HomeMy WebLinkAboutstratham-road_0002 AREA FORM NO. 1
FORM B — BUILDING
417
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
294 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON, MA 02108
Y /
j wn Lexington
dress 2 Stratham Road
storic Name Frank Childs House
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�[ 1 I(1 I e: Present residential
Original residential
- - DESCRIPTION:
4
ite c. 1895
-- Source Edwin B. Worthen
SKETCH MAP
Show property' s location in relation Style Colonial Revival
to nearest cross streets and/or
geographical features. Indicate Architect
all buildings between inventoried
property and nearest intersection. Exterior wall fabric clapboards
Indicate north.
Outbuildings
"�O o ^r s
g
�v
Major alterations (with dates)
# a
o
Moved Date
M, J Approx. acreage 50300 ft.2
Recorded by Anne Grady Setting A prominent site on the southern
Organization Lexington Historical Commission slope of Robinson Hill, overlooking town
Date April, 1984 center.
(Staple additional sheets here)
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE (Describe important architectural features and
evaluate in terms of other buildings within the community.)
This carefully embellished and extensive Colonial Revival building was
featured in an advertisement for asbestos roof shingles, probably at the time
of its construction. The shingles remain on the roof; terra cotta coping
covers the ridges of the hip roof. Decorative features of the house include:
quoins; modillions at the eaves; window caps of Second Period configuration;
an entrance portico with fluted columns, Ionic and Doric; a doorway with
elliptical fanlight and sidelights; an oriel window and a rectangular porch
(see Continuation Sheet)
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE (Explain the role owners played in local or state
history and how the building relates to the development of the community.)
The house was built by George W. Robinson's daughter, Edith, and her
husband Frank Childs. Childs, who had lived in Lexington as a child, graduated
from MIT. He worked in Boston and moved back to Lexington at the time of his
marriage in 1895. He was a trustee of the Lexington Savings Bank.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES (name of publication, author, date and publisher)
Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington, revised and continued to
1912 by the Lexington Historical Society, Volume II, pp. 109, 587.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1913.
Photograph file, Worthen Collection, Cary Memorial Library.
Worthen, Edwin B. "George Slept -- Where?" Lexington Minute Man, November 13,
1969.
1894 Directory
1899 Directory
1906 Directory
10M - 7/82
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community: Form No:
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL CD+1ISSION Lexington 417
Office of the Secretary, Boston
Property Name: 2 Stratham Road
Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below.
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE
(now enclosed) with elliptical arches; and a broad piazza with turned posts
and ball finials. Dormer windows have arched tracery and flushboard finish.
Staple to Inventory form at bottom