HomeMy WebLinkAbouthancock-street_0058 FORM B — BUILDING
Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 1006400134 Boston N. 734
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town Lexington
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Place (neighborhood or village)
i_
ito Address 58 Hancock St.
�l Historic Name Lorin Wetherell House
I '
{'' s Uses: Present Residential
Original Residential
Date of Construction 1872
Source Deeds
G �I
Style/Form Second Empire
Architect/Builder
r
Exterior Material:
._' Foundation Brick
`4
o Wall/Trim Wood Clapboard
a
Roof Slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures
Major Alterations(with dates)
/ l _ Enclosed secondary entry; rear porch (dates unknown)
Y I /
1
N Condition Good
_133tlis=► i�ocK _ Moved ® no ❑ yes Date
Acreage 0.6 A.
Setting At the fork of two heavily-trafficked residential
streets, one end of a neighborhood of large,high-style 19th-
Recorded by Nancy S. Seasholes and early 20th-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.
58 Hancock St. is one of the relatively few Second Empire cottages in Lexington and is a well-preserved example of its type. The
house is composed of a two-by-two bay block combined with a one-by-one bay block to make it a front-facing L in form, is 1'/Z
stories, and has a straight mansard roof and two small chimneys. The house is set on a brick foundation, clad with wood
clapboards, and roofed with slates. An open rear porch has been added at the rear. The main entry is on the front arm of the"L,"
a secondary enclosed entry is in the reentrant angle, and windows are 2/2 double hung sash. The flat-roofed dormers have
projecting molded cornices; there are paired brackets with pendant drops at the corners of the house and on the corners of the
three-sided, one-story front bay; and nulled brackets with pendant drops under the entry hood.
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 built in 1872 by Lorin Wetherell,whose son in 1874 married the daughter of Brooks Batcheller,who lived in the
house now at 53 Hancock St. (MHC#730). The lot on which this house stands had no buildings when Wetherell bought it in
April 1871 but did when he mortgaged it in June 1872, indicating this house had been built in the intervening year. Further
evidence for this construction date is Lorin Wetherell's tax assessment,which was for 3'/�acres and no house in 1871 but for 3'/z
acres and a house valued at$3000 in 1872. The house is on the site of an earlier one inhabited by Jonas Parker, who was killed in
the skirmish on the Lexington Common on April 19, 1775.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES ❑ see continuation sheet
Lexington Valuation Lists. 1871-1872.
Middlesex Registry of Deeds. Deeds. Cambridge, MA. 1181: 613; 1215: 489.
Worthen, Edwin B. to John Hovorka, 18 July 1956. 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.