HomeMy WebLinkAbouttewksbury-street_0005 FORM B - BUILDING
Assessor's number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
57-88 Boston N. 1135
Massachusetts Historical Commission
Massachusetts Archives Building
220 Morrissey Boulevard
B(
Town Lexington
Place (neighborhood or village)
I
Address 5 Tewksbury Street
, Historic Name Clarke-Noyes House
WMV Uses: Present Residential
Original Residential
Date of Construction c.1904
•illSource Directories, List of Persons
a Style/Form Queen Anne
Architect/Builder unknown
Exterior Material:
M
Foundation fieldstone
ULNA\ Wall/Trim wood clapboards, les
P wood shingles
Roof asphalt shingle
4 Outbuildings/Secondary Structures
r
none
Major Alterations (with dates) c.1990 -rear addition
Condition good
Moved E no es Date
/ Acreage 7360 SF
Recorded by Lisa Mausolf Setting mixed residential neighborhood
Organization Lexington Historical Commission
Date (month/year) January 2000
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
BUILDING FORM (5 Tewksbury Street)
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION
Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of the building in terms of other buildings within the
community.
A good example of the Queen Anne-style, 5 Tewksbury Street is a 2 1/2-story dwelling displaying a cross-gable plan. The
first floor of the building is sheathed in clapboards and outlined by plain cornerboards and a simple wooden watertable above
the fieldstone foundation. The second story of the building is covered in wood shingles while both of the gables are sheathed
in staggered wood shingles and have cornice returns. The most distinctive feature of the house is the way in which the front
gable is cantilevered out beyond the plane of the wall below, seemingly supported by an offcenter two-story, rectangular bay
window which is a single-bay wide. Further accenting the overhang is the east side wall which is flared. Filling the southeast
corner of the cross-gable plan is a single-story porch supported by turned posts with jigsawn scroll brackets at the top. The
posts are set above a wooden deck with latticed airspace. The simple entrance on the east wall of the house retains its
original varnished front door with raised panels and beveled glass. Windows consist of a mix of original 2/1 and more
narrow 1/1 sash as well as some 1/1 replacements. There is a diamond-paned stained glass window above the porch and an
octagonal window lighting the front hall.
Extending behind the house is a single-story addition set above a concrete foundation. A small parking area is located to the
east of the house.
Tl�is house was built according to the same plan as the house at 116 Bedford Street which has witnessed extensive alterations
including the application of synthetic siding and the replacement of its original porch with a sunporch addition.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
Describe 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.
It appears that Max Clarke was the first owner of this house and that it was constructed about 1904. Tewksbury Street was
not laid out until about 1916; previous to this the house is listed as being"off Bedford Street". The house is located on Lot
17 of George F. Tewksbury's subdivision which was laid out in 1898 (Middlesex County Plan Book 112, Plan 5). Town
valuation lists indicate that in 1905 Clarke first paid real estate taxes for a house off Bedford Street, valued at$2600 with a
lot containing 7360 square feet. (This description of the property matches the description of Clarke's house on Tewksbury
Street in 1916). Clarke was employed as a clerk at G.W. Spalding's grocery store at 480 Mass. Ave. Clarke continued to
live in the house until about 1940, and in the late 1930s and early 1940s lived here with Christine and Margaret Noyes. By
1942 the Misses Noyes were living here alone. Both were teachers -directories state that Margaret taught at the Hancock
School. Christine Noyes continued to occupy the house until 1976. It was owned by Kenneth and Nancy Wilson from 1976
until 1991.
B,iIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Lfxington Directories, various years.
Lexington, Town of. List of Persons,various years.
Lexington, Town of Valuation Lists. Assessors' Office, Town Hall, Lexington, Massachusetts.
Sanborn Map Co. Lexington,Middlesex County,Massachusetts. New York: Sanborn Map Co., 1887, 1892, 1897, 1903,
1908, 1918, 1927, 1935. Microfilm.
Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked,you must attached a completed
National Register Criteria Statement form.