HomeMy WebLinkAboutnorth-street_0066 FORM B - BUILDING
Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 10076000188 Boston N. F--] 724
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town Lexington
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Place (neighborhood or village)
Address 66 North St.
to
11 Historic Name Nichols Locke/Willard House
r s Uses: Present Residential
r.
f�. Original Residential
Date of Construction 1837
Source Lexington Valuation lists
4
Style/Form Federal
' ��� Architect/Builder
- Exterior Material:
Foundation Granite?
to Wall/Trim Vinyl Siding
Roof Asphalt Shingle
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures Attached garage
;tel e - o Major Alterations(with dates)
Side ell with additions (dates unknown)
4
11
\ �6\ Condition Fair
Moved ® no [:] yes Date
Acreage 0.75 A.
II -2- Setting On a bend in a narrow historical street, across
from conservation land, with new large houses behind it
Recorded by Nancy S. Seasholes
Organization Lexington Historical Commission
Date (month/year) February 1998
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
BUILDING FORM
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION ❑ see continuation sheet
Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community.
66 North St. is one of a number of Federal houses in Lexington though is less intact than many due to its many additions and its
artificial siding. The original part of the house is rectangular with a side ell, 2'Y2 stories, five-by-two bays, and side-gabled with
two tall rear chimneys in the main block and one in the ell. The side-gabled ell is two stories in height,has a bow window on the
front, and is attached to a two-car garage. The foundation of the main block is not visible but is probably granite;the entire house
is clad with vinyl siding and roofed with asphalt shingles. At the rear of the ell are several small, shed-roofed additions on
fieldstone foundations, and at the rear of the main block is a shed-roofed,two-story bay surrounded on two sides by a one-story
shed-roofed addition adjoining the ell. The center entrance in the main block has a paneled surround with half-length sidelights;
windows are 6/6 double hung sash. On the facade of the main block are gabled dormers and a gabled projecting center bay whose
second story overhangs the entry, meeting the line of a wraparound porch that has square pilastered posts.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE ❑see continuation sheet
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.
This house was not built by Stephen Locke (1778-1839) as has previously been thought, but was built in 1837 by Stephen's son
Nichols Locke(1810-1887), for Lexington assessors' records indicate that Stephen Locke was not taxed for land until 1830 and
never for a house. Nichols, on the other hand,was first taxed for land in 1835 and in 1838 his assessment was raised because he
had a"new house,"undoubtedly this one. Since the assessments were made in June of each year,the house had probably been
built in 1837. In 1841 Nichols Locke was assessed for a house,barn, and 64'/2 acres and, with his brother Stephen, for three
horses,two oxen, six cows,three swine, and one chaise. Nichols Locke was a milkman—someone who delivered the milk
produced on his farm to customers on a regular route—and moved to Charlestown about 1850, selling this property in 1853. In
1870 the house,which was on an eight-acre lot east of North St.,and its associated 77-acre farm west of North St. was purchased
by a George B. Pierce of Dorchester. Pierce named the property Elmwood Farm, used it as a summer residence before moving to
Lexington, and sold it in 1880 to John H. Willard. Willard was actively involved in the town, becoming a member of the
Historical Society and the Belfry Club, and improved the farm. An 1890 description of Lexington noted that"the Willard place
bears evidence of skillful and profitable farming,with its well-managed dairy and its enormous brood of 2000 chickens." The part
of the farm west of North St. is now the town-owned Willard's Woods conservation land.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES ❑see continuation sheet
Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington. Revised and continued to 1912 by the Lexington Historical Society.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1913. 2: 369, 372, 375.
Hurd, D. Hamilton, ed. History of Middlesex County,Massachusetts. Philadelphia: J. W. Lewis &Co., 1890. 606.
Lexington Valuation Lists. 1820-1845.
Middlesex Registry of Deeds. Deeds. Cambridge, MA. 667: 324; 1128: 67; 1532: 452.
Sileo,Thomas P. Sileo.Historical Guide to Open Space in Lexington. Lexington, Mass.: Thomas P. Sileo, 1995. 106-09.
❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked,you must attach a completed National
Register Criteria Statement form.
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address
Lexington 66 North St.
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 724
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
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71A
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Roll #4,Negative#37