HomeMy WebLinkAbouthill-street_0032 FORM B — BUILDING Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
57/107 Boston
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION North
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Town: Lexington
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Photograph
Address: 32 Hill Street
Historic Name: Leon & Jane Lipshutz House
- y Uses: Present: residential
Original: residential
Date of Construction: 1950
Source: deeds
r Style/Form: Contemporary
I � Architect/Builder: Leon Lipshutz
f Exterior Material:
Foundation: concrete block
Wall/Trim: wood shingles
Topographic or Assessor's Map Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
none
t,3.r
- — Major Alterations(with dates):
4 Date? -additions
r
Condition: good
f Moved: no x yes Date
Acreage: 0.45 acre
o
Setting: mixed residential
Recorded by: Lisa Mausolf
Organization: Lexington Historical Commission
Date(month/year): January 2010
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 32 Hill Street
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
If checked,you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:
Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community.
Although altered,this house was constructed in 1950 by architect Leon Lipshutz for his own use and significant as a precursor to
later contemporary designs including the houses at Conantum in Concord and later,the Techbuilt house. The house is capped by
a gable roof displaying a considerable overhang and rests on a cinder block foundation. Exterior walls are now sheathed in
wood shingles and windows include double-hung units and large fixed glass windows which are without trim. There is an
attached carport.
The design of the house was described by fellow architect Carl Koch:
Leon had recently built himself a house in Lexington,three stories high, at a cost which was about half as much per
square foot as the typical custom house. The ways in which he had saved his money were various. They originated
mainly from his remarkably close knowledge of building supplies and processes. He determined on a simple shape—the
classic"house shape"in fact,with a pitched roof and four straight outside walls. He planned it so that it might be built
on a slope with a livable first floor/basement, of which one side was mostly window. The dimensions of his roof and
rooms were determined no more on aesthetic principles than by question of what sizes of lumber were available, and
could be used without cutting or waste. The gable ends of the house were mostly glass;this made the third story,under
the roof,bright and usable,without cutting the roof line for dormers. All his double-hung window units were of the
same size. Most structural members were planned so as to require no finish, and to act as trim. (Koch,At Home with
Tomorrow: 133)
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
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 designed by architect Leon Lipshutz for his own family in 1950. Lipshutz was a partner in the office of Carl
Koch&Associates,best known for the Techbuilt and other prefabricated homes. The house was an important influence on the
firm's designs for the Conantum residential development in Concord in 1951. As Koch later recalled:
The way we arrived at the design of the house was sort of interesting. Leon Lipshutz in my office wanted a home of his own,and he
decided to see how efficient and economical a house he could plan without having a site to put it on. This was sort of backwards
from all of my architectural training. In most architecture,you fit the house to the site. They had to come together. So he did plan a
house and then bought a site in Lexington. So we decided if we were going to work Conantum the way we thought it could be
worked,it would be to have the owners actually be the investors. They would select a lot and select a house. They would have a
chance at least of looking around. If they wanted a house with a basement,we wanted to be sure they didn't pick a site that was solid
ledge everywhere.As with Leon's house,we had managed to make the lower level a very livable level by the house being sited on a
slope so that half of the foundation was exposed almost down to the basement level.
In Lexington, Carl Koch&Associates is best known for the collection of Techbuilt Houses at Middle Ridge/Turning Mill(see
Area I), designed in 1955. Lipshutz continued to own this house until 1989.
Continuation sheet 1
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 32 Hill Street
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Garrelick,Renee. Interview with Carl Koch,August 10, 1992,part of the Concord Oral History Program.
http://www.concordlibrary.org/scollect/Fin_Aids/OH_Texts/Koch.html
Koch, Carl and Andy Lewis. At Home with Tomorrow. New York: Rinehart& Company,Inc., 1958
Lexington Assessors Records.
Middlesex County Registry of Deeds.
Continuation sheet 2