HomeMy WebLinkAboutpelham-road_0013 AREA FORM NO.
t-ORM B - BUILDING 0 514
:ASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
-94 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON, MA 02108
+` Lexington
'ss 13 Pelham Road
_ _ t
-- �i oric Name Francis Jackson Garrison
Present convent
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Original residence
ESCRIPTION:
e 1900
>ource MIT archives, Howe papers
SKETCH MAP
Show property's location in relation Style Colonial Revival
to nearest cross streets and/or
geographical features. Indicate Architect Lois LilM Howe
all buildings between inventoried
property and nearest intersection. Exterior wall fabric brick
Indicate north.
oh Outbuildings
�o
• 90
Major alterations (with dates) original
wooden exterior finish covered with brick
¢, (date unknown)
`hP Moved Date
Y
Approx. acreage 50923 ft.2
Recorded by Anne Grady Setting On the southern slope of Munroe
Organization Lexington Historical Commission Hill; across from the former Tower estate,
Date March, 1984 now a private school.
(Staple additional sheets here)
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE (Describe important architectural features and
evaluate in terms of other buildings within the community.)
This house was built as a shingled, wood-framed structure in 1900. Sometime
after 1918, the house was given a brick veneer, but otherwise was not changed
from its original design. A noteworthy feature of the design is the frontispiece,
a close copy of the second-story central window of Robert Adams Royal Society
of Arts building in London.
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 Francis J. Garrison, a publisher and one of three
sons of William Lloyd Garrison who settled on Munroe Hill c. 1900. The house was re
daie in brick sometime after 1918 for Doris Engstrom Bond, daughter of Richard
_ Engstrom, the successful patent medicine manufacturer who built the mansion
next door.
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. 237. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1913.
Personal communication from S. Lawrence Whipple.
Personal communication from Anne Blackwell.
10M - 7/82
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address
LEXINGTON 13 PELHAM ROAD
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD 514
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE:
A brief article appearing in the Lexington Minute-Man on September 21, 1900 confirms the construction of the house in
that year:
A large gambrel roofed house after the style of building in revolutionary days, is nearing completion for the
ownership and occupancy of Mr. Francis Garrison,who is living in the cottage on Mr. James S. Munroe's place
on Mass. avenue. The new house is located on the summit of Mt.Vernon and commands a fine view of the
surrounding country. It is a fit companion for the other commodious and attractive homes built in this sightly
section of the town,which has added to its list of assessed real estate four new houses since last spring, costing in
the neighborhood of six to twelve thousand dollars each. The other houses alluded to are the Sias, Chas.
Garrison and Dr. Briggs estates, all located within a stone's throw of each other.
(Note: The third Garrison brother, William Lloyd Garrison, lived in a house on Percy Road.)
The house at 13 Pelham Road was owned and occupied by Francis Garrison until about 1910. By 1913 it was owned and
occupied by William Burgess, a banker, and his wife,Ethel. They remained here until about 1926. Carl and Virginia
Wheeler owned the property from about 1928 into the 1930s. By 1942 Raymond and Doris(Engstrom)Bond were living
here. The house was conveyed by Doris Bond to the Grey Nuns Charities in 1953.
The architect of this house, Lois Lilley Howe(1864-1964),was born in Cambridge and studied at the Museum of Fine
Arts School in Boston before receiving a degree in architecture from M.I.T. in 1890. She received her first commission
to build a house in 1894, and worked alone and with various partners until 1900. She established her own firm in 1901 at
101 Tremont Street,Boston. She was the second woman elected to the American Institute of Architects(A.I.A.),the first
woman Fellow of the A.I.A. and the first woman elected to the Boston Society of Architects. Howe concentrated on
domestic architecture. She was noted for pioneering the use of stucco and also had a keen interest in the issues of public
housing. Howe retired from active practice in 1937.
The MACRIS data base has eight listings for residences in Brookline, Cambridge, and Lexington that were designed or
remodeled by architect Lois Lilley Howe in the early 20th century. Her other commission in Lexington is the home for
Charles Kettell at 10 Eliot Road(#506), designed in 1902.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Cambridge Women's Heritage Project Database http://www.cambridgema.gov/cwhp/bios_h.htm]#HoweLL
Lexington Directories,various dates.
Lexington Minute-Man, Sept. 21, 1900; Feb. 1, 1902.
Massachusetts Historical Commission,MACRIS database.
Middlesex County Register of Deeds, Cambridge,Mass.
Supplement prepared by:
Lisa Mausolf
Feb. 2009