HomeMy WebLinkAboutgrant-street_0137 FORM B - BUILDING
Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 10055000071 1Boston N. 678
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town Lexington
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Place (neighborhood or village)
1
Address 137 Grant St.
oto
I1 Historic Name Stillman Spaulding store
s Uses: Present Residential
1 Original Commercial/Residential
Date of Construction 1835-1836
Source Lane; Lexington Valuation lists
Style/Form Federal
--- Architect/Builder David Tuttle Sr.
+ Exterior Material:
Foundation Fieldstone
j o Wall/Trim Aluminum Siding
- F
Roof Asphalt Shingle
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures Garage
Major Alterations(with dates)
Rear additions (dates unknown)
a'
Condition Fair
0
Moved [:] no ® yes Date 1903
rr— Acreage 0.7 A.
Setting On a busy street across from 20th-century houses
Recorded by Nancy S. Seasholes
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.
137 Grant St. is one of a number of Federal houses in Lexington but, having been moved, sided, and altered, is less intact than
many of the others. (Other examples of moved and sided Federals are at 14 Sherman St. [MHC#6751 and 16 Manley Ct.
[MHC#666]). The house is rectangular with a rear ell,two stories, five-by-one bays, and side-gabled with a rear chimney. It is
set on a fieldstone foundation, clad with aluminum siding, and roofed with asphalt shingles. On the south end of the building the
rear roof line has been extended to the eaves of the flat-roofed one-story rear addition on a cement block foundation,creating an
integral leanto effect. The main entry is in the center of the facade;windows are 6/6 double hung sash. Behind the house is a
large, side-gabled, 1%2-story three-vehicle garage with the second story clad with aluminum siding and first story with stucco.
Two aluminum-clad gabled dormers in the second floor suggest that there is a residence over the garage.
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 originally on Massachusetts Ave. the second house east of Clarke St. where Cary Library is now located. The
house was built on land owned by Stillman Spaulding(1788-1860), a physician, next to his 18th-century house on the corner of
what are now Massachusetts Ave. and Clarke St. According to an antiquarian account, this house was started in August 1835 but
not completed"till sometime later,"an account verified by Lexington assessors' records, which do not assess Spaulding for his
"new store"until 1837. The house was built by David Tuttle(1782-1845), the father of the prominent 19th-century Lexington
builder David A. Tuttle, and was probably called a store because it was used as both a retail facility and a residence. The
antiquarian account says that the house was first rented to a Mr. Haskell, a bookbinder; then to a Mr. Sealey, a tailor from
Woburn; then to three other tailors; and later to a Mr. Gossum,who ran an oyster saloon. After Spaulding's death the house was
owned by his widow Lucy(1799-1887) and then by her heirs. A late 19th-century photograph shows this house facing
Massachusetts Ave. next to the 18th-century house on the corner. In 1903 when Cary Library was built on this site,the 18th-
century house was torn down and this one moved to its present location.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES ❑ see continuation sheet
Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington. Revised and continued to 1912 by the Lexington Historical Society.
Boston: Houghton Mullin, 1913. 2: 656
Kelley, Beverly Allison. Lexington:A Century of Photographs. Lexington,Mass: Lexington Historical Society, 1980. 74.
Lane, Ralph E. "Dr. Stillman Spaulding." Proceedings of the Lexington Historical Society 3 (1905): 19-24.
Lexington Valuation Lists. 1831-1847.
Middlesex Registry of Deeds. Deeds. Cambridge, MA. 243: 428; 176: 342; 170: 234; 162: 220; 155: 479; 137: 484; 128: 333;
1624: 294.
Worthen, Edwin B. Notes on buildings burned,torn down, and moved. "Houses"file,Worthen Collection. Cary Library,
Lexington, Mass. #7, #85
❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked,you must attach a completed National
Register Criteria Statement form.