HomeMy WebLinkAboutpleasant-street_0083 FORM B - BUILDING AREA FORM N0.5,7
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MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
294 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON, MA 02108
M Lexington
cress 83 Pleasant Street
;toric Name Fieldstone
V6tr► l lew {- uSf.
6 e: Present residential
Kit
= Original residential
DESCRIPTION:
ME
-- to 1894
Rim
Source previous owner
SKETCH MAP Queen Anne with Richardsonian
Show property's location in relation Style Romanesque elements
to nearest cross streets and/or
geographical features. Indicate Architect Blackall and Newton
all buildings between inventoried
- property and nearest inters tion. Exterior wall fabric clapboards
Indicate north. o
Outbuildings barn, now under separate
0 ownership
4 0 Major alterations (with dates) porte
corchere with open porch above added
V,J o QST (date unknown)
R� P-4-�Q
OMoved Date
o
0 Approx. acreage 5.3 acre
Recorded by Anne Grady Setting A prominent site on eastern
Organization Lexington Historical Commission slope of Moon Hill; sweeping fieldstone
Date March, 1984 wall marks the drive.
(Staple additional sheets here)
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE (Describe important architectural features and
evaluate in terms of other buildings within the community.)
An interesting blend of Colonial Revival design and very Richardsonian
use of fieldstone, this house sits on a dramatic site above Pleasant Street.
The semicircular fieldstone turret is the major design feature of the facade.
The rear facade incorporates a palladian window and several other distinctly
Colonial Revival features. See accompanying photographs of original elevation
drawings.
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE (Explain the role owners played in local or state
history and how the building relates to the development of the community.)
The original owners were Sarah Bowman Van Ness, the last of that family
to live in Lexington (c.f. Bowman Tavern in East Lexington Historic District
and the Bowman house of c. 1650 off Watertown Street, burned c.1905i, and
_ Joseph Van Ness, who was the editor of a successful trade publication, The
Superintendent and Foreman, and for a while conducted an advertising agency.
Correpondence between the Van Nesses and the builder are in the possession
of Peter Mimno of Melrose.
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. 717. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1913.
Plans in the possession of the current owner.
10M - 7/82
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET [Pr;operty
: Form No:
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL CCM4ISSION ton 5�7
Office of the Secretary, Boston
Name: 83 Pleasant St.
Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below.
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JU.-'PH VAN /NESS ESQ.
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Staple to Inventory form at bottom
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community: Form No:
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL CCWISSION Lexington 547
Office of the Secretary, Boston
Property Name: 83 Fleasant St.
Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below.
i
50VTH ELEVAMONT-
r
1 1
WEST ELEVAT'10N
CIE
�M- 0
EAST ELEVA-TION' `
Y
NORTH ELEVATION
Staple to Inventory form at bottom
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Comimmity: Form No:
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COM�4ISSION Lexington y47
Office of the. Secretary, Boston
Property Name: 83 Pleasant Street
Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below.
Staple to Inventory form at bottom
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address
LEXINGTON 83 PLEASANT STREET
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD 547
BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:
According to the owner,the interior of the house includes a floor-to-ceiling stone fireplace, built with local stone and
incorporating a unique floral design created with stones within the background stone wall.
The house was designed by the architectural firm of Blackall and Newton(Clarence Blackall and George F.Newton).
Senior member Clarence Blackall(1857-1942)was best known for his theater projects and it is estimated he designed
300 during his career. He was trained at the University of Illinois, graduating in 1877 and arrived in Boston in 1882.
George F.Newton(1857-1947)was a native of Boston, educated in the city schools and completed his training at the
Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. He worked in the office of Peabody& Stearns for many years and was responsible for the
design of churches, public buildings and residences. Roughly contemporary with"Fieldstone"are Blackall and Newton's
designs for two Boston landmarks-the Winthrop Building at 276-278 Washington Street(BOS.2111),the first steel
frame structure in the city of Boston, and Tremont Temple Baptist Church at 76-88 Tremont Street(BOS.2070).
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE:
"Fieldstone"was constructed in 1894 for Joseph Van Ness(1849-1901)and his wife,the former Sarah Bowman,who he
had married in October 1892. In 1896 he founded a successful trade publication for the boot and shoe interests of New
England, The Superintendent and Foreman. Joseph Van Ness died in 1901 at the age of 51,having been seriously
injured in a railroad accident at Winter Hill several years before. Mr. and Mrs. Van Ness were the donors of the tract of
land at the junction of Pleasant Street and Watertown Road which they gave to the town of Lexington for use as a park,to
be known as Bowman Park. It was part of the original 200 acres purchased by the Bowman family. Sarah Bowman Van
Ness, founded the local society of the Daughters of the American Revolution in Lexington and the first meeting was held
in this house. Mrs. Van Ness lived here for many years after her husband's death. According to the present owner there
are two granite gravestones with poetic inscriptions near the front stone wall marking the graves of Sarah Van Ness's
dogs. The property was purchased by Harry and Kate Mimmo in 1940 and they continued to own it until 1983. The
present owners purchased the property in 1995.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Information from Andrea and Jonathan Gruber(current owners),November 2007.
Lexington Directories,various dates.
Lexington Minute-Man,July 13, 1901.
Massachusetts Historical Commission, MACRIS database.
Middlesex County Register of Deeds, Cambridge, Mass.
Withey, Henry F. and Elsie Rathburn Withey. Biographical Dictionary ofAmerican Architects (Deceased). Los
Angeles: Hennessey&Ingalls, Inc., 1970.
Supplement prepared by:
Lisa Mausolf
Feb. 2009