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FORM A - AREA MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Photograph Assessor’s Sheets USGS Quad Area Letter Form Numbers in Area 51 Boston North AV 475, 476 Town: Lexington Place (neighborhood or village): Name of Area: Slocum Rd./Highland Ave. Present Use: residential Construction Dates or Period: c.1910-1950s Overall Condition: good Major Intrusions and Alterations: Acreage: less than 50 Recorded by: Lisa Mausolf Organization: Lexington Historical Commission Date (month/year): March 2010 Topographic or Assessor's Map See continuation sheet _x__ see continuation sheet INVENTORY FORM A CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON SLOCUM RD./HIGHLAND MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 AV 475, 476 INVENTORY FORM A CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON SLOCUM RD./HIGHLAND MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 2 AV 475, 476 ___ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked, you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION Describe architectural, structural and landscape features and evaluate in terms of other areas within the community. The collection of well-preserved homes in the Slocum Road/Highland Avenue neighborhood offers insight into the styles which found popularity in suburban Lexington in the early 20th century. Almost all of the houses are variations on the Colonial Revival and include Craftsman Colonials, Colonial Revival, Dutch Colonial and later Cape Cod and Garrison Colonials, rendered in both wood-frame and brick veneered versions. There are also two examples of the Craftsman and Tudor Revival. All of the buildings are two-stories in height; the more substantial dwellings are found on Slocum Road. The earliest houses in this area were constructed c.1910. The most impressive is undoubtedly the house built for Sven Engstrom at 19 Slocum Road. The hip-roofed, stuccoed dwelling incorporates a number of unusual features including a semicircular entrance porch, porte-cochere, cantilevered semicircular balcony, modillioned cornice and diamond-pane windows. The Hunt House at 22 Slocum Road is a wood-shingled Colonial Revival dwelling with gambrel roof, designed by prominent local architect Willard D. Brown. Its second story bay window with arched roof, supported by large console brackets is a later addition but may have also been designed by Brown; original features such as this are typical of his work. The gambrel-roofed house at 7 Highland Avenue is a simpler example of the Dutch Colonial style. Hip-roofed Craftsman Colonials dating to c.1910 are visible at 73 Bloomfield and 25 Highland Ave. The former is sheathed in a novelty siding while the latter is a larger, shingled structure. At least five Dutch Colonial structures were built in the area in the 1920s, readily identified by their gambrel roof oriented with the slope running parallel to the road. Of these, two (63 Bloomfield and 16 Highland) display a brick veneer. Three others – 11, 17 and 21 Highland – are all wood-frame structures with wood-shingled exteriors. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, a larger variation on the Colonial Revival style found favor. With the exception of the hip-roofed house at 32 Slocum Road, the others are side-gabled, 2 !-story structures. The house at 32 Slocum displays a five-bay façade with arched first floor windows and flanking sunporches. Brick veneers also cover the exteriors of 27 and 32 Slocum Road and 6 Highland Avenue. The house at 20 Highland Avenue has a swans neck pediment while those at 14 & 18 Highland have a saltbox profile and shallow front portico. A similar but larger shingled dwelling is seen at 28 Slocum Road. The house at 31 Slocum Road stands out as a c.1930 example of a brick Tudor Revival. It achieves the effect through contrasting areas of brick veneer and half timbering. The main house block is capped by a hip roof although asymmetry is achieved through a side gable. Bands of windows and an enclosed entrance porch are other typical features of the revival style. The house at 19 Highland is a side-gabled dwelling with a prominent asymmetrical gable and recessed porch. It is one of the few buildings in the neighborhood which has seen the introduction of artificial siding. Among the later examples are two Cape Cod-style dwellings at 15 and 20 Slocum Road. The house at 15 Slocum is rumored to be the work of prominent Melrose architect Royal Barry Wills. The wood-shingled structure has a prominent center chimney and 12/12 windows. The house at 20 Slocum Road has a brick veneer façade, corner quoins and an enclosed, gabled entrance porch. The house at 26 Slocum Road is an example of a 1958 Garrison Colonial with overhanging upper story. Whether there were common designers/architects in this area, particularly for the similar buildings such as Dutch Colonials and side-gabled Colonials, is not known. Periodicals, publications and catalogues may well have served as sources for some of the designs. INVENTORY FORM A CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON SLOCUM RD./HIGHLAND MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 3 AV 475, 476 HISTORICAL NARRATIVE