HomeMy WebLinkAbouthill-street_0058 FORM B BUILDING Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
0 0 2235
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 57/114A
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town/City: Lexington
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Place: (neighborhood or village):
Photograph
Address: 58 Hill Street
Historic Name:
Uses: Present: residential
Original: residential
Date of Construction: ca. 1955-60
Source: town directories
Style/Form: Mid-20th Century Modern
Architect/Builder: unknown
Exterior Material:
Front(fagade)and right side elevations of house; front Foundation:
fagade of garage
Wall/Trim:
Locus Map Roof-
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Z °4L
Condition:
^' Moved: no ❑ yes ❑ Date:
* Acreage: 0.52
Setting: Located on a winding residential street with
heterogeneous development of varied periods, styles, and
± ' scales. Opposite Lexington Golf Club.
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 58 HILL STREET
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
0 2235
❑ 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.
58 Hill Street is built on a hillside at a wide bend in the road. The largely wooded lot rises steeply up from the street, with the
house set at an angle to the road. A detached garage is situated at street level, at the back of a short strip of pavement that
extends the width of the garage. A narrow stairway constructed of concrete steps with bluestone treads rises from the driveway
to the main house, framed by the garage on one side and a retaining wall of flat stone and landscape timbers on the other.
The house consists of a roughly rectangular block that rises two stories (including a fully raised basement)from a poured
concrete foundation to a butterfly roof that defines two distinct sections of the building. Walls are clad with vertical wood boards.
Windows are a variety of banded picture windows and casement sash, without trim. The front facade elevation, oriented
towards the garage, contains an off-center entrance on the lower level with a single-leaf flush panel door. Centered above is a
very narrow band of five glazed openings, which may be fixed or awning sash.
On the long right side elevation, the upper story is cantilevered over the raised basement under the left shed roof. On the other
end of this elevation is a tall, screened porch with widely overhanging eaves. The only feature visible on the left side elevation is
a deep overhanging roof towards the front. The back elevation is not visible from the street.
Built into the hillside, the detached garage has a shallow shed roof that slopes up to the front, supported by poured concrete side
walls. Its two vehicle bays have flush panel wood doors.
Well preserved and well maintained, 58 Hill Street is a refined example of mid-century modern housing in Lexington. It is
notable for its secluded siting, carefully integrated with the topography; long, butterfly shed roofs; reserved fagade composition;
banded horizontal fenestration; vertical board siding; and original/early garage.
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.
Established by the early 18th century, Hill Street is a country road that provided an important connection between the radial
highway of Bedford Street and western Lexington; it also formed a section of an old route between Concord and Salem.
Sparsely developed through the 19th century, Hill Street contained no more than three houses by 1906. The arrival of street
railway service along Bedford Street in the first decade of the 20th century may have been the inspiration for limited new
development over the next few decades. Most of the present buildings are mid to late 20th century. Catering to wealthy
(summer) residents, the Lexington Golf Club was established in 1895 and began operating at the Vaille Farm on Hill Street in
1899. (The 1906 map identifies the "Del Corde House" at the center of that large undeveloped tract of land.)
The house at 58 Hill Street was built between 1955 and 1960. The first known occupants were Leo Dunn, a lawyer, and his wife
Helen W., who resided here in 1960 and 1965.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Continuation sheet I
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 58 HILL STREET
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
0 2235
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://historicsurveV.Iexingtonma.gov/index.htm Accessed Jul 23, 2015.
Lexington List of Persons: 1955, 1960, 1965.
Massachusetts Historical Commission. "MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Lexington." 1980.
SUPPLEMENTARY IMAGES
- yr
Front facades of garage and house Assessors' photograph:
Front(fagade) and right side elevation of house
x. 4 -'
t -
W.
Right side elevation Garage: Left side and front(fagade) elevations
Continuation sheet 2