HomeMy WebLinkAboutwaltham-street_0072 FORM B - BUILDING In Area no. Form no.
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION A 21
Office of the Secretary, State House, Boston
Lexington
son ss 72 Waltham s'r
nt use Golden Hand Fabrics
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- -- = nt owner
iption:
�-. ,d III 111111! ( I'ii`1�II�l1l�I�llll!11� xrce
- - --
---
Verna cular_Grk---Revive3...-lake
-
- tect
in relation to nearest cross streets and
other buildings. Indicate north. Exterior wall fabric Clapboard
Outbuildings (describe)
Other features Brick foundation, gable end to
A14
1--- -p- -""-~ street, first floor left entrance, door with
�-- = round headed lights instead of upper panels.
i
CA
(over)
Altered Date
Moved Date
5. Lot size:
One acre or less x Over one acre
Approximate frontage 60'
Approximate distance of building from street
6' to front steps
O NOT WRITE IN THIS SPACE 6. Recorded by E. W. Reinhardt
USGS Quadrant
Organization Lexington Historical Commission
HC Photo no.
Date October, 1975
(over)
qM-,)-7s-Rn61465 (90M-2476)
7. Original owner (if known) ? Chandler R. Richardson
Original use
Subsequent uses (if any) and dates
8. Themes (check as many as applicable)
Aboriginal Conservation Recreation
Agricultural Education Religion
Architectural Exploration/ Science/
The Arts settlement invention
Commerce Industry Social/
Communication Military humanitarian
Community development Political Transportation
9. Historical significance (include explanation of themes checked above)
Descrip; - Porch across front 1st. story, square posts with recessed panels, wide
cornice on porch windows 6 x 6. Small square first floor window on left facade
with clear center pane, stained glass smaller square panes surrounding. Granite
front step flush with sidewalk.
20. Bibliography and/or references (such as local histories, deeds, assessor's records,
early maps, etc.)
FORM 3 BUILDING
AREA FORM NO.
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
80 BOYLSTON STREET
BOSTON, MA 02116
-- ---awn r..x i n gt a n
dress 72 Waltham Street
�i ''�`�• - storic Name Aaron Parker
Richardson House
►e: Present Residential
Original Residential
CRIPTION
to C. 1853 - 1875
1 Y = urCe 87 Atla:
— - -- � - 1853 Map, 1 5
yle vernacular/Greek Revival
' rchitect Unknown
Sketch Map: Draw asap showing property's location
in relation to nearest cross streets and/or Exterior Wall Fabric Clapboards
geographical features. Indicate all buildings
between inventoried property and nearest Outbuildings
intersection(s).
Indicate north
Major Alterations (with dates) F:l '
- added by 1875
,� Condition Good
k fir, Moved No Date
Acreage Ca. 1/4 acre
f Setting One block from the major
/ intersection in Lexington ' s business
district in a predominantly commercic
area. A few 19th C. wood frame resi-
dential buildings are intermir4glerl
with 20th C. brick commercialbuildin<
UTM REFERENCE Recorded by Ann. Grader
USGS QUADRANGLE Organization SPNEA
SCALE Date October 1988
NATIONAL REGISTER CRITERIA STATEMENT (if applicable)
The Aaron Parker Richardson House has integrity of location, design, materials,
and feeling . under Criterion C, the house has distinctive characteristics of
form and construction reflective of mid-nineteenth century vernacular building
practices in Lexington. The house is an example of the side hall , double-
parlor plan - a plan type which appeared relatively belatedly in Lexington,
where the two-cell , lobby-entry house predominated until the 1830s.
Only a small number of structures of this plan type and associated simple (Cont . )
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE Describe important architectural features and evaluate in terms of
other buildings within the community.
The Aaron P. Richardson House is a two and one-half story, side hall plan
house with gable end toward the street . The Richardson House is a vernacular
building with massing and trim influenced by the Greek Revival style. The
exterior is clapboarded. Trim consists of plain corner boards, simple window
and door frames and a single story porch across the facade fitted with three
panelled posts. Fenestration is double hung wooden sash with narrow muntins.
