HomeMy WebLinkAboutmarrett-road_0399 FORM B - BUILDING Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
Boston
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 33/109 North 1601
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town: Lexington
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Photograph
r.. Address: 399 Marrett Road
Historic Name: Edward S. Payson House
5.: Uses: Present: residential
Original: residential
Date of Construction: 1907
1_ , - Source: Minute-man, Aug. 31, 1907
399.
Style/Form: Colonial Revival
- _ - - Architect/Builder: unknown
Exterior Material:
Foundation: stone
Wall/Trim: vinyl siding
Roof: asphalt shingles
Topographic or Assessor's Map Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
sheds
7
��v 60, 4W ��o Major Alterations(with dates):
j J70 73bs Date?-siding, new windows, rear addition
18 706 7
9p a�Ro
7557
13 Condition: fair(due to siding)
411 3 Moved: no I x yes Date
Acreage: 0.57 acre
X622 asa
399 Setting: mixed residential along busy state road
Jo
,10
0--s"'0 400
00 1
405 OJ 1
404 \
W
NIS
Recorded by: Lisa Mausolf
Organization: Lexington Historical Commission
Date(month/year): January 2010
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 399 Marrett Road
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
1601
Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
If checked,you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:
Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community.
Located at the corner of Downing Road and Marrett Road, 399 Marrett Road is a 2 '/2-story, 3 x 2-bay, side-gabled structure
designed in a Colonial Revival style and dating to the early 20th century. The house is set on a mortared fieldstone foundation
and there is a stone patio in front. The house is presently sheathed in vinyl siding. Sheathed in asphalt shingles,the roof has
clipped gable Oerkinhead)ends and projecting eaves with exposed rafter tails. The center entrance is fronted by a single-bay
wide entrance porch supported by two pairs of Doric columns with a dentil molding along the porch roof. The center entrance
contains a glass-and-panel door and is flanked by sidelights and half round columns. Resting on the porch roof is a three-sided
bay, above which there is a hip-roofed dormer punctuating the front roof slope. There is a rounded,two-story projection on the
west end and a rectangular oriel window on the east end. The windows contain modern 1/1 sash. Behind the main house is a
two-story, hip-roofed ell with similar exposed rafters. An addition has recently been constructed on the west side of the ell.
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.
This house(earlier known as 403 Marrett Road)was constructed in the 1907 for piano manufacturer Edward S. Payson and his
wife Carrie and the couple lived here until they died(Worthen: 111). In 1890 Payson,president of the Emerson Piano Company
in Boston bought the property at 410 Marrett Road and 419 Marrett Road and called it Grassland Stock Farm. He bred
thoroughbred horses including Goldust-Morgan horses and Shetland ponies and built a huge barn for them at the southwest
corner of Marrett Road and Spring Street. In 1895 he was assessed for 26 horses. The house at 410 Marrett Road was occupied
by the farm's stableman and his family. The couple also maintained a residence on Huntington Avenue in Boston. In 1922 the
farm itself was acquired by Neil McIntosh who divided it up into small house lots. The lot containing 410 Marrett Road was
sold in 1923. In 1930 Edward and Caroline were still living in what is now 399 Marrett Road-he was then 87 years old and she
was 83. By 1932 Mrs. Payson was living here alone.
According to local historian Edwin Worthen,Mr. Payson was a leading figure in the efforts to make Esperanto the universal
language. He was also had a remarkable bass voice and at one time sang in grand opera. Mrs. Payson was a schoolteacher in
Boston and also sang opera(Worthen: 111). According to Mrs. Payson's will,the house passed to the Amanda Caroline Payson
Educational Fund for Girls. In 1935 the trustees sold it to Robert N.K. Svedeman. Later owners included Stephen&Beverly
Dreher(before 1968) and Charles& Cynthia Calvin(1968-1991).
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington. Cambridge: The Riverside Press Co., 1913,vol. 2,p. 520.
Kollen,Richard et al. Images ofAmerica: Lexington. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing,2001,p. 16.
Lexington Directories,various years.
Lexington Minute-man,July 25, 1890; 8/31/1907
U.S. Census,various years.
Worthen,Edwin B. Tracing the Past in Lexington, Massachusetts. New York: Vantage Press, 1998.
1906 map
Continuation sheet 1
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 399 Marrett Road
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
161
j• �+;ta �C LaW.�ncc k5
r
♦f'N.Bafryfst. .,�x �
f.S.forson
r
Detail, 1906 map
Continuation sheet 2