HomeMy WebLinkAboutsherman-street_0029 FORM B - BUILDING
Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 10048000154 1Boston N. 674
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town Lexington
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Place (neighborhood or village)
_ Tir
Address 29 Sherman St.
to
11 Historic Name Justus P. Morse House
Uses: Present Residential
Original Residential
Date of Construction 1902
• Source Lexington Valuation lists
Style/Form Queen Anne
Architect/Builder
Exterior Material:
Foundation Fieldstone
to Wall/Trim Wood Clapboard/Wood Shingle
Roof Asphalt Shingle
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures
J
u Major Alterations(with dates)
Rear additions (dates unknown)
57pEE7
Condition Good
tJ1 Moved ® no [:] yes Date
Acreage 0.1 A.
Setting On a side street with late 19th-century houses;
next to a house that is a mirror-image
Recorded by Nancy S. Seasholes
Organization Lexington Historical Commission
Date(month/year) March 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.
29 and 31 Sherman St. (MHC#673)were clearly built as a pair—perhaps the only instance in Lexington of paired Queen Anne
houses. The houses are almost exact mirror images,but with subtle differences. Both are rectangular with a rear ell, 2'/s stories,
three-by-three bays, and front-gabled with side chimneys and projecting 2%-story gabled bays facing each other. Both houses are
set on fieldstone foundations,clad with wood clapboards and wood shingles, and roofed with asphalt shingles. Both also have a
two-story octagonal tower with a peaked roof with flared eaves surmounted by a ball finial,a frieze of rectangular panels,and
similar though larger panels under the first-story windows;both houses have a front porch with turned posts and a square-stick
frieze; and both have diamond-pattered shingles in the gables. Some finishes are echoes rather than mirrors,however: the sunburst
used in the pediment of the front gable at 29 Sherman is used in the side gable at 31 Sherman, and the band of rectangular panels
at the base of the front gable at 31 Sherman is seen in the side gable at 29 Sherman. And some original finishes are unique to just
one house: the triple window in the front gable and oculus window in the side gable at 29 Sherman;the segmental window head in
the front gable at 31 Sherman;the canted one-story rear bay with a frieze of rectangular panels at 29 Sherman. The rear additions
and alterations also differ. In the case of 29 Sherman, there is a P/2-story two-by-one bay gabled rear ell with a cross gable on the
east elevation, a screen porch on the east elevation, and shed-roofed entries at the rear.
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.
29 Sherman St. was built in 1902 by Justus P. Morse. Morse had purchased the lot in September 1901,was assessed in 1902 for
just the lot, but in 1903 was also assessed for a house, indicating it had been built the previous year. Morse was the baggage
master at the Lexington station and, before building this house,had lived on Fletcher St. as had the Hoveys,who built the twin of
this house next door at 31 Sherman St. (MHC#673). Mr. Hovey was an engineer on the railroad and presumably the two men,
who must have known each other through work and as neighbors, decided to build adjoining matching houses. It is not known,
however,where they acquired the plans. Although the Sherman/Sheridan/Grant Street area was developed as one of rental
houses (see Area form G),the Morses apparently lived in this house themselves and were still there in 1922.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES ❑see continuation sheet
Lexington Directory. 1902-03, 1906, 1908-09, 1913, 1916, 1918, 1922.
Lexington Valuation Lists. 1902-1903.
Middlesex Registry of Deeds. Deeds. Cambridge, MA. 2920: 41.
F] 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 29 SHERMAN ST.
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD �G 674
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE:
The paired Queen Anne houses at 29 and 31 Sherman Street were constructed for two sisters—the former Emma and
Addie Philbrick of Bedford- and their respective husbands. Addie Philbrick married Justin(Justus?)Morse, an employee
on the B &M Railroad on June 2, 1896. The wedding took place at the new home of the bridal pair on Fletcher Avenue.
Miss Philbrick was attended by her sister, Miss Emma Philbrick and the best man was Henry(Robert?)Hovey(Minute-
man,June 5, 1896).
In 1902 the two couples apparently moved from Fletcher Avenue to their newly-constructed, side-by-side houses on
Sherman Street.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington. Cambridge: The Riverside Press Co., 1913,vol. 2,p. 442.
Lexington Directories,various dates.
Lexington Minute-Man,June 5, 1896,June 22, 1900.
Supplement prepared by:
Lisa Mausolf
March 2009