First-floor windows on the facade are taller than the others, reflecting the
parlor function of the interior space. Second-story window frames retain an
echinus-molded backhand, possibly the configuration of all window frames initial.
The upper story on the Waltham Street side retains early, if not original,
skived clapboards. Elsewhere clapboards are more recent, having butt ends and
wider weathers. (Continued)
HI'70RICAL 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 between 1853 and 1875 . It does not appear on the. 1853 Map,
but it is shown on the 1875 Map under the ownership of Aaron Parker Richardson.
Aaron Parker Richardson, born in Methuen in 1791 , moved to Lexington in 1820.
He married into the locally prominant Reed family in 1823. Richardson ' s
occupation has not been identified. The 1875 Map shows him, however, to have
been the owner of four houses and half a dozen sizeable parcels of land.
Richardson died in 1874, and his property, including the house at 72 Waltham
Street, was inherited by his son, Chandler R. Richardson, a civil engineer
and surveyor. After Chandler' s death in 1897, the property passed to
Bradley C. Whitcher, local grain dealer.
The house at 72 Waltham Street was apparently occupied much of the 19th century
by tenants, and was not the principal residence of any of its first three
owners. Mrs. Charles Wetherbee, a widow, occupied the house in 1887, for
example. (Continued)
9
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Please ,see attached bibliography.
8/85
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
Office of the Secretary of State, Boston
Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below.
NATIONAL REGISTER CRITERIA STATEMENT - Continued
. . .Greek Revival trim survive to illustrate indigenous building forms
at mid-century in Lexington when the town was still a rural farming
community. Other remaining examples include: 40 Fern Street (B Form
525) , 847 Massachusetts Avenue (B Form 228) , 996. Massachusetts Avenue
(B Form 243) , 49 Parker Street (B Form 426) , and 113 Waltham Street-
(B Form 451) .
The survival of the Richardson House in its present location adjacent
to the central business district is particularly noteworthy. Once a
part of a cohesive 19th century streetscape (see attached
illustration) , the Richardson House is one of the few 19th century
vernacular wood frame structures to survive so close to Lexington ' s
major intersection, and is the least altered.
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE - Continued
Alterations apparently include the front door, Italianate in style
with two arched, glazed panels , . and a Victorian window with small
stained glass panes on the left (north) wall of the entry. The
foundation of the main body of the house is brick. There is a
single, narrow central chimney. The single-story rear ell, added
before 1875, has finishes and trim similar to those on the rest of
the house . The ell foundation, however , is fieldstone .
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE - Continued
The junction of Waltham Street, and Massachusetts Avenue , a block
north of the Richardson House, had been the major crossroad in
Lexington since the 17th century. As the town grew in the mid-19th
century, and particularly after the introduction of the railroad in
1846 , the center expanded and new streets were laid out . Waltham
Street , one of the first areas to be built up, remained a locus of
residential buildings until after World War II . Thereafter brick
commercial buildings gradually replaced the majority of the houses .
Staple to Inventory Form at Bottom
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
Office of the Secretary of State, Boston
Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Beers , F.W. County Atlas of Middlesex Massachusetts . New York:
J.B. Beers & Co. , 1875.
Hudson, Charles . History of the Town of Lexington. Vol. II .
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. , 1913 .
Kelley, Beverly Allison. Lexington, A Century of Photographs.
Lexington: Lexington Historical Society, 1980 .
Lexington, Mass . Record of Births, Marriages and Deaths . Part III .
Boston: Wright & Potter Printing Co. , 1898 .
Stadley, George W. & Co. Atlas of the Towns of Watertown, Arlington
and Lexington, Middlesex County, Massachusetts . Boston: George W.
Stadley & Co. , 1898 .
Walker, George H. & Co. Atlas of Middlesex County. Boston: George
H. Walker & Co. , 1889 .
Walker , George W. & Co. Atlas of Middlesex County, Massachusetts.
Boston: George H. Walker & Co. , 1906 .
Walling, H. F . "Map of the Town of Lexington, Middlesex County,
Mass . " Philadelphia: Kellner ' s Lithography, 1853 .
Staple to Inventory Form at Bottom
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