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HomeMy WebLinkAboutjohn-wilson-lane_0001 FORM B - BUILDING Assessor's Nwnber USGS Quad Area(s) Form Nwnber MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 1001400111D Boston N. 638, 639 MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town Lexington BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Place(neighborhood or village) East Lexington Address 1 John Wilson Ln. Historic Name Gleason/Daisy Wilson Farm Uses: Present Residential Original Residential III IIIIIIII Date of Construction 1846 IIIIf IIIIIIII Source Lexington Valuation lists Style/Form Greek Revival Architect/Builder ' Exterior Material: n Foundation Granite �. 0) rA Wall/Trim Wood Clapboard Roof Asphalt Shingle Outbuildings/Secondary Structures Attached barn; Shed Major Alterations(with dates) New connector to barn constructed(1996) t, Condition Good so Moved ® no [:] yes Date I Acreage 2.8 A. Setting At the end of a small lane surrounded by the open fields that were once the associated farm and are now Recorded by Nancy S. Seasholes conservation land 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. 1 John Wilson Ln. is the only Greek Revival cottage in Lexington that is still surrounded by its original farmland. The house (MHC#638) is rectangular with a side ell, 1'/2 stories,three-by-four bays,and has a steeply-pitched front-gabled roof with two side chimneys. The ell is three bays long and has a similarly-pitched side-gabled roof. The house is set on a granite foundation, clad with wood clapboards, and roofed with asphalt shingles. On the west elevation of the ell, a three-bay addition on a granite foundation with a center gable on the south side and front gable on the north connects it to the barn. At the rear of this addition a side-gabled connector attaches a one-car gabled garage on a concrete foundation The barn(MHC#639), which faces west, is 2'/i stories, three-by-six bays, and front-gabled. The main entry, on the facade of the original house, is flanked by full-length sidelights; windows are 2/2 double hung sash. In addition to the sidelights, Greek Revival on the main block include a full entablature on the east elevation, paneled cornerboards, a full-width porch with fluted columns across the facade,and gabled dormers on the east slope of the roof and south slope of the ell roof. The interior has surprisingly elegant finishes for a vernacular farmhouse: a gracefully curving front stairway, pedimented window surrounds on the first floor with paneling that echoes that of the comerboards, and simpler pedimented window surrounds on the second. New finishes on the barn include double glass doors with transom lights in the facade and a small stained glass window in the gable pediment. The shed north of the house is rectangular, 1'/i stories,two-by-one bays with a steeply pitched front-gabled roof, it is clad with wood clapboards and on concrete posts. 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. Lexington assessors' records indicate that this house was built in 1846 by William Gleason (1805-1881),who in 1840 had purchased the I I-acre farm on which it is located from Stephen Robbins (1758-1847). Robbins had established a fur dressing industry in East Lexington in the early 19th century,thus contributing to the development of East Lexington as an early craft village, and passed the business on to his son Eli (1786-1856). In 1835 the latter built a three-story observation tower on Mt. Independence just northwest of what became the Gleason farm. It was said that one could see in all directions from this tower including, strange as it now seems, as far as Boston Harbor! Eli Robbins reportedly also built at least one road"at great expense" to the top of Mt. Independence and connected the two driveways to the summit with a walk an eighth of a mile long. The road was probably present Bridle Path Ln.,which once was part of a loop that went up the hill from Pleasant St. and down what is now Gibson St. to Massachusetts Ave. Robbins may also have built today's Fern St. The walk connecting the two roads to the summit still exists between two stone walls just west of the lot on which this house is located. In appreciation for Robbins' improvements to Mt. Independence,the East Villagers staged a Fourth of July celebration near the observatory, erecting a 200- foot long tent over a dance floor where dancing went on for three successive evenings. The observatory was also the site of a fair held in August 1839 to raise money for the completion of Follen Church. Again a tent was erected and the event went on for several days, featuring a supper for a dollar a plate, sale of ice cream and candies, rides to the Arlington line and back, and an auction. BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES ®see continuation sheet Bryant, Albert W. "Lexington Sixty Years Ago." Proceedings of Lexington Historical Society 2 (1900): 36-37. Clippings book. "Mt. Independence." Scrapbook of late 1940s—early 1950s clippings from Lexington Minute-man. In possession of Nancy S. Seasholes, Lexington, Mass. Frederica Cushman, personal communication 1998. ❑ 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 1 John Wilson Ln. MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD 638, 639 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 HISTORICAL NARRATIVE (continued) Once Gleason bought the land near the observatory and built his house,however, celebrations on Mt. Independence apparently ceased, or at least are not reported in antiquarian accounts. Gleason,who was reportedly a"remarkably brilliant shot with the telescope rifle,"served in the Civil War as a captain of the sharpshooters. When he returned to Lexington he continued to farm the 11 acres near the summit of Mt. Independence; after his death the farm was leased and in 1890 the Lexington Minute-man noted that"the location is high and has been found a pleasant, retired place for summer boarders." In 1904 Gleason's daughters Harriet Jenney and Abbie Brown sold the farm to George Wilson,a cousin of the Wilsons who farmed the land at the corner of Pleasant St. and Massachusetts Ave. George, and later his son John A., continued to farm at the top of the hill; until the 1950s hay was grown in the large meadow north of the house and market vegetables—squash, cabbage,tomatoes, carrots, beets, beans,tomatoes, and lettuce—in the meadow south of the house. In 1926 John A. Wilson deeded the farm to his wife, Daisy, but when she died in 1969 none of their children could take over the property. Plans were made in the 1970s to develop the land into as many as 18 houselots, but a group of about 70 neighbors joined to` form Meadowland, Inc.,bought the entire parcel in 1978, sold three house lots (including the one on which this house and its outbuildings are located) in order to finance the venture, and in 1987 sold the remaining eight acres to the Lexington Conservation Commission, creating the Daisy Wilson Farm conservation area on the land around this house. The trials of the Daisy Wilson farmhouse were not over,however. A fire in the late 1970s seriously damaged the front of the house and ell. The house was then acquired by an architect,who began renovating it, and then, in 1995 by the present owners. These owners completely renovated the house; repaired the exterior of the ell,putting it on its present granite foundation (it was formerly on the ground), and remodeled the interior;demolished the one-story connector between the ell and barn, replacing it with the present connector,which is on a foundation of granite pieces found on the property; moved an extension of the ell to its present location north of the house,where it now functions as a shed; and covered the historical clapboards of the barn with new ones, adding insulation between the new siding and old. To the barn they also added the large glass door and transom lights on the facade and windows on the south elevation and installed a window found on the property in the east gable pediment. The original post-and-beam construction on the interior of the barn was left exposed. BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES(continued) Hinkle, Alice. "Daisy Wilson: A Cooperative Adventure." Lexington Minute-man, 18 June 1981. Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington. Revised and continued to 1912 by the Lexington Historical Society. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1913. 2:242, 580-81. Lexington Valuation Lists. 1840-1848. Middlesex Registry of Deeds. Deeds. Cambridge, MA. 398: 471. Sileo, Thomas P. Sileo.Historical Guide to Open Space in Lexington. Lexington, Mass.: Thomas P. Sileo, 1995. 275- 78. Smith, A. Bradford. "History of the Stone Building." Proceedings of the Lexington Historical Society 2 (1900): 146, 151. Smith, George O. "Reminiscences of the Fur Industry."Proceedings of the Lexington Historical Society 2 (1900): 179. INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address Lexington 1 John Wilson Ln. MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING L 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD 638, 639 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Roll 46,Negative#16