HomeMy WebLinkAboutpatriots-drive_0017 AREA FORM NO. I
FORM B - BUILDING 409
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
294 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON, MA 02108
wn Lexington
dress 17 Patriots Drive
11 41
- = storic Name Whitmore-Brown House
war E11
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- ;e: Present residential
Ir
-_ Original residential
DESCRIPTION:
- -= tte c. 1850
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Source Edwin B. Worthen
SKETCH MAP
Show property' s location in relation Style Italianate
to nearest cross streets and/or
geographical features. Indicate Architect
all buildings between inventoried
property and nearest intersection. Exterior wall fabric clapboard, flushboard
Indicate north.
1 Outbuildings
Major alterations (with dates) remodeled
in Italianate style (c. 1877) ; front
\� portion demolished (1930)
�i Moved from Hancock Stre-.t Date 1930
t` Approx. acreage 10325 ft,�
4L
Recorded by Anne Grady i Setting Residential street; houses of
Organization Lexington Historical Commission mixed date and size.
Date March, 1984
(Staple additional sheets here)
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE (Describe important architectural features and
evaluate in terms of other buildings within the community.)
This house is the surviving rear ell of one of Lexington's most
elaborate late nineteenth century houses. Paired round-headed windows, window
trim and particularly the elaborately-carved foliate panels on the east end of
the house give evidence of its past embellishment. There must have been some
changes made to the structure when it was moved in 1930.
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE (Explain the role owners played in local or state
history and how the building relates to the development of the community.)
The house was built by Edward Emerson shortly after he purchased the
property in 1848. The house, described as large, was sold in 1852 for $12,000
to Charles Octavius Whitmore of Boston for use as a summer house. In 1877
Benjamin Franklin Brown, an insurance agent in Boston, purchased the house and
"modernized" it (E.B. Worthen) . In 1897 its valuation for taxes of $12,500
was one of the highest in Lexington. The last owner of the house, Hallie Blake,
demolishe Mo t of it in 1930 during the depression because he was unable to
O'1S
sell. it./ Y1ie i cn6n winr,evidently was salvaged and moved back from Hancock
Street to its present site. The carriage house to the estate survive s a
Oil was se r�ted� rom it
dwellinct at 15 Patriots Drive; a building attached �o iEe rear the carriage
and survives remodeled into the house at 6 Wadman Circle.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES (name of publication, author, date and publisher)
Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington, revised and continued to
1912 by the Lexington Historical Society, Volume II, p. 70. Boston:
Houghton Tifflin, 1913.
Lexington Historical Society Photograph Collection.
MSiddlesex County Registry of Deeds, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Plan Book 180,
Plan 1, 1909.
Worthen, Edwin B. Unidentified newspaper clipping in scrapbook in possession
of Elizabeth Wright.
Personal communication from Reynolds Brown.
10M - 7/82
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community: Form No:
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL CCWISSION Lexington 409
Office of the Secretary, Boston
Property Name: 17 Patriots Drive
Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below.
Staple to Inventory form at bottom
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