HomeMy WebLinkAboutmassachusetts-avenue_1948 F O II IVI B - B I_7 11,I)I N G In Area no. Form no.
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64
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°ss 1948 Mass Ave
it use Residence
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- it owner Bryant, Ellen
- tion:
1870's ( mansard)
,ce
Mansard- Colonial Revival
4. Map. Draw sketch of building location Architect
P
in relation to nearest cross streets and
other buildings. Indicate north. Exterior wall fabric White Clapboard
Outbuildings (describe ar ee derr-
Hip Roof With BBalust a�e , i ie Rear
Other features Mansarrd. Twin dou9rie brays-easF
CRMwest Ir _ _rl
sgra�e arc opriveway en ranee �•
Altered Colonial Rev. Date C t 92-5
�_� `� S --•-_. Moved Date
5. Lot size:
y,r',c'aK
Less than one acre X Over one acre
Approximate frontage 100,
Approximate distance of building from street
25 '
DO NOT WRITE IN THIS SPACE 6. Recorded by Ruth Beebe
USGS Quadrant
Organization Lex Hist. Com.
MHC Photo no.
Date August 18,1975
(over)
7. Original owner (if known)
Original use
Subsequent uses (if any) and dates
8. Themes (check as many as applicable)
Aboribinal Conservation Recreation
Agricultural Education Religion
Architectural Exploration/ Science/
The Arts settlement invention
Commerce Industry Social/
Communication Military Humanitarian
Community development Political . Transportation
9, Historical Significance (include explanation of themes checked above)
Portico supported by clustered Doric columns
Side & top lights on door
4 granite steps
Photograph from Lexington Library files shows this house with original mansard
roof. c. 1880
Same photograph appears in 1899 Lexington & Bedford Directory.
10. Bibliography and/or references (such as local histories, deeds, assessor's records,
early maps, etc.)
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Commtmity. Form No:
MASSACHUSETTS HI STORI CAL CU MI SS I ON y,
Office of the Secretary, Boston
Property Nam:1948 Massachusetts Ave
Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below.
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
This house is not on the 1853 map. Originally built as a Mansard, in the
last quarter of the nineteenth century and in the early 1900s was lived in by
Richard D. Blinn and his family. On the 1889 map it is listed in the name of
Mrs. R.D. Blinn.
Mr. Blinn was a railroad executive and at one time was the president of
the Lexington and West Cambridge Railroad. He seems to have departed Lexington
in the late 1800s and he died in 1906 in Chicago. However, his family stayed
on in the house and his wife and two unmarried daughters ran this house as a
boardinghouse for many years. Mr. Blinn had acquired considerable property in
the area behind his home on what is now Belfry Terrace and Forest Street, and
other isolated parcels of land. He organized the Belfry Hill Stock Farm with
the intention of developing his land with house lots and houses. He was not
successful.
Architect William Roger Greeley bought the house in 1925 and altered the
mansard roof into its present configuration.
S. Lawrence Whipple, 1984
Staple to Inventory form at bottom
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address
LEXINGTON 1948 MASS. AVE.
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD 64
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE:
From 1925 to his death in 1966 this was the home of prominent and lifelong Lexington resident William Roger Greeley.
Greeley was a prominent architect, conservationist and planner as well as a distinguished Unitarian layman. Greeley was
born in Lexington in 1881 and lived here for his entire life except for the year he served as architect of Camp Miles
Standish at the beginning of World War 11. He graduated with a B.S. in architecture from M.I.T. in 1902 and received his
master's degree the following year. Years later he received an honorary Doctor's degree from Boston University,where
he served as a trustee.
Greeley worked in the office of Boston architect R. Clipston Sturgis from 1903 to 1913 during which time he supervised
the construction of the marble wing additions to the Massachusetts State House. The rest of his career was spent with the
firm of Kilham, Hopkins, Greeley and Brodie, designing residences, city and town halls, libraries, schools and churches.
He was a president of the Boston Architectural Club,the Boston Society of Architects,the Mass. Federation of Planning
Boards,the New England Town Planning Association,the Massachusetts Trustees of Public Reservations and the Boston
Building Congress. Among the Lexington buildings designed by him are the Depot(renovations), Town Hall and office
buildings, an addition to the Cary Library, several houses including the one he built for his family at 38 Somerset Road,
Franklin School and the additions or renovations of Adams,Franklin,Hancock,Munroe, and Parker Schools.
W.R. Greeley was also involved in various town affairs. He was an active member of the Town Meeting for 62 years,
served on the Planning Board,was president of the Lexington Historical Society and moderator of his church,the First
Parish in Lexington.
In 1967 the property was acquired by Ellen Bryant,who still owns it today.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington. Cambridge: The Riverside Press Co., 1913,vol. 2, p. 251.
Lexington Minute-Man, October 13, 1966.
Middlesex County Register of Deeds, Cambridge,Mass.
Supplement prepared by:
Lisa Mausolf
July 2009