HomeMy WebLinkAboutmarrett-road_0294 FORM B BUILDING Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
0 0 2247
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 32/776
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town/City: Lexington
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Place: (neighborhood or village):
Photo ra h
Address: 294 Marrett Road
Historic Name:
1 Uses: Present: residential
Original: residential
Date of Construction: ca. 1918-27
Source: historic maps
Style/Form: Craftsman
� Architect/Builder:
- Exterior Material:
Left side and front (facade) elevations
Foundation: fieldstone, poured concrete
Wall/Trim: wood shingles and trim
Locus Map Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
t. 50 Detached garage
Major Alterations (with dates).
Replacement windows (L 20th— E 21St c)
a
32- Condition: very good
Moved: no ❑ yes ❑ Date:
2 � Acreage: 0.14
6
-&5 5 Setting: Located on busy arterial thoroughfare, near a
873 main intersection with and modern commercial node at
* Waltham Street. Surrounding residential development is
F J 1 comparable in size, scale, and period, with consistent front
and side setbacks.
Recorded by: Wendy Frontiero
Organization: Lexington Historical Commission
Date(month/year): September 2015
12/12 Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 294 MARRETT ROAD
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
2247
❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
If checked,you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.
Use as much space as necessary to complete the following entries, allowing text to flow onto additional continuation sheets.
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:
Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community.
294 Marrett Road occupies a small lot that slopes up slightly from the street. The building has narrow front and right side
setbacks maintained in lawn, and a narrow paved driveway on the left side. A low fieldstone retaining wall lines the sidewalk
edge of the property.
The simple, rectangular house rises two stories from a fieldstone and poured concrete foundation to a very low-pitched, front
gable roof with exposed rafter ends at all eaves. Walls are clad with wood shingles. Windows typically have 6/1 double-hung
replacement sash and flat casings with narrow band molding. The front facade contains a recessed entrance porch in the front
left corner and a rectangular bay window with a shed roof in the right bay. The recessed entry comprises a Tuscan post and
pilaster supporting a flat fascia board, a single-leaf door with half-height sidelights, and wood steps. The bay window contains
four banded windows with transoms. On the second floor of the fagade, one window is centered above the entry porch and a
pair of windows is centered above the bay window. Three angled wood braces ornament the eaves.
On the right side elevation, a one-story, side-gabled appendage projects at the first floor and presents paired windows at both
visible faces. The flat wall of the main block has smaller paired windows towards the back of the first floor and two small
individual windows on the second floor. The left side elevation has irregular fenestration, including two windows on the first floor,
one mid-level at a stairway, and two single windows and a trio of small, square windows on the second floor.
Well preserved and well maintained, 294 Marrett Road is a modest yet spirited example of early 20th century suburban housing
in Lexington. The house is notable for its Craftsman style, the recessed entry porch and projecting appendages that enliven the
simple facades, and its articulated eaves.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
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.
Both Waltham Street and Marrett Road were established by the early 18th century as secondary radial highways from the center
of Lexington to surrounding towns. Present-day Marrett Road between Massachusetts Avenue and Spring Street was known as
Middle Street until at least the early 20th century, and the area was primarily agricultural up until that time.
New transportation systems established in the early 20th century opened up large areas of rural land in Lexington for residential
and commercial development. Street railway service began in Lexington in 1900 (including a railway line down Waltham Street
by 1906), replaced by bus lines in 1924. Two state roadways were designated in the town, including Marrett and Middle streets
as the Route 2A bypass in the 1920s, and parts of Mass. Ave., Woburn Street, and Waltham Street as components of an early
Route 128 in the 1920s and 30s. By 1921, 35 new residential subdivisions were being developed in Lexington. Small
commercial centers were established to service the expanding population at various cross roads, including what was known as
Grape Vine Corner at the intersection of Waltham Street and Marrett Road. Modest, affordable housing sprang up rapidly in this
outlying area of Lexington, meriting a plate in the Sanborn map in 1927, by which time the land bounded by Grapevine Avenue,
Stedman Road, Brookside Avenue, and Waltham Street was platted into a multitude of small, regular lots and about one-third
were developed.
A building is shown at 294 Marrett Road (then Middle Street) in 1927, although it is drawn with a full-length front porch and is
indicated to be only 1 story high. These may be inaccuracies of the mapmaker, as the date is consistent with the building's
Continuation sheet I
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 294 MARRETT ROAD
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
0 2247
style. The first known residents at this address were David Gaddis, retired, and his wife Sarah in 1934. David was a
harnessmaker by profession at least through 1927, when he and Sarah were living in Somerville. In 1945, the house was
occupied by Robert T. McClutchy, a "contact man" (an intermediary with the public), and his wife Florence G., an auditor. In
1955, David J. Harrigan, retired, and his wife Kathryn were living here; Kathryn was here by herself in 1965.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Historic maps and atlases: Walling 1853; Beers 1875; Walker 1889; Stadly 1898; Walker 1906; Sanborn 1908, 1918, 1927,
1935, 1935/1950.
Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1913.
Lexington Comprehensive Cultural Resources Survey, Period and Area Summaries.
http://historicsurvey.lexingtonma.gov/index.htm Accessed May 6, 2015.
Lexington Directories: 1922, 1934, 1936.
Lexington List of Persons: 1935, 1945, 1955, 1965.
Massachusetts Historical Commission. "MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report; Lexington." 1980.
Somerville Directories: 1927
U.S. Census: 1910, 1920.
SUPPLEMENTARY IMAGES
1
Front (fagade) and right side elevations Garage: Front (fagade) elevation
Continuation sheet 2