HomeMy WebLinkAboutnorth-street_0104 FORM B - BUILDING
Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 10076000026 Boston N. 722
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town Lexington
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Place (neighborhood or village)
Address 104 North St.
Ito Historic Name William P. Gibbs House
1
Uses: Present Residential
s
Original Residential
Date of Construction ca. 1838
Source Deeds
Style/Form Greek Revival (altered beynd recognition)with
Queen Anne/Colonial Revival additions
•• Architect/Builder
Exterior Material:
Foundation Fieldstone
o Wall/Trim Vinyl Siding
Roof Asphalt Shingle
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures Garage,tool shed
1
Major Alterations(with dates)
1�
040 Rear addition parallel to Adams St. (date unknown); front
wYSL
gabled addition, bay and oriel windows (ca. 1890); rear
addition parallel to North St. (20th century)
-�1 Condition Fair
I, \ Moved ® no ❑ yes Date
Acreage 0.7 A.
ef,
Setting On an open corner lot on a busy street, across
from a Queen Anne but otherwise in a neighborhood of 20th-
Recorded by Nancy S. Seasholes century houses
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.
104 North St. may originally have been a three-by-one bay side-gabled Greek Revival, but it has had many later additions and its
integrity is compromised by its artificial siding. The present main house is essentially rectangular, 2'/2 stories,three-by-two bays,
and side-gabled. The foundation is not visible on the exterior but the owner says it is fieldstone; the house is clad with vinyl siding
and roofed with asphalt shingles. The entire front bay with its two gables is a later addition,however, and at the rear are two more
additions: a long two-story front-gabled structure with a small ridge chimney parallel to Adams St. and, extending west from it,a
two-story gabled structure on a concrete foundation parallel to North St. The main entry is in the center of the facade, as it
probably was originally, and windows are 2/2 double hung sash. The porch formed by the overhanging second story is supported
by square pilastered posts and has a spindle frieze. On the first story of the facade are two bay windows in the same style as the
second-story oriel on the east elevation. There is a detached two-car garage and a small tool shed.
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 probably built by William P. Gibbs in the 1830s, but it is difficult to tell exactly when, for Gibbs acquired a
number of parcels of land in the 1830s, at least one of which already had a house on it. Gibbs seems to have purchased the land
on which this house is located in 1838 without buildings on it, however, and it is likely he built this house soon thereafter, for in
1841 he was assessed for two houses. Gibbs' mill on nearby Vine Brook burned in 1841 and in 1849 he lost his farm through a
mortgage foreclosure. In 1888 the farm was acquired by an Abner J. Moody. An 1890 account of Lexington reported that Moody
was making"extensive improvements,"so it may have been at this time that the front bay and porch as well as the bay and oriel
windows were added. The large mill stone next to the driveway reportedly came from Charlestown, although the grist mill that
Gibbs and others once owned was located just over the Burlington line not far from this house.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES ❑see continuation sheet
Hurd, D. Hamilton, ed. History ofMiddlesex County,Massachusetts. Philadelphia: J. W. Lewis &Co., 1890. 606.
Lexington Valuation lists. 1831-1841.
Middlesex Registry of Deeds. Deeds. Cambridge, MA. 371: 188; 383: 231; 843: 372; 1873: 234.
Worthen, Edwin B. A Calendar History of Lexington,Massachusetts, 1620-1946. Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Savings Bank,
1946. 62.
❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked,you must attach a completed National
Register Criteria Statement form.