HomeMy WebLinkAboutwood-street_0170 FORM B - BUILDING
Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 10059000060 Maynard 695
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town Lexington
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Place(neighborhood or village)
DEMOLISHED
b Address 170 Wood St.
y ;E oto
)ll Historic Name Old Smith Farm
os Uses: Present Residential
Original Residential/Agricultural
Date of Construction 1918, 1923
Source Lexington Valuation lists
Style/Form 20th Century Eclectic
Architect/Builder
Exterior Material:
Foundation Concrete
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to Wall/Trim Cut Fieldstone in Concrete/Wood Shingle
i
Roof Asphalt Shingle
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures Former Garage,
Former Barn
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'O- Major Alterations(with dates)
Condition Fair
0 = Moved ® no [:] yes Date
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Acreage 5 A.
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�o Setting On a wooded lot back from and screened by bushes
Recorded by Nancy S. Seasholes from aheavily-trafficked street
Organization Lexington Historical Commission
Date(month/year) March 1998
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual 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.
The 170 Wood St. property includes three 20th-century eclectic buildings that are unique in Lexington. The main building,built
as a residence and still used as one, is rectangular with a side porch,three stories on the front and one at back(it is built into the
side of a hill), six-by-three bays, and side-gabled with a rear chimney. The upper story is clad with wood shingles and the lower
ones with cut fieldstones set in concrete. On the facade,the top story has two sets of triple double hung windows, the middle story
six evenly-spaced casement windows, and the lower story louvered windows. The asymmetrical roof slopes down further at the
back than at the front,the rear chimney is in a dormer-like structure, and on the north elevation is a one-story side-gabled enclosed
porch. The middle building,originally a garage, is stuccoed, rectangular,one story,two-by-three bays, and side-gabled with a
very low-pitched roof and an end chimney. The third building, once a barn, is rectangular, 2'/2 stories in front and V2 in back
(again built into the side of a hill),three-by-three bays, and front-gabled with exposed rafter ends. The gables are clad with
clapboards and the rest of the structure with fieldstones set in concrete. On the facade are paired windows in the gable,three
window openings on the second story, and a garage door flanked by windows on the first. There are long windows on either side
and a hay door in the rear gable.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE ❑ see continuation sheet
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.
Although these buildings are thought to have been built about 1940, Lexington assessors' records indicate that the house was
actually built in 1918 and the garage and barn in 1923 at a time when the property was owned by Essie J. Earle. Mrs. Earle
owned a large amount of land on both sides of Wood St.; she lived in the farmhouse on the east side of the street and may have
built these buildings for farm employees. In 1938 this property was acquired by Gail and Helen Smith and became known as the
Old Smith Farm.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES ❑ see continuation sheet
Lexington Valuation Lists. 1919-1929.
Middlesex Registry of Deeds. Deeds, Plans. Cambridge, MA. 4116: 156 (1917); 4844: 381 (1925); 4878: 151 (1925); 5034:
241 (1926); 5293: 64 (1928); 5473: 61 (1930); 5629: 476 (1932); 5729: 358 1933); 6251: 174 (1938); Pl. Bk. 198, Pl. 12.
❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked,you must attach a completed National
Register Criteria Statement form.
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address
Lexington 170 Wood St.
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD 695
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 0212$
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Roll#8,Negative#14