HomeMy WebLinkAboutwaltham-street_0945 FORM B - BUILDING AREA FORM N0.574
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MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
294 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON, MA 02108
)wn Lexington
1dress 945 Waltham Street
lstoric Name Ebenezer R. Smith House
PAM tic
�a ;e: Present residential
Original residential
DESCRIPTION:
ite 1829
Proceedings of the Lexinaton
Source Historical Society II(1900) :108
SKETCH MAP
Show property's location in relation Style Federal
to nearest cross streets and/or
geographical features. Indicate Architect
all buildings between inventoried
property and nearest intersection. Exterior wall fabric wood shingle
Indicate north.
❑ Outbuildings garage; tool shed
El
kb AV Major alterations (with dates) two-
❑ ❑ story rear ell
Moved Date
3 Approx. acreage 42800 ft.2
Recorded by Nancy S. Seasholes Setting on a slight rise above a very
Organization Lexington Historical Commission busy street; abuts a commercial nursery
Date February, 1984 to the north and an Elks Lodge to the
south.
(Staple additional sheets here)
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE (Describe important architectural features and
evaluate in terms of other buildings within the community.)
This house is one of the surviving Federal farmhouses in the vicinity of
Concord Avenue and is very similar in profile to those at 389 and 353 Concord
Avenue. Like them it has a five-bay facade and two rear chimneys (the one on
the north side has been shortened) but, perhaps because it is in only fair
condition, preserves more of its exterior finishes: the three original windows
on the north end of the second floor and the cornice molding on the gable ends.
The north side of the house has one window on each story while the south side
(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.)
Unlike the other Federal farmhouses in the Concord Avenue area, this one
was built on the site of a house that pre-dated the Cambridge-Concord Turnpike.
The original house was reportedly an integral lean-to that faced due south.
- It was owned by, ;C y?gt�FrrRq, occupied by Stephen Locke and, in 1828, sold to
Ebenezer R. Smith, a distant cousin of the Ebenezer Smith who owned the house
at 389 Concord Avenue. In 1829, Ebenezer R. Smith tore down the old house and
built this one. He still owned the house in 1852 but by 1876, the year he
died, it was owned by Stephen L. Wright, a farmer, and the latter was still
the owner in 1906.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES (name of publication, author, date and publisher)
Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington, Volume II, p. 641. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin, 1913.
Lexington Historical Society, Burr Church Collection.
Smith, A. Bradford. "Kite End"(1891) . Proceedings of the Lexington Historical
Society I1(1900) :108.
1830 map
1852 map
1876 map
1906 map
10M - 7/82
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community: Form No:
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL CCA+MISSION Lexington 574
Office of the Secretary, Boston
Property Name: 945 Waltham Street
Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below.
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE
has two. The entryway, porch and rear ell are obviously later additions; a
1923 photograph indicates that the ell, which has a fieldstone foundation in
contrast to the granite of the original house, has had many modifications
since that time.
Staple to Inventory form at bottom