HomeMy WebLinkAboutoakmount-circle_0002 FORM B BUILDING Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 56/180 0 2157
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town/City: Lexington
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Place: (neighborhood or village):
Merriam Hill
Photograph
Address: 2 Oakmount Circle
Historic Name:
Uses: Present: residential
-_ - Original: residential
=_ -- Date of Construction: 1962-63
Source: town directories
Style/Form: Colonial Revival Cape
Architect/Builder: unknown; possibly Royal Barry Wills
sem-,-._ Exterior Material:
Foundation: poured concrete
Front(facade)and right side elevations
Wall/Trim: wood clapboards, flushboarding, and trim
Locus Map Roof- asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
5Fr174 22,457 Attached garage
Major Alterations (with dates):
Rear deck
59
Condition: excellent
Moved: no ❑ yes ❑ Date:
,6
148A o o Acreage: 0.40
Setting: Located on a secluded residential side street at
the corner of Oakmont Circle, Meriam and York Streets,
V03
near the top of Merriam Hill. Neighboring houses on
Oakmount Circle are typically early 20th c revival styles,
brick or stucco, and somewhat larger in scale.
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 2 OAKMOUNT CIRCLE
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
0 2157
❑ 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.
2 Oakmount Circle occupies a spacious lot on a residential side street on Merriam Hill, at the intersection of Oakmount Circle
and Meriam and York streets. The vicinity includes a variety of mostly early 20th century revival homes (Colonial Revival,
Spanish Colonial, and Medieval Revival). The building has wide setbacks from the surrounding streets. The lot slopes gradually
down from Oakmount Circle to the front of the house, and then drops off steeply in the back to York Street. A straight paved
driveway leads up to the garage from Oakmount Circle. Most of the lot is wooded, although a narrow strip of lawn borders the
front, back, and right side of the house. A bluestone stairway and walk leads from the driveway to the main front entrance.
The compact house consists of three rectangular volumes: a 1 'h story main block with gambrel roof and two 1-story, gabled
side wings. An attached garage is set at a diagonal at the left side of this composition. The building rises from a poured
concrete foundation with a raised basement at the rear. Walls on the main block and left wing are clad with wood clapboards
and trimmed with corner boards and a narrow fascia with slender bed molding. The right wing and garage are sheathed with
vertical flush boards. Windows typically comprise 12/12 double hung sash with flat casings and functional louvered wood
shutters. A large interior chimney is centered at the ridgeline of the main block. An interior chimney rises from the end wall of
the right wing, and an exterior chimney rises from the left side of the left wing at its intersection with the garage.
The fagade of the central main block has four bays with an off-enter entrance accented by plain pilasters; its traditional door
consists of wood and glass panes. The asymmetrical fagade of the right wing has a plain central doorway with flat casings,
flanked by a single window to its left and projecting bay window with picture window unit to its right. The wing to the left of the
main block is distinguished by two asymmetrically set windows and simple sawn brackets at the eaves.
The right side elevations consist of an off-set, single window at the partially-exposed half-story of the main block, and two widely
spaced windows on the saltbox side of the right wing. The main block's partially-exposed left side elevation feature a single
window centered in the gable peak of the main block and a small polygonal bay window on the first floor. The left wing's
partially-exposed left elevation contains a single window towards the back of the first floor. The rear elevation is irregular and
informal, with a multi-light picture window and long shed dormer on the main block, and a narrow angled bay window and simple
sawn eave brackets at the left wing. A large wood deck with rectangular vertical balusters extends from the back of the right
wing of the house.
The attached garage has two vehicle bays with solid wood doors, a side gable roof, and simple sawn brackets at the roof eaves.
Its exposed gable end has a single 12/12 window centered on the main floor; the rear elevation contains an offset doorway with
plain flat casing.
Well-preserved and well-maintained, 2 Oakmount Circle is a good example of mid 20th century Colonial Revival residential
design in Lexington. It is notable for its varied and informal massing, variety of roof forms, dominant center chimney, and careful
attention to proportions and details.
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.
In 1906, this area of Merriam Hill was still part of the Hayes Estate, with buildings only along the perimeter roads (Adams and
Grant streets). The land had been surveyed and laid out in house lots in 1903, however, as part of the Oakmount Park
Continuation sheet I
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 2 OAKMOUNT CIRCLE
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
0 2157
subdivision. 2 Oakmount Circle is one of the most recent houses in the neighborhood, perhaps because of its challenging,
steeply sloped site. The building appears to have been constructed in 1962-63. The first known residents were Robert Merriam,
retired, and his wife Grace (1963). Further research is recommended to determine the architect for this house, whose design is
consistent with the work of Royal Barry Wills.
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 Historical Commission (Anne Grady). Form A, LEX.H update, Merriam Hill Area (draft). 2015.
Lexington List of Persons: 1935, 1945, 1955, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1965.
Massachusetts Historical Commission. "MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Lexington." 1980.
Middlesex Registry of Deeds, South District. "Plan of Oakmount Park, Lexington, Mass." Recorded Jul 15, 1903
SUPPLEMENTARY IMAGES
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4 1
Garage and wing: Front (facade) elevations
Continuation sheet 2