HomeMy WebLinkAboutmarrett-road_0419 AREA FORM NO.
FORM B - BUILDING 587
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
294 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON, MA 02108
k to Lexington
� R 3 ress 419 Marrett Road
toric Name Joseph Bridqe House
- Present residential
- _ Original residential
ESCRIPTION:
R e c. 1722
Source Edwin B. Worthen, Jr.
SKETCH MAP
Show property's location in relation Style Early second-Period
to nearest cross streets and/or
geographical features. Indicate Architect
all buildings between inventoried
property and nearest intersection. Exterior wall fabric clapboards
Indicate north.
Outbuildings garage
�oR�
Major alterations (with dates) wing to
❑ �P�� the right removed (date unknown)
Li
Moved Date
Approx. acreage 28000 ft.2
Recorded by Anne Gradv Setting At a busy corner on state
OrganizationLexington Historical Commission highway; residential zone to the east;
Date April, 1984 small commercial area immediately to the
west.
(Staple additional sheets here)
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE (Describe important architectural features and
evaluate in terms of other buildings within the community.)
This is one of two early Second Period houses in Lexington which retain
an integral lean-to in its original configuration (the Whittemore Muzzey house
on Marrett Street in Minute Man Park is the other) . Second Period Vernacular
features include small narrow windows placed with the outermost two grouped
closer together, clapboards with narrow weather, and panelled pilasters at the
entry (an added porch has obliterated the entablature over the door visible in
an early photograph) . There is evidently raised-field panelling in several
locations on the interior.
(see Continuation Sheet)
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE (Explain the role owners played in local or state
history and how the building relates to the development of the community.)
This property was part of the acreage amassed by the Bridge family in the
seventeenth century. Before his death in 1738, Matthew Bridge, Jr. had given
a house and 100 acres of farmland to each of his four sons (see 271 Marrett Road
form for a fuller account of the Bridge family) . Second son, Joseph Bridge
(b. 1698, d. 1778) received this house. It was built, according to Worthen, in
1722. This would be the approximate time of Bridge's marriage to Abigail Cutler.
Joseph did not hold public office in Lexington as many of the Bridges did, but
devoted his time to farming.
From 1817 until the end of the third quarter of the nineteenth century,
the Wellington family farmed this area. Nehemiah Wellington was the first of
the family to reside here. He served as assessor in 1840, selectman in 1841,
and was Representative to the General Court in 1836 and 1838.
From the late nineteenth century until the 1920s, the Grassland Stock Farm
was operated here. It was owned by Edward Saxton Payson who was a piano manu-
facturer with offices in Boston.
In the 1920s the farmland was subdivided and the Grasslands development
begun (see 1 Grassland Street form for further information) .
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BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES (name of publication, author, date and publisher)
Kelley, Beverly Allison. Lexington, A Century of Photographs, p. 14. Boston:
Lexington Historical Society, 1980.
"Kite End. " Proceedings of the Lexington Historical Society, Volume II, pp. 99-
122. Lexington, Massachusetts: Lexington Historical Society, 1900.
Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington, revised and continued to
1912 by the Lexington Historical Society, Volume II, pp. 520, 55. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1913.
Letter from Edwin B. Worthen, Jr. and Anita P. Worthen to the Lexington Planning
Board, November 2, 1964.
Worthen, Edwin B. , Jr. "The Bridge Family and Lexington. " Written for the use
of the Lexington School Committee, 1964.
10NI - 7/82
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community: Form No:
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL CCM1ISSION Lexington 587
Office of the Secretary, Boston
Property Name: 419 Marrett Road
Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below.
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE
For some reason (perhaps a fire) a four-bay-wide, one-room-deep addition
to the right visible in the early photograph (Kelley 1980:14) has been removed.
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till
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Staple to Inventory form at bottom