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HomeMy WebLinkAboutmarrett-road_0410 FORM B — BUILDING Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number r +`' 0033000022 Boston N. 642 Town Lexington +' Place (neighborhood or village) f= Address 410 MarrettRd. x Historic Name Walter Wellington Farmhouse Vses: Present Residential t� Original Residential Date of Construction 1860 Source Tuttle list; Lexington Valuation lists Style/Form Italianate A Architect/Builder David A. Tuttle Exterior Material: t Foundation Fieldstone with concrete veneer Wall/Trim Wood Shingle ~a� , Roof Asphalt Shingle Outbuildings/Secondary Structures Garage ti Major Alterations(with dates) East rear addition (1990),west rear addition (1997) O �y5 y9 Condition Good Moved ® no ❑ yes Date Acreage 0.2 A. Setting On a very busy street in an area of early 20th- century houses Recorded by Nancy S. Seasholes Organization Lexington Historical Commission Date(month/year) April 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. 410 Marrett Rd. is one of a number of small Italianate farmhouses in Lexington but is distinguished by having been built by one of Lexington's most prominent 19th-century builders. The house is a rear-facing L,two stories, and cross-gabled with a rear chimney. It is set on a foundation of fieldstones with a concrete veneer,clad with wood shingles, and roofed with asphalt shingles. At the rear,there is a one-story shed-roofed addition on a concrete foundation on the east side and a hip-roofed addition with a full-width porch on the west. The main entry is under a gabled roof with exposed rafter ends;windows are 6/1 double hung sash. The tiny front-gabled one-car garage has exposed rafter ends and is clad with wood shingles. 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. This house was built in 1860 for Walter Wellington, who owned an 80-acre farm in the vicinity of Marrett Rd. and Spring St.that included both the Joseph Bridge House now at 419 Marrett Rd. (MHC#587)and the land on which this house is located. Surprisingly, this house was built by David A. Tuttle, one of Lexington's most prominent 19th-century builders. Tuttle was noted for more high-style houses, such as those at 315 Lincoln St. (MHC#598), 225 Waltham St. (MHC#460), and 17 Adams St. (MHC#700). But in the same period that he was building these,he was also evidently constructing some vernacular houses; other examples of the latter are at 21 Larchmont Ln. (MHC#764)and 23 Revere St. (MHC#760). And there is no question that Tuttle did build the house at 410 Marrett Rd. It is described in his 1904 list of buildings he had constructed in Lexington as "In 1860, House for Walter Wellington on Middle Street, now owned by Edward L. Payson,"and in 1860 Marrett Rd. was called Middle St. and Wellington owned the land as did Payson in 1904. The 1860 construction date is verified by the Lexington assessors' records,which show that Wellington added a house to his property in 1860. The original foundation was fieldstone;the concrete now visible on the exterior is simply a veneer. Walter Wellington, who was only distantly related to the Lexington Wellington family,was an important dairy farmer and also served as a selectman in 1869-1870 and as an assessor for 28 years. He sold the farm in 1870 to Edward F. Porter and it was BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES ® see continuation sheet Kelley, Beverly Allison. Lexington:A Century of Photographs. Lexington,Mass: Lexington Historical Society, 1980. 14. Lexington Directory. 1899, 1906. Lexington Valuation Lists. 1851-1861, 1880. Middlesex Registry of Deeds. Deeds. Plans. Cambridge, MA. 698: 492; 776: 188; 1118: 427; 1435: 204; 1492: 543; 1987: 207; 4168: 308; 4562: 396;4619: 18; Pl. Bk. 312, Pl. 513; Pl. Bk. 320, Pl. 21. Betsy Pollack, 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. INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address Lexington 410 Marrett Rd. MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 642 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 HISTORICAL NARRATIVE (continued) sold again in 1878 to James O'Brien; during this period Joe Dane and his family reportedly occupied the farmhouse at 410 Marrett. In 1890 Edward L. Payson, president of the Emerson Piano Company in Boston,bought the property and called it Grassland Stock Farm. Payson raised thoroughbred horses and built a huge bam for them at the southwest corner of Marrett Rd. and Spring St. where the Woodhaven Wallpaper and Paint store is now located. An ad in the 1899 Lexington Directory read: "Grassland. Golddust-Morgan horses. Horses Boarded Winter and Summer. Roadsters and Family Horses for Sale,thoroughly broken and safe. Visitors welcome." During Payson's ownership,the house at 410 Marrett Rd. was occupied by John Riley,the farm's stableman, and his family. Payson owned the farm until 1917. In 1922 the former Grassland Farm was acquired by Neil McIntosh, who divided it up into small house lots;the lot containing the house at 410 Marrett Rd. was sold in 1923. BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES (continued) Smith, George O. "The Milk Business and Milk Men of Earlier Days." Proceedings of the Lexington Historical Society 2 (1900): 194. Tuttle, David Ainsworth. List of buildings erected in Lexington. Presented to the Lexington Historical Society, April 4, 1904. On file at Lexington Historical Society, Lexington, MA. Worthen, Edwin B. Tracing the Past in Lexington, Massachusetts. New York: Vantage Press, 1998. 110-11.