HomeMy WebLinkAboutreed-street_0004 FORM B -BUILDING
Assessor's number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
64-57 Boston N. 1112
Town Lexington
Place(neighborhood or village)
Address 4 Reed Street
._
Historic Name Miller House
4
Uses: Present Residential
Original Residential
` Date of Construction c.1910
Source Directories, List of Persons
t ,
err . i Style/Form Queen Anne
Architect/Builder unknown
Exterior Material:
Foundation fieldstone
_ Wall/Trim wood clapboard, wood shingle
too•� r (���/ �. Roof asphalt
_ Outbuildings/Secondary Structures
garage
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�V2 7
v ,
Major Alterations (with dates) c.1990 -rear addition
✓ Condition good
` 46 i
Moved ® no ❑ yes Date
.x Acreage 12,570 SF
Recorded by Lisa Mausolf Setting mixed residential neighborhood
Organization Lexington Historical Commission
Date (month/year) January 2000
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
BUILDING FORM (4 Reed Street)
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION
Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of the building in terms of other buildings within the
community.
A simple and late example of the Queen Anne style, 4 Reed Street displays a common division of building materials with
wood clapboards sheathing the first floor and wood shingles above, including the closed front gable decorated by cornice
returns. The 2 1/2-story, front gabled, 2 x 2-bay house is set above a fieldstone foundation and is capped by an asphalt-
shingled roof with a brick ridge chimney. The gablefront is spanned by a single-story,two-bay porch supported by turned
posts with jigsawn brackets. The posts are set above a wooden deck with a latticed airspace and are spanned by simple stick
balusters with balled newel posts. The sidehall entrance retains a glass-and-panel door. Adjacent is a pair of 2/1 windows.
The second floor of the facade has an additional pair of 2/1 windows with an individual window above the entrance and
lighting the front gable. In addition to the predominant 2/1 sash, there is a stained glass window on the second floor of the
west elevation and a three-sided, single-story bay window at the rear of the east elevation.
Offset to the southwest is a two-story, c.1990,gablefront addition which is also sheathed in a combination of clapboards and
wood shingles. A driveway extends along the east side of the house leading to a three-car garage at the rear. The c.1930
building is clapboarded and capped by a hip roof. Two of the original openings have been filled with overhead garage doors
but a single set of hinged double-doors with upper glass lights over lower panels remains.
HIJTORICAL NARRATIVE
Describe the history of the building. Explain its associations with local(or state) history. Include uses of the building and
the role(s) the owners/occupants played within the community.
This house appears to have been constructed for members of the Miller family in the early 20th century. Directories and
town lists indicate that Matthew and Wallace Miller were living on Bedford Street at that time. The first directory listing for
the two families at 4 Reed Street appears in the 1918 directory. Matthew James Miller was employed as a clerk while
Wallace Miller worked as a bookkeeper. The two families, consisting of Matthew Miller and his wife, Jean, and Wallace
Miller and his wife, Florence, continued to live here into the 1940s. Florence and Walter Miller were living here in 1950 and
Florence Miller continued to live here until 1991.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Lexington Directories,various years.
Lexington,Town of. List of Persons, various years.
Lexington,Town of. Valuation Lists. Assessors' Office, Town Hall, Lexington, Massachusetts.
Sanborn Map Co. Lexington, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. New York: Sanborn Map Co., 1887, 1892, 1897, 1903,
1908, 1918, 1927, 1935. Microfilm.
Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked,you must attached a completed
National Register Criteria Statement.form.