HomeMy WebLinkAboutlowell-street_0477 FORM B - BUILDING
Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 10054000146 Boston N. 665
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town Lexington
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Place (neighborhood or village)
Address 477 Lowell St.
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to
'll Historic Name Oliver C. Rogers House
IIIIs Uses: Present Residential
Original Residential
lllIIIIINIII " Date of Construction ca. 1839
Source Deeds
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Style/Form Greek Revival
Architect/Builder
I,Il�lil„I,
Exterior Material:
Foundation Concrete
to Wall/Trim Wood Clapboard
II �� Roof Asphalt Shingle
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures
Major Alterations(with dates)
I e ` y( ��'t Dormers,entry roof, side addition(dates unknown)
II �'
lt"., Condition Good
\Moved ❑ no ® yes Date 1976
Acreage 0.7 A.
Setting On an open lot facing a major street with constant
traffic lined with modest 20th-century houses
Recorded by Nancy S. Seasholes
Organization Lexington Historical Commission
Date(month/year) February 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.
477 Lowell St. is one of only 10 side-gabled Greek Revival cottages in Lexington and is very well-preserved; its architectural
integrity is compromised only by the additions and the fact that it was recently moved to this location. The house is rectangular,
1'/a stories, five-by-two bays,and has a side-gabled roof and rear metal chimney pipe. It is set on a concrete foundation, clad with
wood clapboards,and roofed with asphalt shingles. The shed dormers in front and back,pedimented entry with Tuscan posts,and
one-story side-gabled side addition are later additions. The center entrance has full-length sidelights;other Greek Revival finishes
include the comerboards and the frieze boards across the front and rear.
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.
Until 1976 this house was located in Woburn on the south side of Lexington St. approximately where Strawberry Lane is now.
The house was probably built about 1839 after Oliver C. Rogers,a farmer, bought the 20-acre parcel on which it seems to have
been located, although in 1837 Rogers had also bought 136'/. acres in the same area, so the date of construction is not entirely
clear. Rogers, who moved to Woburn from Tewksbury, did not live in this house very long,however, for in 1851, by then
described as a"gentleman,"he sold it to a trader from Salem,who, in turn, moved to Woburn and sold the house the next year to a
"gentleman"from Beverly. That owner also moved to Woburn, selling this house in 1854 to a"gentleman"from Wayland,who
sold it in 1857 to a Samuel Barnes, a farmer from Sandwich, Massachusetts. In 1873 Barnes' heirs sold the farm to an Origen B.
Darling, who owned it until the end of the century. For much of the 20th century the house and farm were reportedly owned by the
Walker family. In the mid-1970s the land around the house was about to be developed and the house demolished, but a member of
the Porter family,who had grown up in the house across the street, acquired the house and moved it to Porter land in Lexington
(see 455 Lowell St. f MHC#664] form).
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES ❑ see continuation sheet
Middlesex Registry of Deeds. Deeds. Cambridge, MA. 409: 465; 361: 226; 618: 198; 638: 453; 703: 77; 767: 257; 1263: 258.
Vi Pike, 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.