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Home My WebLink Aboutwelch-road_0019 FORM B BUILDING Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 50/102 0 0 22s2 MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town/City: Lexington BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Place: (neighborhood or village): Photograph Address: 19 Welch Road Historic Name: Uses: Present: residential Original: residential Date of Construction: ca. 1890-1910 Source: style, town directories, U. S. census Style/Form: Queen Anne Architect/Builder: Exterior Material: Left side and front(fagade) elevation Foundation: fieldstone Wall/Trim: artificial siding and trim Locus Map Roof- asphalt shingles 1 L Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: 70 Y6- � Lit— -- 2 Major Alterations (with dates): th 5 � _-r ,5` — • Artificial siding, probably front porch railing (L 20 c); 85'0 replacement sash (L 20th— E 21 st c); possibly side ell (early 5,692 20th C7) 102 6513 Condition: good a y y 78,74' 1g 168.E 11007 - } Moved: no ❑ yes ❑ Date: 5, 12 0 ' ` Acreage: 0.15 a h -M2' 0 Setting: Residential side street off busy connector road of School Street. Densely developed neighborhood of mainly A X47 modest mid-20th century ranch houses with regular setbacks and small scale. Recorded by: Wendy Frontiero Organization: Lexington Historical Commission Date (month/year): September 2015 12/12 Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 19 WELCH ROAD MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 2282 ❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked,you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form. Use as much space as necessary to complete the following entries, allowing text to flow onto additional continuation sheets. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION: Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community. 19 Welch Road occupies a small, nearly square lot that slopes up from the street. The house stands on a berm above street level, in the right front corner of the property. Front and right side setbacks are modest. Maintained chiefly in lawn, the yard also contains foundation plantings, scattered shrubs, and a mature larch tree to the left of the house. A paved driveway is located to the left of the house, and concrete steps and a partially paved walkway lead from the driveway to the side stairs of the front porch. The building consists of a rectangular main block with side and rear appendages. The main block rises 1 '/2 stories from a fieldstone foundation to a front gable roof with no returns and one chimney on the right slope, near the center and ridgeline. Walls are sheathed with artificial siding and trim. Windows typically have 1/1 double-hung replacement sash with no trim. The fagade consists of a full-length front porch with a fieldstone foundation having deeply recessed joints, four decoratively turned posts, a low hip roof, and square wood balusters at the railing. An off-set, single-leaf doorway under the left side of the porch comprises the main entrance, with a single window to the right. Two windows are centered in the half story, with a tiny vertical opening in the gable peak. The right side elevation is dominated by a two-story cross-gabled side ell at the back. The ell has one window on the first floor facing the street, two narrow windows on each floor of the gabled elevation, and a pedimented gable with no windows. The section of the main block forward of this ell contains two windows. The left side elevation of the main block, partially obscured by the large tree in the side yard, contains two windows at the first floor. The half-story contains a broad, cross-gabled dormer that is flush with the main wall and contains paired windows in its half story. A one-story, flat-roofed projection extends across part of the rear elevation, ending in an open porch at the back left corner, where a square corner post supports a flat roof. 19 Welch Road is a relatively early building in a neighborhood that was mostly developed much later. The house has lost historic integrity through the application of artificial siding and the consequent loss of original textures and trim. It remains notable, however, for its lively massing, decorative front porch, and rustic masonry foundation. HISTORICAL NARRATIVE Discuss 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. 19 Welch Road is located southeast of the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and School Street, in an historically agricultural section of Lexington. Massachusetts Avenue was established in the 17th century as part of an early highway from Cambridge to Concord. Development of the section of the road west of Lincoln Street and the town center was sparse, however, until the beginning of the 20th century. School Street was laid out and had its eponymous school building by 1830. The property represents Lexington's evolution from a farming community to a residential suburb in the 20th century. No road or building is shown here on the historic maps through 1906, although the style of the building suggests a late 19th century date. Changes in street address systems make it difficult to identify residents of this address with certainty. The road was laid out but not named in the 1910 census; by 1918, it was identified as Hill Avenue. Known as Hill Avenue until at least 1955, the street had only two households living on it by 1922, at unnumbered addresses. These included Amos Holman, a self-employed butcher(1873-1933), and his wife Catherine T., and Joseph Corselli, a laborer with the Lexington Water Department, and his wife Catherine. Amos and Catherine Holman, both born in Nova Scotia, appear Continuation sheet I INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 19 WELCH ROAD MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 2282 to have moved here between 1900 and 1902, and resided with their five children. Joseph and Catherine Corselli, both born in Italy, were living on Hill Avenue by 1918. In 1935, three households were listed on Hill Avenue: Catherine Holman (a widow)at what was then#19; George D. Holman, a cattle dealer, and his wife Lillian M., at#20; and Antonio Waters, a barber, and his wife Josephina at#21. By 1945, the number of households on the street had dropped back to two: septuagenarian Catherine T. Holman, and John S. Misch, a farmer, and his wife Catherine L. In 1955, the Misch family is the only one identified on this street; John was by then a truck driver. In 1965, the street appears with the name of Welch Road and fifteen houses on it. 19 Welch Road appears as the home of John W. Alexander, Jr., identified as a "Reg. Contr." (registered contractor?), his wife Regina A., and Fred C. Elson, a cook. Further research is recommended to establish a construction date, potential agricultural associations of the property in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and early occupants. BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Mason Membership Cards, 1733-1990 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: Massachusetts Grand Lodge of Masons Membership Cards 1733-1990. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts. Historic maps and atlases: Walling 1853; Beers 1875; Walker 1889; Stadly 1898; Walker 1906; Sanborn 1908, 1918, 1927, 1935, 1935/1950. Lexington Comprehensive Cultural Resources Survey, Period and Area Summaries. http://historicsurvey.lexingtonma.gov/index.htm Accessed Jul 23, 2015. Lexington Directories: 1899, 1902, 1906, 1908-09, 1918, 1922, 1926, 1934, 1936. Lexington List of Persons: 1935, 1945, 1955, 1965. Massachusetts Historical Commission. "MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Lexington." 1980. U.S. Census: 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930. SUPPLEMENTARY IMAGES r Illill Illllltll{I�I Front(fagade)elevation Right side elevation Continuation sheet 2