HomeMy WebLinkAboutgrant-street_0171 FORM B BUILDING Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
0 0 2226
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 62/71A
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town/City: Lexington
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Place: (neighborhood or village):
Photograph
Address: 171 Grant Street
Historic Name: Paul and Cora Bowser Estate
(Fair Oaks Farm)
Uses: Present: residential
Original: residential
Date of Construction: ca. 1931-34
-
Source: town and city directories
"' ` Style/Form: Colonial Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: not visible (brick?)
Front facade and right side elevations Wall/Trim: brick with wood trim
Locus Map Roof. slate shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
None visible
3C
- Major Alterations (with dates):
easn ss17 Enclosure of vestibule and appendage at right rear corner
i
ss
_ a o •0- D
Condition: excellent
ss s Moved: no ❑ yes ❑ Date:
1 "" Acreage: 1.25
Setting: Located on a major cross street, in a diverse
residential neighborhood characterized by large lots and
. f large-scale houses, mostly of late 201h century construction.
1
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 171 GRANT STREET
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
2226
® 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.
171 Grant Street occupies a sizeable lot on a main thoroughfare in eastern Lexington. Centered between its side property lines,
the commanding house is set well back from the street, with a large back yard. Maintained chiefly in lawn, the land slopes up
gently from the street in front of the house. A low brick retaining wall with a bluestone cap and low brick piers spans the street
frontage and extends past the adjacent lots on either side of 171 Grant Street. A U-shaped paved driveway traverses the front
yard, and large trees are scattered throughout the site. The building consists of a 2 '/2 story main block with various appendages
on each side.
The five by two bay main block measures approximately 50 by 30 feet, rising to a steeply pitched, side gable roof with interior
end wall chimneys. The building is clad with brick and trimmed with a small molded cornice at the fagade and raking eaves.
Windows typically have 6/6 double hung sash with flared brick lintels, cast stone or limestone sills, and hinged, louvered wood
shutters secured with S-shaped catches. The monumental facade contains a two-story high portico with a flat roof, paneled
Tuscan piers, a high entablature, and geometric-design roof balustrade. The front wall of the house has five bays. Its center
entrance has an arched opening, which encloses a 6-panel wood door, % height leaded glass sidelights, a small semi-circular
fanlight, and a semi-circular wood panel above. A large copper and glass lantern hangs from the ceiling at the entrance bay.
Above the doorway is a paired window unit.
The asymmetrical right side elevation contains two windows on each floor, including the attic story. A one-story, flat roofed entry
porch is set at the back corner of this elevation, featuring Tuscan posts, a molded entablature, and a triplet of modern casement
windows. A small brick appendage extends beyond that entrance; it displays a large modern picture window.
The left side elevation is symmetrical, dominated by a large, one-story porch across the full width. It features a flat roof, Tuscan
posts, a molded entablature, and screened openings. Two windows are set on each of the second and half stories.
Well preserved and well maintained, 171 Grant Street is an extraordinary example of high-style, traditional Colonial Revival
design in Lexington, prominently located on a major thoroughfare. It is notable for its size and scale, academic detailing,
monumental portico, and imposing setting.
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.
Today's Grant Street is an accumulation of several roadways. The base of the street, between Massachusetts Avenue and
Sheridan Street, appears between 1875 and 1889, when it provided convenient access to the Hayes estate on Meriam Hill. The
short section between Sheridan and Hayes Lane appears between 1898 and 1906. The then-discontinuous stretch from Hayes
Lane to Granny's Hill was established as part of Hayes Lane by 1853. Grant Street was extended between Granny's Hill and
East Street between 1875 and 1898. By the third quarter of the 19th century, however, only a few buildings clustered near the
base of Grant Street, near the important intersection with Vine and Woburn streets; two buildings were located north of Vine
Brook, near Granny's Hill, in 1875. North of Vine Brook, development along Grant Street was extremely sparse through the 19th
and turn of the 20th centuries.
Continuation sheet I
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 171 GRANT STREET
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
2226
171 Grant Street appears to have been built for Paul F. Bowser, a sports promoter(1886-1960), and his wife Cora (d. 1957),
who was a world champion woman wrestler before their marriage. Starting his career as a professional wrestler and a harness
racehorse driver, Bowser was born in Pennsylvania, opened a wrestling school in Ohio in 1912, and moved to Boston in 1922.
