HomeMy WebLinkAboutgrove-street_0241 FORM B - BUILDING
Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 1009100001 Boston N. 1 748, 749
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town Lexington
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Place (neighborhood or village)
x- 11 ��IIIIIIII Address 241 Grove St.
I to
11 Historic Name Daniel Cummings House
s -Uses: Present Residential
Original Residential
Date of Construction 1843
I � 'I
Source Lexington Valuation lists
Style/Form Greek Revival
Architect/Builder
IExterior Material:
IIIIIIIIIIII I IIIIIIIIIIIII Foundation Granite
lit to Wall/Trim Wood Clapboard
Roof Asphalt Shingle
r, Outbuildings/Secondary Structures Large barn,garage,
hen house
Major Alterations(with dates)
Bowed bay, rear ell extended (by 1920s); rear alterations,
barn converted from livestock to poultry(after 1936)
GROVE
Condition Good
Moved ® no ❑ yes Date
Acreage 15 A.
Recorded by Nancy S. Seasholes Setting House is at the front of an open field in
neighborhood of 20th-century houses; barn is very close to
Organization Lexington Historical Commission the street
Date(month/year) February 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.
241 Grove St. (MHC#748)is one of three side-gabled Greek Revival cottages with wall dormers in Lexington(the other two are
at 185 Burlington St. [MHC#7451 and 79 North St. [MHC#723])and has the most elaborate finishes. Its setting and
associated large barn(MHC#749)also preserve a sense of Lexington's agricultural past. The house is rectangular with a rear
ell, 1'/2 stories, five-by-one bays, and is side-gabled with two rear chimneys,one of them in the ell,which is on the west side of the
house. The original house is set on a granite foundation, clad with wood clapboards,and roofed with asphalt shingles. The roof
of the ell has been extended east from the ridge line until it is almost flat, covering a second-story extension with an exterior
chimney over a screened porch on the first floor. The center entrance-in the main block has a surround with a molded cornice,an
unusual raised block and groove design on the architrave, a Greek fret design on the side pilasters,and half-length sidelights;
windows are 2/2 double hung sash. There are paired gabled wail dormers on the facade and a similar wall dormer on the west
elevation of the ell. A one-story bowed bay topped by a balustrade has been added on the east elevation. The large 2'/2-story
front-gabled barn is in two sections, both on fieldstone foundations. There is a ridge chimney in the front section,a cupola vent in
the rear one, and a shed-roofed side addition with an exterior chimney. The walls of the barn are broken by many windows,
installed when it was converted to a poultry barn. The 1%2-story garage is on a concrete foundation as is the one-story shed-roofed
hen house.
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.
Although the style of this house suggests that it might have been built in the early 1830s when the other two similar houses in
Lexington were constructed, Lexington assessors' records indicate that the house was actually not built until 1843. In 1826 when
Daniel Cummings, a Lexington tanner, bought 58 acres in Lexington, Bedford, and Burlington that included the land on which this
house is located,there already was a house on the property. According to the terms of the deed, Ruth Trask,the widow of
Jonathan Trask, retained her widow's one-third dower rights in that house,which was located on the opposite side of Grove St.
from this one. This division of property is reflected in Daniel Cummings' real estate assessments, for from 1826 through 1842 he
is assessed for 2/3 of a house. In 1843, however, Daniel was assessed an additional amount for a"house unfinished"and in 1844
for 12/3 houses, indicating that this house was built in 1843.
The property remained in the Cummings family until 1890 and,by then a farm of 68 acres, was acquired in 1916 by Alexandra
Carlisle Pfeiffer,a British actress,and her husband Albert. The Pfeiffers raised sheep and it was probably they who put the
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES ❑see continuation sheet
Hales, John G. Plan of the Town of Lexington in the County of Middlesex., Boston: Pendleton's Lithography, 1830.
Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington. Revised and continued to 1912 by the Lexington Historical Society.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1913. 2: 706-07.
Lexington Valuation Lists. 1826-1845.
Middlesex Registry of Deeds. Deeds. Cambridge, MA. 265: 212; 1979: 86; 4064: 267; 6076: 2.
Title research on the Daniel Cummings Farm. In possession of Kathleen Wright, Lexington, MA.
Kathleen Wright. Personal communication 1998.
❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked,you must attach a completed National
Register Criteria Statement form.
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address
Lexington 241 Grove St.
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD 748, 749
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE (continued)
Colonial Revival additions on the house. After the marriage ended in divorce, Mr. Pfeiffer and his daughter Elizabeth
remained on the property,which they called the"Eanda Farm,"a contraction of their names"E[lizabeth] and A[lbert]." In
1936 the farm was acquired by Thomas C. Wright,who had previously lived on Winter St. in Lexington. Wright converted
the barn from livestock to poultry and farmed the land until the late 1940s. He began to sell off the land on the other side of
Grove St. a lot at a time during the 1940s and 50s except for the Carriage Rd. area, which was sold at one time to a
developer in the 1960s. Some of the 15 acres that remain are still farmed to supply produce for a summer farm stand.
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