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Home My WebLink Aboutarea-rFORM A - AREA MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMISSION 294 Washington Street, Boston, MA. 02108 ---------------------------------------- Form numbers in this area Area letter 526-542 R Lexington f area (if any) Moon Hill 1 date or period late 1940s 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) 37❑ -I--- -7� El 3r❑ 2q❑ i> 28❑ a� ❑ lO a� N 5 ❑ El Recorded by Nancy S. seasholes OrganizationLexington Historical Commission Date February, 1984 (Staple additional sheets here) ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE of area.(Describe physical setting, general character, and architecturally significant structures). Designed by The Architects Collaborative (TAC), Walter Gropius' firm, as a coherent community of individually designed and well -sited contemporary houses, Moon Hill is in sharp contrast to most post -World War II tract housing developments. Most of Moon Hill is on a ridge with rocky outcrops and oak and pine woods. The houses were sited so as to retain the rural character of the property, disturb the land as little as possible, and take maximum advantage of the views. In order to maintain design coherence, similar exterior finishes were used throughout: flat or shed roofs with a standard overhang and roof joist spacing; white fascia boards and copper roof edges; vertical redwood or cypress siding; and casement and large fixed glass windows set in sub frames, eliminating the need for window trim. These elements plus the strong horizontal lines and use of natural colors reflect the influence of the International Style. The interior plan was determined by the needs of the individual client and by TAC's explicit desire to design homes for servantless families with children. (see Continuation Sheet) HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE of area. (Explain development of area, what caused it, and how it affected community; be specific). Six Moon Hill, as this development was originally called, was begun in 1948 by The Architects Collaborative (TAC), a Cambridge firm founded in 1948 by Walter Gropius and seven young architects: Jean Bodman Fletcher, Norman Fletcher, John Harkness, Sarah Harkness, Robert S. McMillan, Louis McMillan, and Benjamin Thompson. The original objective was to provide housing for the TAC architects and their families as well as work for the new firm (Richard Morehouse, personal communication), but the project was also conceived as an experiment in community living. TAC believed that "cooperative principles were important" (Gropius et al. 1966:41) and wanted to create "a genuine neighborhood of well-designed houses in the cooperative spirit" (TAC microfilm). A search was made for a site in the — Boston area and one of 20 acres was located on a hill in Lexington. In addition to its unspoiled natural beauty, the site had other advantages: in a town with good government and good schools, half a mile from an elementary school and a shopping center, two miles to Lexington Center, 15 minutes from Harvard Square, one mile to the East Lexington station, easy access to both city and country, surrounded by an area zoned for single family houses, and protected by its hilltop location from traffic but open to vistas and fresh air (TAC microfilm). The former owner had left six 1920s Moon cars in a garage on the property; hence, TAC named it Six Moon Hill. = All the TAC architects except Gropius, who already had a house in Lincoln, Massachusetts, joined with seven other university families to develop the land. Because Massachusetts law prevented the establishment of a true co-op and the AIA code of ethics forbade architects to participate directly in development, a (see Continuation Sheet) BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES Gropius, Walter et al., editors. 1966. The Architects Collaborative: 1945-1965, pp. 37-47. Switzerland: Arthur Niggli Ltd. "Groupe d'habitation pres de Boston." L'architecture d'aujourd'hui 28, February 1950, pp. 34-39, 110-111. Reinhardt, E.W. "The Architect Designed Development: Two Prototypes and their Implications." Paper prepared for FA798, Boston University, May 6, 1974. (see Continuation Sheet) 2M-6/80 INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COWIISSION Office of the Secretary, Boston Community: Lexington Form No: R Property Name: Moon Hill Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below. ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE Thus, kitchen, dining, and play spaces were often integrated to facilitate the supervision of small children, and service entrances were often eliminated. To meet the demand for more space for less money, spaces were designed for multiple uses and, because excavation was necessary to at least the four -foot frost line, half basements were often used. Large panes of glass were extensively employed to increase the sense of space, maintain contact with the outdoors, and take advantage of the superlative views. Cinder block walls and cement floors were used to cut costs and radiant heat installed in the ceilings or the cement floors. In addition to these design innovations, the Moon Hill houses also employed some new architectural elements. As a result of research TAC conducted for Rohm and Haas Company of Philadelphia, who wanted a peacetime use for plexiglass developed during the war for bomber turrets and noses, the houses pioneered the use of bubble skylights in varying sizes. Other innovations were the use of sliding glass doors in wood frames and overhead glass doozs on garage door hardware. A number of architecturally significant structures exist in Moon Hill. An earlier survey started to inventory every house, beginning at the top of the hill; the present survey has added comments on or new forms for houses that were designed by the original members of TAC and/or that have been published. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE nonprofit corporation was formed to put in a road, utilities, and sell lots. Because it was the least expensive alternative and restricted the volume of traffic, a cul-de-sac road was built up the middle of the site, which was divided into 29 half -acre lots with four acres of common land. in keeping with the cooperative principles, the house sites were equally priced and the first 12 were assigned according to numbers drawn from a hat. Purchase of a lot entitled the owners to two votes in the corporation and required building within two years and using the services,of a resident architect. Any later modifications were to be approved by a community board and members of the corporation were to have right of first refusal on any sales. All but two of the present 28 houses on Moon Hill have been designed by TAC architects (15 and 21 Moon Hill Road were designed by William Haible) and the addition and sale restrictions are still in effect though informally applied. In the early years of Moon Hill the corporation decided to build a community swimming pool; the corporation now sets policy on issues affecting the neighborhood, Moon Hill today remains an enclave of contemporary houses that has had little architectural affect on Lexington except that it prompted TAC to develop Five Fields, another community of contemporary houses.in the same town (see Five Fields area form). Staple to Inventory form at bottom INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL CCKU SSION Office of the Secretary, Boston Community: Lexington Form No: R Property Name: Moon Hill Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below. BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES "Six Moon Hill." Architectural Forum 92(6), June 1950, pp. 113-123. TAC Job Files 4803. Microfilm on file at TAC Library, Cambridge, Massachusetts. "Ten Great Places to Live." Esquire, December 1965, pp. 223, 260, 262. "The Good Life, Inc." Vogue, February 1, 1954, pp. 149, 194-195. Staple to Inventory form at bottom INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 DATA SHEET AREA R SIX MOON HILL Town Property Address LEXINGTON SIX MOON HILL Area(s) FormNo. ®� MHC Address Name Style Architect/Builder (if known) Date 1 Moon Hill Road Contemporary 4 Moon Hill Road Contemporary 5 Moon Hill Road Contemporary 526 6 Moon Hill Road Fletcher Ashley House Contemporary Richard S. Morehouse (TAC) 1950 7 Moon Hill Road Contemporary 527 10 Moon Hill Road Morton Sills House Contemporary The Architects Collaborative (TAC) 1948 11 Moon Hill Road Contemporary 12 Moon Hill Road Contemporary 14 Moon Hill Road Robert Gallagher House Contemporary 1949 15 Moon Hill Road Contemporary 528 16 Moon Hill Road Leonard J. Currie House Contemporary Leonard J. Currie (TAC) c.1948 529 17 Moon Hill Road Louis McMillan House Contemporary Louis McMillan (TAC) c.1948 21 Moon Hill Road Contemporary 530 25 Moon Hill Road Donald T. Clark House Contemporary TAC 1947 531 28 Moon Hill Road Waldo Elmer House Contemporary TAC 1948 532 29 Moon Hill Road Eric T. Clarke House Contemporary TAC 1948 533 31 Moon Hill Road Dr. Edwin O. Wheeler House Contemporary TAC 1948 534 32 Moon Hill Road Herbert Stewart House Contemporary TAC 1948 535 33 Moon Hill Road Arthur Kipp House Contemporary TAC 1948 536 34 Moon Hill Road Sarah & John Harkness House Contemporary Sarah & John Harkness (TAC) 1948 537 35 Moon Hill Road Wallace E. Howell House Contemporary TAC 1948 538 36 Moon Hill Road Norman & Jean Fletcher House Contemporary Norman & Jean Fletcher (TAC) 1948 539 37 Moon Hill Road Richard S. Morehouse House Contemporary Richard S. Morehouse (TAC) 1950 540 38 Moon Hill Road Robert S. McMillan House Contemporary Robert McMillan (TAC) 1948 541 39 Moon Hill Road Saul G. Cohen House Contem or TAC 1948 542 40 Moon Hill Road Benjamin Thompson House Contemporary Benjamin Thompson (TAC) 1948 16 Swan Lane Contemporary 24 Swan Lane Contemporary