HomeMy WebLinkAboutpercy-road_0020 AREA FORM N—0. I
FORM B - BUILDING I 0 f 494
ASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
294 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON, MA 02108
- i Lexington
iA
'eSS 20 Percy Road
j 1 - toric Name Arthur Newell House
A
Present residential
/?YOriginal residential
v
- :SCRIPTION:
e 1896
-3urce plans
SKETCH MAP
Show property's location in relation Style Shingle style
to nearest cross streets and/or
geographical features. Indicate Architect Chapman and Frazer
all buildings between inventoried A C. Wash ui ✓
property and nearest intersection. Exterior wall fabric shingles
Indicate north.
Outbuildings
Major alterations (with dates)
f y.
2 N
Moved Date
Approx. acreage 15' 1 ft-
2
Recorded by Anne Grady Setting Munroe Hill; residential street
Organization Lexington Historical Commission developed primarily in the late nineteenth
Date March, 1984 century.
(Staple additional sheets here)
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE (Describe important architectural features and
evaluate in terms of other buildings within the community.)
This is a Shingle Style house with a pronounced asymmetrical gable.
There are porches on the north and east sides finished with simple brackets.
Three dormers have pediments finished with half-timber detail.
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE (Explain the role owners played in local or state
history and how the building relates to the development of the community.)
Fy Abram C Washburn for
The house was built / Arthur W. Newell, president of the Fourth
National Bank in Boston. Mr. Newell and his daughter, Alice, were passengers
on the Titanic. Newell died, but Alice survived. After the death of her
husband, Mrs. Newell moved to a smaller house at 2 Audubon Road designed for
her by Willard Brown. She died as Lexington's oldest resident at 103 in 1962.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES (name of publication, author, date and publisher)
Plans in the possession of the owner.
Description or the Newell House in the Lexington Minute Man, July 31, 1896.
10M - 7/82
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address
LEXINGTON 20 PERCY ROAD
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD �O 494
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE:
This house occupies what was originally Lot 14 on the 1892 plan of the Lexington Land Company. The lot was sold by
Francis E. Tufts to A. W.Newell in December 1895. Newell had the present house built in 1896. On July 3, 1896 the
newspaper remarked"Mr.A.W.Newell has built an exceptionally handsome house on Mt. Vernon street, in a peculiarly
attractive location. The house is long and rambling in effect,but decidedly picturesque with broad verandas, from which
is to be obtained a fair prospect of hill and dale". A more detailed description of the house appeared in the Lexington
Minute-Man on July 31, 1896. It reads:
Mr. A.C. Washburn conducted us over the house he is completing for Mr.A.W.Newell at the junction of Mt.
Vernon and Washington streets. The location is unsurpassed and no matter which direction one looks a
panoramic view of valley, field, and hill is displayed. Wide and spacious verandas add materially to the apparent
size of the house,and will furnish a delightful retreat in summer days. The interior of the house is attractive and
has nicely finished floors and wood-work trimmings. A music room and library are on either side of the
reception hall,the latter finished in quartered oak, and the living room and kitchen quarters are in the rear. Five
nice chambers and a roomy bath room occupy the second floor, and there are two large bedrooms under the
gables. The butler's pantry and store room are finely equipped with glass cabinets and a large refrigerator built
in, hot air closets, etc. On the second floor is a clothes chute and a linen closet with ample lockers. The toilet
and sanitary arrangements are complete in every detail. To us, one of the most pleasing features of the dwelling
was the simple but effective arrangement of the mantel space over the open fireplaces in the several rooms,
giving this side of the rooms a panelled effect, after the style of old-time colonial houses. In the dining room the
space either side of the paneled mantel is occupied by a glass and china cabinet,occupying the niches in the wall
and adding much to the quaint effect of the room. In the library this additional space is utilized by cabinets for
books. A roomy barn adjoins the house,with a commodious carriage house finished in matched southern pine,
with three well equipped stalls and nicely fitted up harness room. The whole place will make a comfortable and
attractive home, and has been thoroughly constructed by the contractor.
Arthur Webster Newell was the president of the Fourth National Bank in Boston. He died at the age of 58 in the sinking
of the Titanic on April 15, 1912. He was returning from a trip to the Middle East with two of his three daughters,
Madeleine(age 31)and Marjorie Anne(age 23). Marjorie and Madeleine both survived the disaster. (Marjorie Newell
Robb died in her sleep on June 11, 1992 at the age of 103, making her one of the longest lived of all of Titanic's
survivors). Later in life she became an outspoken critic of raising the sunken ship.
Contrary to information contained in the March 1984 inventory form, after the death of her husband Mrs.Newell(the
former Mary E. Greeley)continued to live in the house with daughters Madeleine and Alice. The property was sold by
Madeleine and Alice Newell to Robert and Barbara Hills in 1964.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Kollen, Richard. Lexington: From Liberty's Birthplace to Progressive Suburb. Charleston SC: Arcasdia Publishing,
2004.
Lexington Directories,various dates.
Lexington Minute-Man,Dec. 6, 1895, July 3, 1896. July 31, 1896; April 20, 1912.
Middlesex County Register of Deeds, Cambridge, Mass.
Wikipedia.org—information on Titanic.
Supplement prepared by:
Lisa Mausolf
February 2009