HomeMy WebLinkAbouthayes-lane_0002 FORM B - BUILDING
Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 10048000202 Boston N. 667
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town Lexington
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Place (neighborhood or village)
Address 2 Hayes Ln.
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!! Historic Name Central Fire Station
' os Uses: Present V.F.W. Post
Original Fire Station
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Date of Construction 1875-1876
Source Lexington Town Reports
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Style/Form Italianate
Architect/Builder David A. Tuttle
Exterior Material:
Foundation Cement Block
to Wall/Trim Wood Shingle
Roof Asphalt Shingle
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures
Major Alterations (with dates)
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Condition Fair/Good
W08URNMoved El no ® yes Date 1949
`•ros. • -
Acreage 0.3 A.
Setting Next to the bikepath (formerly railroad tracks)at
the intersection of a heavily-trafficked and a quiet 19th-
Recorded by Nancy S. Seasholes century street
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.
2 Hayes Ln. is one of two former fire stations in Lexington and is more intact than the other,which was built in 1857 and is now a
residence at 6 Fletcher Ave. (MHC#669). This building is rectangular, one story,three-by-three bays, and front-gabled with a
side chimney. It is set on a cement block foundation, clad with wood shingles, and roofed with asphalt shingles. The center
entrance has a gabled hood; windows are 8/1 double hung sash. Decorative finishes are at the rear(the former facade)--a clipped
gable, brackets under the eaves, and a palladian-like window with a sunburst design in lieu of a semicircular light over the middle
window. On the north elevation is a small addition with a descending shed roof, presumably covering a flight of basement stairs.
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.
The building that is now the Lexington V.F.W. Post was once the second story of the fire engine house in Lexington Center,
located on Meriam St. This engine house was built in 1875-76 to house Lexington's new fire-fighting equipment—a"Babcock
Fire Extinguisher,"a hand-drawn chemical engine in which soda and acid were mixed to form a fire retardant, and a hook and
ladder wagon—and replaced the former engine house on Waltham St. (see 6 Fletcher Ave. [MHC#669] form). The town
purchased land on Meriam St. for a new engine house in 1875 and hired the prominent 19th-century Lexington builder David A.
Tuttle to build it. Tuttle's notes indicate the building was finished in 1876; the Town Reports say that the building was
sufficiently completed in the spring of 1876 for the fire companies to move in, but the second story, i.e.,this building,was still
unfinished in February 1877. A ca. 1892 photograph shows the building clad with clapboards and the clipped gable end on the
front, facing Meriam St. At that time the front of the second story, i.e., now the back of the building, had, in addition to the
brackets that still remain under the eaves,brackets at the corners, a window in the gable, and three single windows with tabs under
the sills and highly unusual window heads with an arched scroll-like molding and prominent keyblocks.
In 1911 the fire station was remodeled. At that time the wood first story was replaced with brick and the palladian-like window
was installed in the center of the second story. That may also have been when the original clapboards were replaced with wood
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES ❑see continuation sheet
Kelley, Beverly Allison. Lexington:A Century of Photographs. Lexington; Mass: Lexington Historical Society, 1980. 80-81.
Lexington Minute-man. 20 January, 1949.
Lexington Town Reports. for Year Ending Jan. 31, 1876, 27; for Year Ending Jan. 31, 1877, 39.
Sasher, F. Leonard. A History of the Lexington Massachusetts Fire Department. Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Firefighters
Union, 1977. 4, 11, 14-16.
Tuttle, David Ainsworth. List of buildings erected in Lexington. Presented to the Lexington Historical Society, April 4, 1904.
On file at Lexington Historical Society, Lexington, MA.
❑ 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 2 Hayes Ln.
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD 667
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE (continued)
shingles. The building continued to serve as the central fire station through many modernizations of equipment until 1947,
when it was replaced by the present central fire station on Bedford St. On January 14, 1949,the second story of the old fire
station was moved down Massachusetts Ave. on a flatbed truck to its present location,where it now serves as V.F.W. Post
No. 3007.
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