HomeMy WebLinkAboutmaple-street_0019 FORM B — BUILDING
Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 10030000103 Boston N. 648
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town Lexington
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Place (neighborhood or village)
Address 19 Maple St.
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Il Historic Name Hannah Estabrook House
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is Uses: Present Residential
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Original Residential
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Date of Construction 1837-1846 (under construction)
Source Deeds, Lexington Valuation lists
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Style/Form Federal
Architect/Builder
Exterior Material:
Foundation Fieldstone
to Wall/Trim Vinyl Siding
Roof Asphalt Shingle
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures
'• t Major Alterations(with dates)
°,�s - I / Rear addition, sun porch (dates unknown)
1 '
I , 6Condition Fair
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Moved ® no [:] yes Date
T Acreage 0.6 A.
1 Setting Very close to a heavily-trafficked street in a row of
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19-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.
19 Maple St. is one of a number of simple Federal houses in Lexington,though built much later than most; its architectural
integrity has been compromised by its siding and large rear addition. The house is rectangular, 2%x stories,five-by-one bays, and
side-gabled with two tall rear chimneys. It is set on a fieldstone foundation,clad with vinyl siding, and roofed with asphalt
shingles. At the rear is a large, flat-roofed three-story(the lot slopes down at the rear) five-by-one bay addition, part of which
extends beyond the east wall of the original house. On the west elevation is an enclosed sun porch. The center entrance surround
has fluted pilasters and a dentil course; windows are 6/6 double hung sash.
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 interesting that this house and the one next to it at 15 Maple St. (MHC#647),which were both built at the same time—this
one between 1837 and 1846 and the one next door in 1838—,are both unusual styles for the period—this one a Federal and 15
Maple an Italianate—and both built by single women. In 1835 a Joseph Estabrook of Shirley, Mass. bought the half acre parcel
on which this house is now located for$50 and in 1837 mortgaged the same parcel for$250; the deed does not mention buildings
but the increase in price in just one year suggests that there then was a house on the lot or at least that one was being built. When
Joseph sold the lot in 1838 to his recently-widowed mother,Hannah Estabrook(1778-1863), it was described as containing a
"dwelling house." The Lexington assessors' records do not, however,mention any house on the property until 1840 and say in
1844 that the house was "unfinished." But in 1846 Hannah was assessed an additional $150 for"betterments"and in 1847 the
value of the house had increased $158, so one can assume that the house was finally finished in 1846. After Hannah's death,the
house was sold to the wife of Eben Gammell (1817-1890), a carpenter,and at the turn of the century was owned by Charles T.
West,who lived on Forest St. so presumably rented out this house.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES ❑ see continuation sheet
Hudson, Charles. History ofthe Town of Lexington. Revised and continued to 1912 by the Lexington Historical Society.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1913. 2: 193-94.
Lexington Valuation Lists. 1836-1848.
Lexington Directory. 1887, 1894, 1899, 1906
Middlesex Registry of Deeds. Deeds. 351: 389; 363: 341; 369: 539; 1012: 406.
Worthen, Edwin B. Letter to Mrs. Curtis Elliott, 17 April 1950. Lexington Historical Society, Lexington, MA.
❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked,you must attach a completed National
Register Criteria Statement form.