HomeMy WebLinkAboutsunny-knoll-avenue_0009 FOR B - BUILDING
Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 0071000045 Boston N. 770,771
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town Lexington
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Place(neighborhood or village)
to
Address /Sunny Knoll Ave. VtvUlm"
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1 Historic Name Brooks/Gorman House
LIII ldi�cltf,!
Uses: Present Residential
Original Residential
Date of Construction 1876
Source Lexington Valuation lists
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a Style/Form Italianate
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,_ Architect/Builder
Exterior Material:
Foundation Granite
r p WaIL/Trim Wood Clapboard
A li`
Roof Asphalt Shingle
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures Barn
Major Alterations(with elates)
Entry moved(date unknown)
Side and rear additions(dates unknown)
c
x"16 _ Condition Good
Moved 0 no ❑yes Date
Acreage 0.3 A.
Setting On a quiet side street in a neighborhood of 19th-
century houses
Recorded by Nancy S. Seasholes
Organization Lexington Historical Commission
Date(month/year) April 1998
Follow,Afassachusetts Historical Commission SurwyAlonual 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.
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unity Knoll Ave. (MRC#770)is a well-preserved example of a front-gabled Italianate farmhouse in Lexington that still has its
associated barn. The house is rectangular,2/2stories,two-by-two bays,and front-gabled with a side chimney. It is set on a
granite foundation,clad with wood clapboards,and roofed with asphalt shingles. On the west elevation is a three-by-one bay two-
story side-gabled addition on a fieldstone foundation. At the rear of the main block is a one-story shed-roofed addition and at the
rear of the side addition is a one-story flat-roofed addition. The main entry has been moved from the facade to an enclosed porch
on a concrete foundation in the front reentrant angle;windows are 2/2 double hung sash- Itallanate finishes include window heads
with projecting molded cornices,three-sided one-story bays with paneling underneath the windows on the front and cast elevations,
and similar paneling underneath the replacement window in the original doorway,which is still marked by its side pilasters. The
11/2-story front-gabled two-by-two-bay barn(MHC#72)is set on a fieldstone foundation,clad with wood clapboards,and has a
garage door.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE Elsee continuation sheet
Discuss the histoq of the building- Erplain its associations with local(or state)history. Include uses of the building, and the
role(s) the ownersloccupants played within the community.
This house was built in 1876 by a Samuel Brooks of East Bethel, Vermont,and Albert P. Paine of Randolph,Vermont. Brooks
and Paine apparently built the house as a speculative venture, for in February 1876 they had purchased a seven-acre parcel from
an Orrin Douglass of Boston and in May sold back about an acre of it,which by then 'included this house,to Douglass' wife. The
Douglasses apparently rented out the house and so did the next owner,a woman who lived in Boston and bought the property in
1879. In 1893 the house was sold to Daniel A. German,a farmer;he did live in the house and continued to do so even after he
built the one now at 45 Reed St. in 1901.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES see continuation sheet
Lexington Valuation Lists, 1875-1878, 1892-1909.
Middlesex Registry of Deeds. Deeds. Plans. Cambridge, MA, 1384: 176; 1409:215-1 1524:433;2215: 328; Pl. Bk, 332,Pl.28.
El Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked you must attach a completed National
Register Criteria statement forth.
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address
Lexington f /Sunny Knoll Ave.
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION / Area(s) Form No.
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD 77(?,771
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Taves
Roll 8,Negative 99
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address
LEXINGTON 28 MERIAM ST.
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD 385
BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:
Like many of our new houses,this one cannot be classified as any particular style of architecture. The strongest
suggestion it makes in this line is that it represents what the"Arts and Crafts"movement stands for. The
contractor was T.H.O'Connor and the house is a compliment to his skill and ingenuity in carrying out the clever
plans of the architect. The fire places(and there are a number of them),are simple,yet dignified in design.
Gruby tiling has been used in part as facings. The leaded glass work is likewise commendable. Space has been
utilized to the best advantage,as is instanced by a finely equipped toilette room,also a room for disposing of
outside wraps,both of which occupy space under the staircase. The entrance to these rooms is reached by two
sunken steps,which gives picturesqueness and yet secures a certain privacy which is desirable. One ought to be
happy and comfortable at"Ogeedankee".
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE:
The property was still owned by Fred and Sylvia Brown in 1942. It was sold by Lauriston MacKenzie to Kenneth and
Dorothy Bolles in I950. Kenneth Bolles sold the house to the present owners,Henry and Carol Reiling, in 1977.
In 1982 the carriage house historically associated with this property was renovated and subdivided from the original
property. It is now 32 Edgewood Road(MHC#608).
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Lexington Directories,various dates.
Lexington Minute-Man,April 30, 1907..
Middlesex County Register of Deeds,Cambridge,Mass.
U.S. Census Records, 1900-1930.
Supplement prepared by:
Lisa Mausolf
June 2009