HomeMy WebLinkAbouthancock-street_0056 FORM B - BUILDING
Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
0064000133 Boston N. 733
Town Lexington
Place (neighborhood or village)
Address 56 Hancock St.
Historic Name Warren Duren House
Uses: Present Residential
Original Residential
� Date of Construction 1849
Source Deeds
Style/Form Greek Revival w. Colonial Revival additions
Architect/Builder
Exterior Material:
'i Foundation Fieldstone
Wall/Trim Wood Clapboard
Roof Asphalt Shingle
Y
/ Outbuildings/Secondary Structures Attached garage
Major Alterations(with dates)
Rear addition (date unknown)
I ` a
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o
Y I /
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-� � N
Condition Good
N
V
1331115 - _ Moved ❑ no ® yes Date 1899
Y
orb Y d Acreage almost 1 A.
Setting On a heavily-trafficked residential street in a
neighborhood of large,high-style 19th-and early 20th-
Recorded by Nancy S. Seasholes century houses
Organization Lexington Historical Commission
Date(month/year) January 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.
56 Hancock St. is a Greek Revival house that was moved from its original site across the street to its present location and then
given some Colonial Revival finishes; it is thus the only house of its type in Lexington. The house is rectangular in plan, 2%:
stories, five-by-two bays, side-gabled with two gabled dormers on the front slope of the roof, and has a large pilastered off-center
ridge chimney. It is set on a fieldstone foundation, clad with wood clapboards, and roofed with asphalt shingles. A rear addition
extends behind just the first story of the main block but is two stories in height because the land drops off behind the house. The
main entry is in the center of the facade and the windows are 6/1 double hung sash. Greek Revival finishes include the frieze
board across the facade,pilastered comerboards, and a pilastered door surround with full-length sidelights. Colonial Revival
details include the full-width porch hood with wide cornice molding and the flattened-arch-with-keyblock doors on the garage
attached to the north elevation.
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 the other side of Hancock St. on the lot where 55 Hancock St. (MHC#732) is now located. The
house was built in 1849 by Warren Duren,a Woburn cordwainer who in 1848 had married Mary Chandler(1819-1892)of
Lexington, daughter of the William Chandler from whom Duren bought the land. The house is dated by a mention in the deed for
the land, which Duren purchased in November 1849, of"the house said Duren is now erecting on said lot." The Durens owned
this house for the rest of the 19th century, selling it in July 1899 to George O. Whiting, who lived at what is now 8 Adams St.
(MHC#697). Whiting then moved this house across Hancock St. to its present location and,on the lot it had occupied, built the
house now at 55 Hancock St. for his daughter and her husband. It is thus likely that the Colonial Revival alterations to this house
were made at the time it was moved.
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 Mifflin, 1913. 2: 183-84.
Middlesex Registry of Deeds. Deeds. Cambridge, MA. 638: 279; 2751: 71.
Worthen, Edwin B. to Mrs. Bruce Currie, 16 February 1951. Worthen Collection. Cary Library,Lexington, MA.
❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked,you must attach a completed National
Register Criteria Statement form.