HomeMy WebLinkAboutlocust-avenue_0006 FORM B -BUILDING
Assessor's number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
30/80 Boston N. 1077
Town Lexington
Place (neighborhood or village)
Address 6 Locust Avenue
/ Historic Name Nelson Jenney Rental Property
' -- Uses: Present Residential
�T Original Residential
,ti r'a 4y
Date of Construction c.1893
Source Lexington Valuation Lists
Style/Form Queen Anne
Architect/Builder unknown
Exterior Material:
Foundation fieldstone
Wall/Trim wood clapboard, wood shingle
Roof asphalt shingle
1 9 Outbuildings/Secondary Structures
none
v0
Major Alterations (with dates) ---
\`mss
o \�
109/
\ Condition good
_ Moved ® no ❑ yes Date
Acreage 16,200 SF
Recorded by Lisa Mausolf Setting late 19th century residential neighborhood
Organization Lexington Historical Commission off Mass. Ave.
Date (month/year) May 2000
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
BUILDING FORM (6 Locust Avenue)
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION
Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of the building in terms of other buildings within the
community.
Shaded by a large maple tree, 6 Locust Avenue is a 2 1/2-story dwelling displaying a first floor sheathed in wood clapboards
with staggered butt shingles above. The house is set on a fieldstone foundation. The gablefront measures three bays wide
with 1/1 sash and a smaller pair of 1/1 windows in the attic. The facade is fronted by a single-story porch supported by
bulbous turned porch posts which are spanned by stick balusters. The sidehall entrance is marked by an enclosed vestibule
with a multi-glass outer door framed by sidelights. The inner door is of a glass-and-panel configuration. The pediment
marking the entrance is sheathed in vertical boards with a curved half-timber detail on the pediment and ends of the porch.
The east elevation displays a large gable wall dormer and is fronted by a smaller gable projection with the same sheathing and
foundation. The projecting gable is two bays wide on the upper level while the lower level displays a central window flanked
by smaller windows on the cutaway corners. There is an additional cross gable on the west elevation and a single-story wing
at the rear. A small rear porch has been added on the east side and is shaded by an arbor.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
Describe 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.
Thdhouse appears to have been constructed for Nelson Jenney as a rental property in the 1890s. In 1893 the P. Pierce heirs
sold the land to Jenney and by 1894 he was assessed for a house on Locust Street. The Lexington Minute-man of June 29,
1907 reported that Mrs. Francis Buttrick had just purchased a house and land on Locust Ave. from Nelson Jenney and that
the house was then occupied by the Clark family. Francis and Sarah Buttrick came to Lexington in October 1905.
Directories indicate that the Buttrick family was living at 215 Mass. Ave. in 1906 but were at 4 Locust Avenue by the time of
the 1908 directory. He was employed as a salesman and the family continued to live here into the 1950s when the property
was conveyed to Marie and Verner Dempsey.
The house was known as 4 Locust Avenue until the mid 1930s.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Lexington Assessors Records.
Lexington Directories, various dates.
Lexington Minute-man, May 12, 1893; 6/29/1907.
Lexington Valuation Lists, various dates.
)Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked,you must attached a completed
National Register Criteria Statement form.