HomeMy WebLinkAboutmassachusetts-avenue_0627 FORM F - BUILDING In Area no. Form no.
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION E 211
Office of me Secretary, State House, Boston
L 75
wn Lexington
3ress 627 Mass. Ave.
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;e c 1800• altered 1839
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Ivo✓I- t. 61
4. Map. Draw sketch of building location Architect (Curtis C��ell. builder for
in relation to nearest cross streets and remodeling 1839
other buildings. Indicate north. Exterior wall fabric r,1ToaYri
Outbuildings (describe) barn - sheds
Other features front windows & door detail
pic granite foundation, brick ends windows
with skirt frame to lengt en 'their -
�� appearance
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Altered Yes Date 1839
a Moved Date
5. Lot size:
pC ft£4 One acre or less Over one acre x
�$ � 0w Approximate frontage + 200'
Tim
Approximate distance of building from street
50'
DO NOT WRITE IN THIS SPACE 6. Recorded by E. W. Reinhardt
USGS Quadrant
Organization Lex. Hist. Com.
MHC Photo no.
Date 7/75
(over)
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9. Historical significance (include explanation of themes checked above)
Descrip- Columns - made in Lexington, Capitols carved in Boston. Ambrose Morell
French, skillful in dying & handling furs, lived, kept store here. Feather clapboarding
on rear.
History: Built by Francis Bowman, owned by Obadiah Parker, operator of town's first
private school.& Town Clerk. Financial difficulties led him to forgery & he skipped
town c. 1804. Morell, French political refugee. Skillful in dying & dandling furs
later acquired house. Friend of Emerson & Charles Follen. Daughter Elizabeth married
Otis Dana at Follen Church, Emerson officiating - Otis,brother of Richard Henry Dana.
Ellen Dana - daughter of this marriage. Miss Ellen Dana died 1913 (EW p.110) this house
and remainder of estate left to Lexington Home for Aged People (incorporated 1905 (EW p.10
with gift of $1090 from Elizabeth W. Harrington.) Dana property sold 1916. Home for Aged
buys 2027 Mass. Ave. (B-7) for "The Dana Home".
Ellen Dana prominent in cultural & social courses, friend of Julia Ward Howe.
Lafayette entertained by Morell when in Lexington in 1829.
10. Bibliography and/or references (such as local histories, deeds, assessor's records,
early maps, etc.)
Lex. Hist. Soc. Proceedings. Vol. 4 - 1908
"Architectural yesterdays in Lexington." - Fred Piper
Ed . Worthen Calendar History, 1620-1946
3/73
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address
LEXINGTON 627 MASS. AVENUE
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD 211
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:
The house at 627 Massachusetts Avenue is a unique structure, constructed c.1800 in the Federal style with brick ends and
center entrance but renovated into a Greek Revival temple-form dwelling in 1839 by carpenter Curtis Capell. The broad
triangular pediment extends the full width of the facade and projects forward, supported by four,two-story fluted Ionic
columns. The shafts were constructed in Lexington but the capitals were carved in Boston. The front windows were
apparently extended at the same time(Piper: 117). The door surround appears to be based on Plate XXVI of Asher
Benjamin's pattern book, The Practice of Architecture,published in 1833 (Reinhardt: 34). It is one of a number of
Asher Benjamin-inspired doorways which survive in East Lexington(see also 715, 782, 870, 884, 1106 Massachusetts
Avenue).
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE:
The house at 627 Massachusetts Avenue was constructed about 1803 by Obadiah Parker,the proprietor of a private
school on Pleasant Street. Parker left town due to financial difficulties c.1804 and the house was reportedly never
occupied until it was purchased by N.Ambrose Morrell, a French emigrant who came to Lexington before 1798 and was
engaged in the fur dressing business. He married Sally Holbrook in January 7, 1805 and they began their residence here
on their wedding day. The couple had five daughters. Elizabeth married Otis Dana in 1836 at Follen Church. Another
daughter, Sarah, married Abraham Millet in 1838. The house was renovated in 1839 and the changes to the house and
the laying out of the garden were planned by Sarah Millet(Piper: 117). Curtis Cappell was the carpenter in charge of the
work.
In 1880 the house was owned and occupied by Otis and Elizabeth Dana,their daughter Ellen, and Elizabeth's sister,
Sarah Millet. After Otis' death,Ellen Dana continued to live here with her mother and later,with servants. When Miss
Dana died in 1913 the house and the remainder of her estate were left to the Lexington Home for Aged People which was
incorporated in 1905. The house was sold in 1916 and the proceeds helped fund the purchase of 2027 Massachusetts
Avenue for"The Dana Home".
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington.
Lexington Directories, various dates.
Lexington Minute-man,March 18, 1892.
Middlesex County Register of Deeds, Cambridge,Mass.
Piper,Fred Smith. "Architectural Yesterdays in Lexington,"Proceedings of the Lexington Historical Society,vol. IV,
1912, p. 117.
Reinhardt, Elizabeth and Anne A. Grady. "Asher Benjamin in East Lexington,Massachusetts", Old-Time New England,
vol. LXVII, nos. 3-4, Winter-Spring 1977,pp. 34-35.
Worthen, Edwin B. Tracing the Past in Lexington, Massachusetts. New York: Vantage Press, 1998.
Supplement prepared by:
Lisa Mausolf
June 2009