He was a nationally-known, high profile promoter from the 1930s through the 1950s, with an office in downtown Boston. In
addition to his involvement with wrestling, Bowser was one of the original directors and president of the Bay State Harness
Horse Racing and Breeding Association, which operated the Bay State Raceway in Foxborough. Residing in Cambridge in
1931, the Bowsers are identified at 171 Grant Street by 1934. The property was known as Fair Oaks Farm.
Bowser also owned a half-mile long horse track and numerous stables, which were located near his house between Grant Street
and what is now Saddleclub Road. The racetrack and its grandstands had originally been built in 1864 on land belonging to
Francis B. Hayes.
The 1940 census shows the childless couple as living alone at 171 Grant Street, but it appears that they had employees living in
an adjacent house at 169 Grant Street: Jacob Henderson is identified there as manager of a private estate, his wife Mary has
no occupation listed, and Dwight H. Baker is listed as a horse trainer on a private estate.
The Bowsers lived at this address at least through 1955. Cora Bowser died in 1957, and Paul Bowser was a resident of
Cambridge when he died in 1960. By 1965, the house was occupied by George V. Badoian, who was in the real estate
business, and his wife Victoria. Further research on the life and historical significance of Paul and Cora Bowser is
recommended.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Mason Membership Cards, 1733-1990 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com
Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: Massachusetts Grand Lodge of Masons Membership Cards 1733-1990. New England
Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts.
Ancestry.com. New York, New York, Marriage Index 1866-1937 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations,
Inc., 2014. Original data: Index to New York City Marriages, 1866-1937. Indices prepared by the Italian Genealogical Group
and the German Genealogy Group, and used with permission of the New York City Department of Records/Municipal
Archives.
Boston directories: 1929, 1930, 1938, 1951.
Boston Globe. Obituaries for Cora Bowser(Apr 23, 1957) and Paul Bowser(Jul 18, 1960)
Cambridge directory: 1931.
Historic maps and atlases: Walling 1853; Beers 1875; Walker 1889; Stadly 1898; Walker 1906; Sanborn 1908, 1918, 1927,
1935, 1935/1950.
Hornbaker, Tim. "Paul Bowser Biography." Legacyofwrestling.com, 2006. Accessed Jul 24, 2015.
Kelley, Beverly Allison. Lexington;A Century of Photographs. Boston: Lexington Historical Society, 1980.
Lexington Directories: 1899, 1908-09, 1922, 1934, 1936.
Lexington Historical Commission. Lexington Comprehensive Cultural Resources Survey;Period Summaries.
http://historicsurvey.lexingtonma.gov/index.htm
Lexington List of Persons: 1935, 1945, 1955, 1965.
Massachusetts Historical Commission. "MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Lexington." 1980.
U.S. Census: 1920, 1940.
Worthen, Edwin B. Tracing the Past in Lexington, Massachusetts. New York: Vantage Press, 1998.
Continuation sheet 2
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 171 GRANT STREET
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
2226
SUPPLEMENTARY IMAGES
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Front (facade) elevation
Continuation sheet 3
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 171 GRANT STREET
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
2226
National Register of Historic Places Criteria Statement Form
Check all that apply:
® Individually eligible ❑ Eligible only in a historic district
❑ Contributing to a potential historic district ❑ Potential historic district
Criteria: ® A ❑ B H C ❑ D
Criteria Considerations: ❑ A ❑ B ❑ C ❑ D ❑ E ❑ F ❑ G
Statement of Significance by Wendy Frontiero
The criteria that are checked in the above sections must be justified here.
The Paul and Cora Bowser Estate (Fair Oaks Farm) is a well-preserved and intact example of a high-quality, upper
middle class country estate in Lexington. It is significant for its associations with the development of Lexington as a
fashionable suburb in the late 19th and early 201h centuries; for its connections with early 20t century sports history and
with a regionally and nationally known sorts promoter, Paul Bowser; and as an example of high-style Colonial Revival
architecture in Lexington in the early 20t century. The property retains integrity of location, design, setting, materials,
workmanship, feeling, and association. It meets Criteria A and C of the National Register on the local and possibly state
levels. Its period of significance is 1931-60.
Continuation sheet 4