HomeMy WebLinkAboutindependence-avenue_0018 FORM B - BUILDING
Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 10022000110 Boston N. F-71 644, 645
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town Lexington
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Place (neighborhood or village) East Lexington
Address 18 Independence Ave.
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11 Historic Name
�s Uses: Present Residential
Original Residential
Date of Construction ca. 1860
Source Stylistic analysis
{` W) ® Style/Form Italianate
Architect/Builder
I
Exterior Material:
I W-, Foundation Brick
k 1,1 I
to Wall/Trim Wood Clapboard
Roof Asphalt Shingle
05
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures Barn
Major Alterations(with dates)
Side addition (date unknown)
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oil1 Condition Good
Moved M no ❑ yes Date
Acreage 0.3 A.
Setting At the base of a steep hill on a side street with mid-
19th-century houses
Recorded by Nancy S. Seasholes
Organization Lexington Historical Commission
Date(month/year) April 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.
18 Independence Ave. is one of a number of well-preserved side-gabled center-entrance Italianates in Lexington; it is distinguished
by the existence of its barn and the unusual placement of its rear ell. The house(MHC#644) is rectangular with a rear ell,2'/:
stories,three-by-one bays, and side gabled with an exterior chimney at the junction of the main block and the ell and an interior
chimney at the intersection of the house and ell. The ell is shed-roofed, two stories,three-by-one bays and thus extends across the
entire rear of the house. The house is set on a brick foundation, clad with wood clapboards, and roofed with asphalt shingles. At
the south end of the ell is a side-gabled,two-by-one bay,one-story addition. The main entry is in the center of the facade,there is
a secondary entry in the addition, and windows are 6/6 double hung sash. The barn(MHC#645)at the rear of the property is 1'/s
stories, side-gabled and has an original barn door;at the north end is a one-by-two bay side-gabled addition with a front chimney
and a garage door at the basement level.
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.
It is not clear exactly when this house was built nor by whom, for it has not been possible to trace its original owner in the deeds.
Worthen calls it the Fletcher House, but he may have been referring to its owners in the 1940s. He also says that it was once
occupied by Franklin Alderman, who carried on a butchering business there before buying the house now at 109 Massachusetts
Ave. (MHC#634) in 1871. The 1875 map of East Lexington indicates that this house was then occupied by"C. Butterfield."
But neither Fletcher, Alderman, nor Butterfield are listed as grantees of this property in the 1850s, 60, or 70s, nor is Frank D.
Pierce, who is shown as the owner on an April 1915 plan. The problem,Worthen wrote in 1956, is that this land was part of the
Robbins-Stone estate and became tied up in its holdings, sales, and foreclosures. Worthen added that since this house is not shown
on an 1855 map of the Bowman Tavern estate, which included this land, it must have been built after that date. The style of the
house,which is similar to that of other three-bay side-gabled Italianate farmhouses such as the one at 21 Larchmont Ln. (MHC
#764),which was constructed in 1855, suggests that it was built in the 1850s or 60s. The unusual placement of the rear ell across
the entire rear of the house instead of perpendicular to it may be an accommodation to the house's location at the base of a very
steep slope.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES ❑see continuation sheet
Beers, F. W. CountyAtlas ofMiddlesexMassachusetts. New York: J.B. Beers &Co., 1875. East Lexington plate.
Middlesex Registry of Deeds. Deeds. Cambridge, MA. 11527: 34; 3959: end.
Worthen, Edwin B. Tracing the Past in Lexington, Massachusetts. New York: Vantage Press, 1998. 47.
. Letter to Mrs. Olive M. Wheeler, 9 August 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.
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address
Lexington 18 Independence Ave.
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD 644, 645
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
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Roll #17,Negative#27