HomeMy WebLinkAboutmassachusetts-avenue_2209 FORM B BUILDING Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
0 0 2252
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 50/184
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town/City: Lexington
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Place: (neighborhood or village):
Photograph
Address: 2209 Massachusetts Avenue
Historic Name:
Uses: Present: residential
Original: residential
Date of Construction: ca. 1918-30
Source: style, town directories
rr rte.
Style/Form: Colonial Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Front (fagade) and right side elevations Foundation: stone
Wall/Trim: wood clapboards and trim
Locus Map Roof- asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
H None
54-182 � 187
�' 541 ''v
5 1 Major Alterations (with dates):
Rear appendages (M — L 201h c?)
183A =184 a-185
Condition: excellent
,sow Moved: no ❑ yes ❑ Date:
—222fi 218 21.98—J2 � 50-
50 Acreage: 0.28
Setting: Located on busy arterial thoroughfare of
= Massachusetts Avenue in a heterogeneous residential
streetscape. Surrounding buildings are mainly L 191h—M
20th c construction.
Recorded by: Wendy Frontiero
Organization: Lexington Historical Commission
Date (month/year): September 2015
12/12 Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 2209 MASSACHUSETTS AVE.
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
0 2252
❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
If checked,you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.
Use as much space as necessary to complete the following entries, allowing text to flow onto additional continuation sheets.
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:
Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community.
2209 Massachusetts Avenue occupies a modest, mostly level lot that is heavily planted. The house is set near the center and
left side of the parcel, with a moderate front setback that is partly maintained in lawn. Small trees and shrubs are scattered
through the property. A brick walkway leads from the street to the front entrance. A driveway paved with concrete pavers
occupies the right side setback. The building consists of a rectangular main block with several side and rear appendages.
The main block rises 1 '/2 stories from a stone foundation to a front gable with saltbox form with slender gable returns. Walls are
sheathed with wood clapboards and trimmed with flat corner boards and a narrow flat fascia with a bed molding. Windows
typically have 6/6 double-hung sash with narrow band molding. The front fagade consists of the saltbox gable end and an offset
entrance in a shed roofed extension at the left. The gable end has paired windows on the left side and two single windows on
the right half of the first floor and paired windows centered under the ridgeline in the half story. The entrance vestibule contains
a classically pedimented cross-gable over a single-leaf door with half-height sidelights, fluted pilasters, and Greek key trim.
The right side elevation has two 6/6 windows towards the front of the main block, a band of two or three casement windows
towards the back, and a low cross-gabled dormer cut into the roof slope above. The left side elevation is two stories high, with a
flat(?) roof towards the back that pitches down to the entry vestibule. Its irregular fenestration includes a small greenhouse
window towards the back of the first floor and four windows of varied types and sizes on the second floor. The rear wall of the
main block has one window in the half-story of the main gable. A 1 '/2 story rear addition extends from the back left corner of the
house; a side gable with geometrically-decorated, raking fascia is visible on its right side elevation.
2209 Massachusetts Avenue is a well maintained building whose architectural eclecticism makes the nature of its historic
integrity uncertain at this time. The house is a picturesque pastiche of forms and details that may illustrate the diversity and
energy of early 20th century revivalism, or may result from a series of congenial evolutions across the 20th and/or early 21 st
centuries. The house is notable for its unusual massing, complex roof edge, front saltbox gable fagade, and carefully detailed
front entrance.
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.
Massachusetts Avenue was established in the 17th century as part of an early highway from Cambridge to Concord.
Development of this section of the road, west of Lincoln Street and the town center, was sparse, however, until the beginning of
the 201h century.
The geographic limitations of the historic maps and the change in street numbering systems make it difficult to ascertain the
construction and early 20th century occupants of 2209 Massachusetts Avenue. The first known occupants at this street address,
in 1930, were Richard and Helen C. Whittemore. Richard was a claims adjuster for an insurance company in downtown Boston
and was also proprietor of the Five Forks Filling Station in Lexington.
Subsequent residents, in 1945, included Lloyd F. Piper, described as a superintendent (previously a carpenter), and his wife
Emma W. They were accompanied here by Edgar F. Burbank, who was in the Marine Corps in that year, and Fredacia (sic)
Burbank, who worked at Raytheon. Walter Galenson, a professor, and his wife Marjorie lived in the house in 1955, but younger
Continuation sheet I
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 2209 MASSACHUSETTS AVE.
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
0 2252
generations of the Piper family were back by 1965, comprising Lloyd R., a civil engineer, his wife Ella L., and William F.
(presumably their son), an administrative officer.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Mason Membership Cards, 1733-1990 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com
Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: Massachusetts Grand Lodge of Masons Membership Cards 1733-1990. New England
Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts.
Boston directory: 1942.
Historic maps and atlases: Walling 1853; Beers 1875; Walker 1889; Stadly 1898; Walker 1906; Sanborn 1908, 1918, 1927,
1935, 1935/1950.
Lexington Comprehensive Cultural Resources Survey, Period and Area Summaries.
http://historicsurvey.lexingtonma.gov/index.htm Accessed Jul 23, 2015.
Lexington Directories: 1899, 1908-09, 1922, 1928, 1930, 1934, 1936.
Lexington List of Persons: 1935, 1945, 1955, 1965.
Massachusetts Historical Commission. "MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Lexington." 1980.
SUPPLEMENTARY IMAGES
• � ice' x'♦)` ,
Front(facade)elevation
Continuation sheet 2