HomeMy WebLinkAboutsherman-street_0031 FORM B - BUILDING
Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 10048000153 Boston N. 673
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town Lexington
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Place (neighborhood or village)
V ,
J
- Address 31 Sherman St.
oto
i' ll Historic Name Hovey House
os Uses: Present Residential
Original Residential
Date of Construction 1902
Source Lexington Valuation lists
Style/Form Queen Anne
=' Architect/Builder
a Exterior Material:
r�
Foundation Fieldstone
to Wall/Trim Wood Clapboard/Wood Shingle
Roof Asphalt Shingle
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures
14,
i , u Major Alterations(with dates)
Rear additions (dates unknown)
_ S 19-0 STREET ' 1
C
K '% Condition Good
W
Moved ® no ❑ yes Date
Acreage 0.1 A.
T L= CC
Setting On a side street with late 19th-century houses;next
to a house that is a minor-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.
31 and 29 Sherman St. (MHC#674)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'/2 stories,
three-by-three bays, and front-gabled with side chimneys and projecting 2'/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 31 Sherman,there are turned posts and a frieze and balusters similar to those on the
front porch both on an entry on the west elevation and on a rear porch, and one-story shed-roofed additions on both sides of the ell.
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.
Lexington assessors' records indicate that 31 Sherman St. was built in 1902 in the name of Emma L. Hovey, the wife of Robert H.
Hovey, an engineer on the Boston and Maine Railroad, whose tracks ran right behind this house. Before building this house the
Hoveys had lived on Fletcher St. as had Justus Morse, the baggage master at the Lexington station, who built the twin of this
house next door at 29 Sherman St. (MHC#674). Presumably the two men,who must have known each other through work and
as neighbors, had decided to build adjoining matching houses. It is not known,however, where they acquired the plans for the
houses. Although the Sherman/Sheridan/Grant Street area was developed as one of rental houses (see Area form G),the
Hoveys apparently lived in this house themselves and were still there in 1924.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES ❑see continuation sheet
Lexington Directory. 1902-03, 1906, 1908-09, 1924.
Lexington Valuation Lists. 1902-1903.
❑ 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 31 SHERMAN ST.
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD 0 673
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. Emma Philbrick married Robert Hovey in June 1900. The
wedding took place at the home of her sister,Mrs. Justus Morse who then lived on Fletcher Avenue. Mr. Hovey was
described as a popular engineer on the B &M RR while Miss Philbrick was a member of the Euterpe Orchestra(Minute-
man,June 22, 1900).
In 1902 the two couples apparently moved from Fletcher Avenue to their newly-constructed, side-by-side houses on
Sherman Street.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Lexington Directories,various dates.
Lexington Minute-Man,June 5, 1896; June 22, 1900.
Supplement prepared by:
Lisa Mausolf
March 2009