HomeMy WebLinkAboutrevere-street_0023 FORM B — BUILDING
Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 1006400142A 1Boston N. 760, 761
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town Lexington
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Place (neighborhood or village)
i y
a
- Y Address 23 Revere St.
to
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l Historic Name Benjamin F. Gleason House
s Uses: Present Residential
�+ Original Residential
��. Date of Construction 1851
Source Tuttle list
•
Style/Form Italianate
t
Architect/Builder David A. Tuttle
Exterior Material:
Foundation Granite
o Wall/Trim Wood Clapboard
Roof Asphalt Shingle
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures Barn
Major Alterations(with dates)
' Side addition (date unknown)
1 r
t+
— EV STREET r Condition Good
Moved ® no [:] yes Date
Acreage 0.5 A.
Setting Very close to a fairly busy street and near the
bikepath (formerly the railroad tracks)
Recorded by Nancy S. Seasholes
Organization Lexington Historical Commission
Date(month/year) April 1998
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
BUILDING FORM
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION ❑see continuation sheet
Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community.
23 Revere St. (MHC#760)was built by one of Lexington's most prominent 19th-century builders,who usually erected high-style
houses;this house, however,either never had or has lost any high-style finishes. The original house, set with its northwest gable
end toward Revere St., is rectangular with a rear ell,two stories,three-by-one bays,and side-gabled with a ridge chimney. The
rear ell is two stories,two-by-one bays, and front-gabled with a chimney on the southeast slope of the roof. The house is set on a
granite foundation, clad with wood clapboards, and roofed with asphalt shingles. At the southeast end of the main block is a large
three-by-one bay,two-story, side-gabled addition with a projecting center gable and a porch underneath;at its southeast end is a
one-story enclosed sunporch with a railing on the roof. There is a overhanging second-story addition in the reentrant angle
between the main block and ell. The center entrance on the facade of the main block is now enclosed;there is a secondary entry on
the facade of the side addition; and windows are 6/6 double hung sash. Exposed rafter ends extend around the entire house. The
front-gabled 1%Z-story one-by-two bay barn(MHC#761)has its original hay and barn doors.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE ❑ see continuation sheet
Discuss 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 was built in 1851 by David A. Tuttle, one of Lexington's most prominent 19th-century builders, for Benjamin F.
Gleason. Although Tuttle usually built high-style houses,he also built some vernacular ones such as those at 21 Larchmont Ln.
(MHC#764)and 410 Marrett Rd. (MHC#642). In 1875 this house was being rented by A. M. Tucker, a dry goods merchant
from Charlestown who used it as a weekend hunting lodge and would soon build his own house on Massachusetts Ave. at what is
now the corner of Forest St. Tucker was apparently in residence on April 19, 1875, for he later told of feeding hungry tourists
who had come to Lexington to celebrate the centennial of the beginning of the Revolution and were wandering around looking for
food, the town having long since run out of provisions.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES ❑ see continuation sheet
Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington. Revised and continued to 1912 by the Lexington Historical Society.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1913. 2: 707.
Tuttle, David Ainsworth. List of buildings erected in Lexington. Presented to the Lexington Historical Society, April 4, 1904.
On file at Lexington Historical Society, Lexington, MA.
S. Lawrence Whipple, personal communication 1998.
❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked,you must attach a completed National
Register Criteria Statement form.
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address
Lexington 23 Revere St.
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD 760, 761
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
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Roll#5,Negative#24
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Roll #17,Negative 421