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HomeMy WebLinkAboutoakmount-circle_0004 FORM B -BUILDING Assessor's number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number 56/181 Boston N. 1102 Massachusetts Historical Commission i - Town Lexington Place (neighborhood or village) Upper Meriam Hill Address 4 Oakmount Circle Historic Name Robert&Grace Merriam House Uses: Present Residential / Original Residential rk. Date of Construction 1925 Source Lexington Valuation Lists " Style/Form Dutch Colonial Architect/Builder unknown F;y;> Exterior Material: _ Foundation brick Wall/Trim brick Roof slate 7s 000 , o- 77 =_ Outbuildings/Secondary Structures ty. none 15 o0U Major Alterations (with dates) --- 0�p I '� Condition good j",.. Moved ® no ❑ yes Date I / WE JJ!) t v� Acreage 16,600 SF Recorded by Lisa Mausolf Setting early 20th century residential neighborhood Organization Lexington Historical Commission Date (month/year) June 2000 Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form. BUILDING FORM (4 Oakmount Circle) ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of the building in terms of other buildings within the community. The Merriam House at 4 Oakmount Circle is a well-preserved example of the Dutch Colonial style conceived in brick and constructed in 1925. The brick veneer is laid in a stretcher bond and a row of soldier brick acts as a watertable. The house is capped by a steeply-pitched slate gambrel roof with a clapboarded shed dormer on the front slope. Centered on the three-bay facade, the main entrance contains a six-panel door flanked by recessed panel pilasters with fluted brackets. The door is capped by a semi-elliptical fanlight. On either side of the entrance is a tripartite 6/6 window flanked by 4/4 sash. The windows are capped by flat arch brick lintels with keystones and flanked by paneled shutters with cutouts. A single-story sunporch spans the west end of the house. HIS'ORICAL NARRATIVE Des�ribe the history of the building. Explain its associations with local(or state) history. Include uses of the building and the 4le(s) the owners/occupants played within the community. This property comprises lot 137 of the Oakmount Park subdivision. Oakmount Circle was originally known as Circle Road. Town Valuation Records indicate that in 1925 Robert and Grace Merriam were assessed for an unfinished house valued at $15,000. The following year, at the completion of the house it was assessed at$20,000. The Merriams continued to live here until about 1960 when they constructed a new house next door(2 Oakmount Circle). The house at 4 Oakmount Circle was purchased by Roland and Dorothy Christensen in 1961. [Note: Robert Merriam was a grandson of Matthew P. Merriam, who laid out a series of lots in the Meriam Hill neighborhood in the late 1880s. Meriam Hill takes its name from the pre-Revolutionary Meriam family(no relation to either Matthew or Robert).] BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES Comprehensive Cultural Resources Survey of Lexington, Book 1, 1984. Hudson, Charles. History of the Town ofLexingion. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1913. Lexington Assessors Records. Lexington Directories,various dates. Le xngton Valuation Lists, various dates. Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked,you must attached a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.