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Home My WebLink Aboutarea-nFORM A - AREA MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 294 Washington Street, Boston, MA. 02108 ---------------------------------------- Form numbers in this area Area letter 478-489, 497, W - N io4o Lexington f area (if any) Bloomfield Street L date or period 1872 to c. 1900 Sketch map. Draw a general map of the -area indicating properties within it. Number each property for which individual inventory forms have been completed. Label streets (including route numbers, if any) and indicate north. (Attach a separate sheet if space here is not sufficient) �1 a' X X X 29 23 Q X lx U ,< ❑ R`� t P/ fCLp X X ti fo � X SI7' T 1+3c 29 y 3o x X . b x Ji ❑ x � s �0 ❑ ❑ w ti❑ PL-- Ru --Y Romp 15 Xx x 0`3g f �]39 Recorded by Anne Grady Organization- Lexington Historical Commissior Date March, 1984 (Staple additional sheets here) HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE of area (Explain development of area, what caused it, and how it affected community; be specific). Bloomfield Street "was developed as a controled real estate speculation, first by one individual, later by a land company. The result was a closely integrated neighborhood of comfortable middle-class housing. . . The street was laid out in house lots averaging 150' x 150' by Levi Prosser, a farmer from Bloomfield Connecticut. Prosser had turned to real estate speculation when he bought part of the old Wm. Munroe farm extending over the hill behind the Munroe Tavern. Development occurred in two ways. First Prosser might sell a lot to a prospective house owner who would then build a single family residence. As an alternative, Prosser might sell several lots At a time to a speculator developer such as John L. Norris, builder of the Norris Block in the Center, or to Abram Washburn, local contractor The developer would then sell individual lots to those seeking to build for themselves. Construction would proceed one lot at a time as each was sold. Thus the houses along the street were built to suit the preference of each individual land owner, a process which avoided uniformity of design. A shared easthetic, similar scale, and the use of common materials produced a harmonious neighborhood" (Reinhardt, pp. 90- 91). ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE of area. (Describe physical setting, general character, and architecturally significant structures). The Bloomfield Street area(which includes Bloomfield St., Eedstis Sty= altd.'the` portions . of Percy Rd. and Highland Ave. laid out for development by Prosser) is composed predominantly of houses of similar scale and materials built in the 1870s, 1880s and early 1890s. There are perhaps half a dozen more recent houses in the area. Deed restrictions limiting to one the number of houses per lot and requiring a 35' set back have given the area a -'feeling of spaciousness. Although there are three houses with I76glianate or Mansard features, virtually all of the rest of the late f0th century houses are Queen Qnne/Shingle style vernacular structures with characteristic decorative features including bay windows, porches with turned posts, dormer windows or cross gables, exposed rafter feet, decorative trim on the fascia of the raking eave, and patterned shingles. INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL CESSION Office of the Secretary, Boston Community: Lexington Form No: N Property Name: Bloomfield Street Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below. ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE Patterns may be simply staggered butt shingles or rows of shingles of one shape alternating with rows of clapboards or shingles of another shape. The use of patterned shingles to embellish an otherwise vernacular struc- ture was a favorite device in Lexington in the late nineteenth century. Abram C. Washburn, Lexington's most prolific builder of the period who built several houses on Bloomfield Street on speculation, was a frequent user of patterned shingles. The fact that many of the houses in the Bloomfield Street area are of similar design and that many retain their original finishes gives the area great architectural integrity. It is more cohesive, in fact, than neighboring Munroe Hill developed just a few years later, but in a much more individualistic manner. The Bloomfield Street area also retains six carriage houses, all displaying original finishes and areas of patterned shingles. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE An early example of land use controls in Lexington, the deeds from Prosser restricted to one the number of houses per lot and required a setback of 35 feet. Buildings along the street were soon referred to as "neat and tasty" cottages . . . . Sales were slow during the 1870s, because of the mid decade recession, but picked up in the 1880s. By 1885 the new streets of Eustis and Mt. Vernon higher up Munroe Hill had been opened for further construction. The Lexington Minute Man pointed with pride to Norris' efforts on Bloomfield Street and chronicled the construction and sale of the buildings there. BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES Plan by S. Sage, May 1872, Middlesex County Registry of Deeds, Plan Book 25, Plan 18. Reinhardt, Elizabeth Wright. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Boston University, PP• 90-91. Staple to Inventory form at bottom INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Town Property Address LEXINGTON BLOOMFIELD ST. DATA SHEET AREA N BLOOMFIELD STREET Area(s) Form No. m MHC # Address Name Style Date 135 1404 Mass. Ave. John L. Norris House Queen Anne 1889 140 1430 Mass. Ave. John L. Norris House Italianate c.1875/ alt. c.1900 2 Bloomfield Street Herbert Connors House Dutch Colonial 1926 10 Bloomfield Street James Phillips House Dutch Colonial 1926 11 Bloomfield Street Ervin Whittaker House Dutch Colonial 1928 15 Bloomfield Street George Barton House Colonial Revival 1928 478 16 Bloomfield Street Levi Prosser -Samuel Gookins House Italianate 1872 479 23 Bloomfield Street Josiah Ingalls House Queen Anne 1884 24 Bloomfield Street James Barrington House Colonial Revival 1920 480 29 Bloomfield Street Rev. Dr. Cyrus Hamlin House Queen Anne c.1885 481 30 Bloomfield Street Babcock -Fox House Second Empire/Queen Anne c.1872 33 Bloomfield Street Donald Wilson House Dutch Colonial 1926 482 40 Bloomfield Street Rev. George W. Porter House Queen Anne c.1885 483 41 Bloomfield Street R. W. Dickson House Queen Anne 1889 44 Bloomfield Street E. A. Shaw House Queen Anne 1896 1038 47 Bloomfield Street J. M. Sampson House Queen Anne c.1886 484 50 Bloomfield Street Willard O. Armes House Shingle 1896 51 Bloomfield Street George A. Woods House Shingle 1906 55 Bloomfield Street Lyman C. Little House Shingle 1906 485 56 Bloomfield Street Sillowa -Kil ore House Queen Anne 1884 1039, 1040 60 Bloomfield Street Charles Rogers House Queen Anne 1893 486 64 Bloomfield Street HenryWood Lewis House Queen Anne/Colonial Rev. 1894 489 1 Eustis Street Irving Stone House Queen Anne c.1885 4 Eustis Street Hayden M. Saben House Queen Anne 1886 21 Highland Ave. Alton C. Dowling House Dutch Colonial 1926 25 Hi land Ave. Walter Trowbridge House Colonial Revival 1926 487 29 Highland Ave/ J.L. Norris Rental Property Queen Anne/Colonial Rev. c.1885 33 Highland Ave. Clayton Hilliard House 1926 36 Highland Ave. Fred E. Giles House Georgian Revival 1926 488 39 Highland Ave. George Norris House Stick Style 1888 43 Highland Ave. Archibald Geroux House Colonial Revival c.1910 Note: Percy Road structures are included in Munroe Hill (Area O) form. Updated by Lisa Mausolf, January 2009