Explain historical development of the area. Discuss how this relates to the historical development of the community. The area including Slocum Road and the section of Highland Avenue between Slocum Road and Bloomfield Street was developed in the early 20th century. The 1906 map shows the alignment of a road where Slocum Road is now but labeled as Hilldale Avenue. By 1906 the lots on the western part of Slocum Road had been laid out but were not yet built upon. On the north side of what is now Slocum Road, where Hunt Road now is, the Lewis Hunt estate stood. Slocum was Hunt’s mother’s maiden name. Lewis Hunt (1843-1893) was a prosperous local hardware merchant who became a resident of Lexington in 1884. He owned considerable real estate in town. The first two houses on what is now Slocum Road were 19 Slocum Road, built for manufacturing chemist Sven Engstrom about 1912 and 22 Slocum Road, built for the daughters of Lewis Hunt, Miss Mary and Antiss Hunt, by 1915. The rest of the street took shape in the years that followed. The houses on the east side of Highland Avenue between Slocum and Bloomfield were constructed in the late 1920s and were more modest in scale compared to those on Slocum Road. The land on the west side of Highland Avenue between Slocum and Bloomfield was also largely vacant until the late 1920s. The house at 9 Highland Avenue was the earliest in this section and was probably constructed for William Morang, a real estate agent. Builder Walter Black lived at 11 Highland Avenue and set out the lots between Highland and Minola Road to the west. Minola Road was named for his wife. The original owners of houses in this section included Walter Trowbridge, a salesman at 17 Highland; Alton Dowling, an auto mechanic, at 15 Highland and Manfred Warren, a school principal, at 18 Highland. BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington, revised and continued to 1912 by the Lexington Historical Society, vol. 2, p. 316. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1913. Lexington Directories, various dates. Middlesex South Registry of Deeds, Cambridge, Mass. Sanborn Insurance Maps, 1918, 1927, 1935 U.S. Census, 1920, 1930 1906 map INVENTORY FORM A CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON SLOCUM RD./HIGHLAND MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 4 AV 475, 476 Area AV Slocum Road/Highland Avenue Name Address Form/Style Architect Est. Date MHC # 63 Bloomfield St. Dutch Colonial c.1925 1813 Florence Gilcreast House 73 Bloomfield St. Craftsman c.1910 1814 6 Highland Ave. Brick Colonial Revival c.1930 1815 Florence Sullivan House 7 Highland Ave. Dutch Colonial Revival c.1910 1816 William Morang House 9 Highland Ave. Craftsman c.1920 1817 Walter Black House 11 Highland Ave. Dutch Colonial c.1920 1818 James Harding House 14 Highland Ave. Colonial Revival c.1930 1819 Alton Dowling House 15 Highland Ave. Colonial Revival c.1925 1820 16 Highland Ave. Brick Dutch Colonial c.1925 1821 Walter Trowbridge House 17 Highland Ave. Dutch Colonial c.1925 1822 Manfred Warren House 18 Highland Ave. Colonial Revival c.1925 1823 Clayton Hilliard House 19 Highland Ave. Craftsman c.1925 1824 Roscoe Wade House 20 Highland Ave. Colonial Revival c.1925 1825 Kenneth Lillian House 21 Highland Ave. Dutch Colonial c.1920 1826 25 Highland Ave. Craftsman Col. c.1910 1827 15 Slocum Road Cape Cod Royal Barry Wills? 1952 1828 Engstrom-Ponzi House 19 Slocum Road Col. Revival c.1910 475 20 Slocum Road Brick Cape Cod 1950 1829 Hunt House 22 Slocum Road Craftsman Col. Willard D. Brown c.1915 476 23 Slocum Road Colonial Revival 1999 26 Slocum Road Garrison Colonial 1958 1830 Basil Hawkins House 27 Slocum Road Brick Col. Revival c.1930 1831 Rev. Jedediah Edgerton House 28 Slocum Road Colonial Revival 1929 1832 Louis Yeager House 31 Slocum Road Tudor Revival c.1930 1833 Frank Cronin House 32 Slocum Road Brick Col. Revival 1929 1834 INVENTORY FORM A CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON SLOCUM RD./HIGHLAND MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 5 AV 475, 476 INVENTORY FORM A CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON SLOCUM RD./HIGHLAND MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 6 AV 475, 476 31 & 27 Slocum Road 19 & 17 Highland Ave. INVENTORY FORM A CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON SLOCUM RD./HIGHLAND MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 7 AV 475, 476 18 & 20 Highland Ave. 15 Slocum Road INVENTORY FORM A CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON SLOCUM RD./HIGHLAND MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 8 AV 475, 476 32 Slocum Road 28 Slocum Road INVENTORY FORM A CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON SLOCUM RD./HIGHLAND MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 9 AV 475, 476 27 Slocum Road 22 Slocum Road INVENTORY FORM A CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON SLOCUM RD./HIGHLAND MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 10 AV 475, 476 19 Slocum Road 73 Bloomfield St. INVENTORY FORM A CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON SLOCUM RD./HIGHLAND MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 11 AV 475, 476 25 Highland Ave.