HomeMy WebLinkAboutmeriam-street_0040 FORM B BUILDING Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
56/168A 0 0 2144
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town/City: Lexington
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Place: (neighborhood or village):
Merriam Hill
Photograph
Address: 40 Meriam Street
y Historic Name:
Uses: Present: residential
sr. r
Original: residential
-.. .e Date of Construction: ca. 1948-50
Source: assessors' records, historic maps
M
Style/Form: Tudor Revival
Architect/Builder: unknown; possibly Royal Barry Wills
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick, poured concrete
West (facade) and south elevations
Wall/Trim: brick with wood trim
Locus Map Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Attached garage
vfr A
Major Alterations (with dates):
5fr 174
r
a `
Condition: excellent
Moved: no ❑ yes ❑ Date:
r.
9
Acreage: 0.65
4
° Setting: Set at complex intersection of Meriam Street and
°Q Somerset, Franklin, and Abbott Roads in residential
Merriam Hill neighborhood. Surrounding properties are
t .d typically similar in scale, period, siting, and massing.
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 40 MERIAM STREET
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
�H 2144
❑ 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.
40 Meriam Street is positioned near the center of the south (Meriam Street)side of its large open lot. Maintained chiefly in lawn,
the land slopes gently up to the back of the site, with generous setbacks on all sides, foundation plantings, and mature trees
scattered throughout. An asphalt driveway extends between Franklin Road and the garage wing of the house, and a stone-
paved walkway leads from the driveway to the front door. The building consists of a 1 '/2 story main block, a smaller 1 '/2 story
rear wing, and a 1 '/2 story garage wing.
Facing Franklin Road, the three by one bay main block rises from a brick foundation to a side gable roof with a large brick
chimney on the back slope, at the intersection with the rear wing. Roofs are clad with slate shingles. Walls are brick, with a
header course at the sill and wide clapboard siding in the half-story. Windows typically contain grouped, multi-light steel
casement sash with header course sills and flat, painted wood or metal lintels. The facade consists of a shallow gabled pavilion
on the left side, an off-center gabled portico, and a large picture window unit on the right end. The entrance portico is composed
of a single-leaf wood door flanked by board and batten siding, paired wood posts, and a gable roof with half-timbering and brick
infill in the tympanum. A small gabled wall dormer rises above the picture window to the right of the entrance.
The right (south) side elevation of the main block faces Meriam Street. An angled bay window with a flared hip roof is centered
on the first floor, with a three-part casement window above. Set slightly back from the plane of the main block, the rear wing
features three asymmetrically placed, tri-partite windows, each with a small basement window aligned below. The rear(east)
elevation of the wing is sheathed with brick on the first floor and wood clapboards above; it contains two symmetrical sets of
casement windows on its first floor and one centered in the gable peak.
The garage wing on the left(north) side of the main block contains two individual garage bays and a recessed pedestrian
entrance. Its side gabled roof has a full-length shed dormer across the front with a variety of window sizes. The side (north)
elevation of the garage wing includes a large fixed picture window centered in the first floor and a pair of small casement
windows centered above.
Well preserved and well maintained, 40 Meriam Street is a handsome example of Lexington's distinctive Tudor Revival style and
of upper middle class suburban development in the mid-20th century. The house is notable for its combination of brick and
clapboard construction materials, its use of steel casement windows and slate roof, and its picturesque massing with wings,
cross gables, and dormers.
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.
At the turn of the 201h century, this area was part of the Hayes estate, which was gradually subdivided and developed with
houses in the 20th century. The area bordered by Meriam Street, Hayes Avenue, Castle Road, and Franklin Road was the
location of Francis B. Hayes's Victorian mansion, "Oakmount", which was demolished in 1941. The assessors' records for this
house show a construction date of 1948, which is consistent with the historical records.
40 Meriam Street appears on the Sanborn maps between 1935 and 1950, the only new construction on the block described
above during that period. The first known occupants of the property were Rosario J. Barbo, a furniture manufacturer, his wife
Bridie, and a young man in the Air Force who was presumably their son (1955). Rosario was born in Italy, his wife in Ireland.
Continuation sheet I
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 40 MERIAM STREET
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
�H 2144
The couple was identified as living in Newton as late as 1953. Following the Barbo family, subsequent residents included Walter
I. Wells, an engineer, and his wife Marjorie (1965).
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Historic maps and atlases: Walling 1853; Beers 1875; Walker 1889; Stadly 1898; Walker 1906; Sanborn 1908, 1918, 1927,
1935, 1935/1950.
Lexington Directories: 1899, 1908-09, 1922, 1934, 1936.
Lexington List of Persons: 1935, 1945, 1955, 1960, 1965.
Massachusetts Historical Commission. "MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Lexington." 1980.
Newton Directories: 1951, 1953.
U.S. Census: 1940.
SUPPLEMENTARY IMAGES
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North (left side) and west (facade)elevations South (right side) elevation
Continuation sheet 2