HomeMy WebLinkAboutshirley-street_0015 FORM B BUILDING Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
0 0 2263
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 64/2
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town/City: Lexington
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Place: (neighborhood or village):
Photograph
Address: 15 Shirley Street
Historic Name:
Uses: Present: residential
Original: residential
l T Date of Construction: ca. 1900-15
Source: historic maps, directories, style
Style/Form: Queen Anne/Colonial Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: fieldstone
Left side and front (facade) elevations Wall/Trim: artificial siding and trim
Locus Map Roof- asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Garage
•
81,5173 � " '��
4A Garage
Major Alterations (with dates):
�. Artificial siding (L 20th c), replacement windows (L 20th—E
21 st c)
-104
Condition: good
a,160
Moved: no ❑ yes ❑ Date:
Acreage: 0.16
92
Setting: Dead-end, residential side street off major arterial
.' �• thoroughfare of Bedford Street. Cohesive streetscape with
houses of generally similar period, scale, and style;
buildings set close together and to the street.
Recorded by: Wendy Frontiero
Organization: Lexington Historical Commission
Date (month/year): September 2015
12/12 Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 15 SHIRLEY STREET
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
2263
❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
If checked,you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.
Use as much space as necessary to complete the following entries, allowing text to flow onto additional continuation sheets.
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:
Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community.
15 Shirley Street occupies a small flat lot, maintained chiefly in lawn with one large street tree and foundation plantings. Building
setbacks are modest. A straight paved driveway extends along the left side of the house, and a concrete walkway extends
between the sidewalk and front entrance. The building consists of a 2 '/2 story main block with a small rear extension and a
detached garage.
The three by two bay main block rises from a fieldstone foundation to a front gabled roof with gable returns and a small chimney
centered at the ridgeline. Walls are sheathed with artificial siding; the second floor flares out slightly at its base, and the half-
story flares out slightly above the second story on the fagade. Windows typically have 1/1 double hung sash, without trim. The
facade is three bays wide with an offset doorway and a full-width, one-story porch accessed by wood steps. Turned posts and
decoratively sawn brackets support the porch's low hip roof; a modern railing with square wood balusters lines the edges. A
single window is centered in the half-story, abutted by a small, modern awning window.
The right side elevation has irregular fenestration, with two windows on each floor. The first floor has two widely spaced
windows, including a casement or sliding unit towards the back. The second floor has a square, Queen Anne sash with gridded
panes near the center. The left side elevation has a single window and an angled bay window on the first floor and two widely
spaced windows aligned above. A narrow, one-story extension across the back elevation has a gabled roof and, facing the left
side of the lot, an offset single-leaf door and two single windows.
Located at the left back corner of the lot, the garage is one story high with a hip roof, exposed rafter ends, and two individual
vehicle bays. Its walls are constructed of small coursed ashlar blocks, and feature an exterior stone chimney on the right side
elevation.
Well maintained, 15 Shirley Street is a good example of modest, late Victorian suburban housing in Lexington. It is notable for
its decorative front porch, flared wall surfaces, Queen Anne window sash, and the uncommon stone construction of its
original/early garage.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
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.
Shirley Street appears on the maps between 1898 and 1906; a handful of buildings, mostly along the south side, were standing
along it in the latter year. All but one lot was developed by 1927, when the streetscape contained ten buildings (four of them
side-by-side duplexes) and six garages.
The house at 15 Shirley Street represents the early period of suburbanization in Lexington, in which development along Bedford
Street was sparked by the re-building of the roadway and the arrival of street railway service here at the turn of the 20th century.
George F. Tewksbury, a farmer who owned the land in this area in 1898 and 1906, is credited with developing the Hill
Street/Tewksbury Street/Shirley Street neighborhood.
15 Shirley Street may appear on the maps as early as 1906; it is clearly here by 1927, with the garage. The first known
occupants of the house are Robert A. McAdoo, a farmer, and his wife Mary J. (1922). In 1935, two families appear to be living
Continuation sheet I
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON is SHIRLEY STREET
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
2263
here: Herbert W. Johnson, a registered pharmacist, and his wife Elsie; and John J. Callahan, a master plumber(and president
of Lexington Plumbing and Heating Co. on Bedford Street) and his wife Beatrice. Remaining in the house until at least 1965, the
Callahan family also included three sons, John J., also a plumber, Martin, and Michael.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1913.
Historic maps and atlases: Walling 1853; Beers 1875; Walker 1889; Stadly 1898; Walker 1906; Sanborn 1908, 1918, 1927,
1935, 1935/1950.
Lexington Comprehensive Cultural Resources Survey, Period Summaries. http://historicsurvey.lexingtonma.gov/index.htm
Accessed Jul 23, 2015.
Lexington Directories: 1899, 1906, 1908-09, 1922, 1934, 1936.
Lexington List of Persons: 1935, 1945, 1955, 1965.
Massachusetts Historical Commission. "MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Lexington." 1980.
SUPPLEMENTARY IMAGES
Garage: Front elevation
Front (facade) and right side elevations
Continuation sheet 2