HomeMy WebLinkAbouthibbert-street_0021 FORM B BUILDING Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
0 0 2233
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 13/4
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town/City: Lexington
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Place: (neighborhood or village):
Photograph
Address: 21 Hibbert Street
Historic Name:
Uses: Present: residential
Original: residential
�� ■� Date of Construction: ca. 1898
1, Source: historic maps, style
-- u Style/Form: Queen Anne/Colonial Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: fieldstone
Front (east)and left side (south) elevations
Wall/Trim: vinyl siding and trim
Locus Map Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
None
q
" ] ,l ��-�-— Major Alterations (with dates).
I I' Artificial siding (L 20th c
� Condition: good to fair
_ e- Moved: no ❑ yes ❑ Date:
Acreage: 0.06 (part of the lot is in Arlington)
= m Setting: Located on a residential side street near the main
thoroughfare of Massachusetts Avenue, on the Arlington
,8 �•E,� town line. Dense hillside neighborhood with buildings of
■ m + varying size and scale and predominantly early to mid-20th c
construction.
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 21 HIBBERT STREET
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
0 2233
❑ 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.
21 Hibbert Street occupies a small narrow lot, most of which is situated in the Town of Arlington. The street slopes gently up
from right to left in front of the house, and the lot slopes up very slightly from the street. The house is positioned slightly to the
north side of it parcel, with modest setbacks that are maintained chiefly in lawn with scattered shrubs and small trees. Asphalt-
paved driveways are situated on both sides of the building. A concrete walkway extends from the sidewalk to the front
entrance.
The simple rectangular block rises 2 '/2 stories to a front gable roof with gable returns and a center chimney located at the
ridgeline. Walls are clad with vinyl siding and trim. The second story walls flare out slightly at the base. Windows typically have
1/1 or 2/2 double hung sash. The two-bay front fagade has a substantial angled bay window on its southern half, which rises
two stories to a gable roof with prominent gable returns; it has one window on each face on each floor. The northern half of the
facade contains an off center entrance with a wood staircase, single-leaf door, and small square porch with paneled square
posts supporting a low hip roof. A single 1/1 window is located above at the second story.
The north (right side) elevation contains four regularly spaced windows on each story. The asymmetrical south (left side)
elevation has three double hung windows on each floor and a small awning window near the center on each floor.
Well preserved, 21 Hibbert Street is representative of early 20th century, middle class suburban housing in Lexington. The
house is notable for its bold fagade massing, flared second story walls, and decorative porch.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
Discuss the history of the building. Explain its associations with local(or state)history. Include uses of the building, and the roles) the
owners/occupants played within the community.
The small grid of streets bordered by Massachusetts Avenue, Hibbert Street, Taft Avenue, and Bowker Street represents an
early area of suburban infill in East Lexington, near the Arlington town line. Immediately south of Taft Avenue is Liberty Heights
(LEX.Q), a hilltop subdivision laid out by Brookline developer Jacob W. Wilbur in 1909 and developed in the teens and twenties.
The growth of both these neighborhoods followed the arrival of the electric street railway on Massachusetts Avenue in 1899 and
was directed at working class residents.
In the area adjacent to Massachusetts Avenue known as Dexter Hillside, Hibbert and Sylvia streets, which straddle the
Lexington/Arlington line, were laid out, platted, and partially developed by 1898. The only other evidence of development here at
that time is the L-shaped beginning of Charles and Cherry streets, where ten house lots were laid out but vacant. By 1927, both
Charles and Bowker streets extended from Massachusetts Avenue to Taft Avenue, and the western ends of Cherry Street,
Stevens (then Cary) Road, and Camden (then Smythe) Street pushed a few lots eastward from Charles. Development was
gradual through the 1920s and 30s and was virtually complete, with the present network of streets, by 1950.
The Dexter Hillside development was conceived by Nathan Dexter Canterbury(1837-1912), who in 1895 began development of
a large farm previously owned by Micajah Locke. A resident of Weymouth, Canterbury was a shoe and boot manufacturer,
founded the East Weymouth Savings Bank and two Weymouth newspapers, and served as a state representative. Streets were
given the middle names of Canterbury and his family. As reported by a local newspaper,
Continuation sheet I
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 21 HIBBERT STREET
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
0 2233
"'Dexter Hillside' attracted many Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe who moved from densely populated areas of
Boston to what was then a suburban outpost. In 1916, an Orthodox synagogue, Temple B'nai Jacob, was built on the
Lexington section of Sylvia Street. It served members for three decades and closed after younger generations of early
residents moved from the neighborhood, ending its unique Jewish identity." (Arlington Advocate, May 2, 2011)
The house at 21 Hibbert Street seems to be depicted on the historic maps as early as 1898, and appears originally to have been
numbered 37. The first known residents, in 1918, were Henry E. Walker, who worked as a chauffeur, fish dealer, and a
salesman in Boston, and his wife Isabel. In 1930 and 1935, John J. Coleman, inspector in a shoe factory, rented an apartment
here with his wife Catherine; both were born in Canada. In 1945, residents included Joseph D'Arrigo, who was employed as a
foreman in a clothing factory and later worked in a hospital, and his wife Sylvia F; both were born in Italy. Joseph and Sylvia had
four children, the eldest of whom worked as a construction laborer and was serving in the armed forces in 1945. Also in that
year, Mario A. DiLuzio, a welder, and his wife Margaret were living at this address.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Arlington Directories: 1918.
Duffy, Richard. "Sylvia and Rublee echo with family connection". Arlington Advocate, May 2, 2011.
Historic maps and atlases: Walling 1853; Beers 1875; Walker 1889; Stadly 1898; Walker 1906; Sanborn 1908, 1918, 1927,
1935, 1935/1950.
Lexington Comprehensive Cultural Resources Survey, Period and Area Summaries.
http://historicsurvey.lexingtonma.gov/index.htm Accessed Jul 23, 2015.
Lexington Directories: 1899, 1908-09, 1918, 1922, 1926, 1934, 1936.
Lexington List of Persons: 1935, 1945, 1955, 1965.
Massachusetts Historical Commission. "MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Lexington." 1980.
. Form A— Liberty Heights, LEX.Q. Prepared by Anne Grady and Nancy Seasholes, 1984 and 2001.
U. S. Census: 1920, 1930, 1940.
Continuation sheet 2