as a laborer. Prior to living here, McKeamey lived on Hayes Avenue. The house is still owned by McKeamey descendants today. Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked, you must attached a completed National Register Criteria Statement form. INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address Lexington 125 Grant Street Massachusetts Historical Commission Area(s) Form No. Massachusetts Archives Building 220 Morrissey Boulevard 1055 Boston, Massachusetts 02125 BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington. Boston: Houghton and Mifflin Co., 1913. Lexington Assessors Records. Lexington Directories, various dates. Lexington Valuation Lists,various dates. Worthen, Edwin B. Tracing the Past in Lexington,Massachusetts. New York: Vantage Press, 1998. 1875 Map. 1906 Atlas.