HomeMy WebLinkAboutpleasant-street_0041 FORM B - BUILDING AREA FORM N0.543
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
294 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON, MA 02108
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1 Lexington
z> ress 41 Pleasant Street
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toric Name Curtis Capell House
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-� - � Present residential
__- - _ __ - -- Original residential
to 1857
Source inscription on house
SKETCH MAP
Show property' s location in relation Style Greek Revival,<yernacular
- to nearest cross streets and/or
geographical features. Indicate Architect Curtis Capell, builder
all buildings between inventoried
property and near t intersection. Exterior wall fabric shingles
Indicate north. O
Outbuildings
h� O Major alterations (with dates)-Modern
O
additions at roar
Y` O
`y4so,� S� Moved Date
Approx. acreage 1.8 A.
Recorded by Anne Grady Setting Set back from the street, now
Organization Lexington Historical Commission hidden by evergreens, on a rise to the
Date April, 1984 west of Pleasant Street.
(Staple additional sheets here)
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE (Describe important architectural features and
evaluate in terms of other buildings within the community.)
This substantial Greek Revival structure was very likely designed by its
builder, Curtis Capell, who built many houses in East Lexington in the second
two quarters of the nineteenth century. There is a simple Greek Revival
frontispiece.
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE (Explain the role owners played in local or state
history and how the building relates to the development of the community.)
Curtis Capell (b. 1806, d. 1881) built the house in 1857, an inscription
in the house tells us. Capell came to Lexington from Groton in 1832. His
first job was to help build the East Lexington Branch Library in 1833. In
addition to this building, he was responsible for the alterations to the Morell
Dana house in 1839, and he built the Universalist Church in East Lexington (now
demolished) , the residences of E.P. Nichols, Alex Wilson, Mr. Charles Brown and
Mrs. Mitchell, and doubtless other structures that went up in East Lexington in
the 1830s during its period of greatest economic growth. Capell seems of have
been the most prolific carpenter in East Lexington, followed by Isaac Buttrick
who lived adjacent on Pleasant Street. The house remained in the Capell family
until the twentieth century.
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. 92. Boston: Houghton
Mifflin Company, 1913.
Proceedings of the Lexington Historical Society, Volume IV, pp. 117-119.
Lexington, Massachusetts:., Lexington Historical Society, 1912.
1853 map
1875 atlas
1889 atlas
1898 atlas
1906 atlas
10M - 7/82