Report Lexington Center Streetscape Lexington, MA
Historic Resource Assessment of
Designed Landscape Submitted to: January 26, 2018 PAL No. 3409
BETA Engineering Group, Inc. 315 Norwood Park South, 2nd Floor Norwood, MA 02062
The Town of Lexington, Massachusetts (Town), is planning for the proposed renovation and revitalization of Lexington Center (the “Center Streetscape Project” or “Project”) (Figure 1). The Town has engaged the BETA Group (BETA) to conduct traffic studies and complete the design and construction of the Project based on a Master Plan completed by Pressley Associates in 2011. The Public Archaeology Laboratory, Inc. (PAL) has been contracted by BETA to complete a historic resource assessment study of the Center Streetscape as a Mid-Century Modern historic landscape design, provide recommendations regarding possible treatments of historic design elements, and present the report findings to the Town’s Center Streetscape Oversight Committee. The historic resource assessment study was overseen by Virginia H. Adams, Senior Architectural Historian, and Gretchen M. Pineo, Architectural Historian, was the technical lead.
Project Area Description
The Center Streetscape Project is in the downtown commercial area of Lexington along the north and south sidewalks of Massachusetts Avenue between Cary Memorial Library on the west and the intersection of Fletcher and Woburn streets and Massachusetts Avenue on the east (Photos 1–18) (Figure 2) (BETA 2013, 2014). The project area extends approximately 0.5 miles from the east edge of the Lexington Battle Green, encompassing the statue of Captain John Parker, to the intersection of Hunt Road and Massachusetts Avenue on the southeast and the intersection of Woburn Street and the Minuteman Commuter Bikeway on the east. The Project Area is almost fully encompassed within the Lexington Central Business District Area (LEX.A), which contains a mix of historic and modern one- to three-story brick and wood commercial buildings lining both sides of Massachusetts Avenue. The west end of the project area encompasses small portions of the Lexington Green Historic District (LEX.AC, NRDIS 4/1976, LHD 6/1956), the Battle Green Historic District (LEX.B, LHD 6/1956), the Lexington Green NHL (LEX.AG, NHL and NRIND 10/1966, NRDIS 4/1976, LHD 6/1956), and the Buckman Tavern NHL (LEX.AH, NHL and NRIND 10/1966, NRDIS 4/1976, LHD 6/1956). The east end of the project area encompasses portions of the Winthrop Road Area (LEX.M), Woburn Street Area (LEX.F), and the Munroe Tavern Local Historic District (LEX.D, LHF 6/1956).
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Methodology
The PAL architectural historian team, with experience surveying and evaluating historic landscapes, completed research, site visits, and analysis to complete the assessment of the Mid-Century Modern landscape in order to evaluate the landscape and determine its place among other Mid-Century Modern designs. The team first examined historical engineering plans available on the Town website, the 1966 A Plan for Lexington Center, and existing conditions drawings provided by BETA. They then walked the project area noting original and replacement materials, overall design and landscape features, and making observations regarding the boundaries. Research was conducted at the Lexington Historical Society, Cary Memorial Library, and files on the Town online public records portal, including engineering plans, Design Advisory Committee meeting minutes, annual town reports, and Lexington Historical Commission meeting minutes. The at Sasaki Associates Archives were also consulted. The Massachusetts Historical Commission’s online database, Massachusetts Cultural Resources Inventory was reviewed to identify recorded historic resources in the project area. Interviews were conducted with individuals familiar with the project area and the landscape development history. Sources were collected and consulted on Mid-Century Modern landscape evaluation and history to assist in the assessment (Birnbaum and Foell 2009; NPS 1990; Keller and Keller n.d.; Grimmer 2017).
Historical Context
Origins of Landscape Plan
The Lexington Center Streetscape was conceived and developed in the mid-twentieth century during a time of major design shifts in American landscape architecture, urban planning, and architecture. Beginning in the mid-1950s and ending in the early 1970s, as car-culture and interstate highways proliferated, Main Streets were increasingly bypassed for larger, regional shopping centers and strip malls on the outskirts of suburbs (Liebs 1985:37). In the 1960s, federal funds became available to mitigate some of the damage done by “three quarters of a century of unrestrained road building” (Liebs 1985:37). In 1965, the White House held a Conference on Natural Beauty partly prompted by the publication of Jane Jacobs’ 1961 The Death and Life of Great American Cities and Rachel Carson’s 1962 Silent Spring (Liebs 1985:65–65; Fixler 2017a). At the conference, a panel about townscapes discussed the necessity of developing beautification plans for cities that were not necessarily part of larger Urban Renewal plans. Noted landscape architect Garrett Eckbo commented on creating spaces based on relationships between buildings and open space, and pedestrians and open space. He also emphasized that townscapes needed to be more than just utilitarian and functional places, but to be lyric, classic, and intuitive, among other attributes (WHCNB 1965:84–85). Partially as a result of this conference, many cities removed cars entirely from main streets, and paved them as pedestrian malls with ornamental blocks, trees, planting beds, sculptures, and seating. Parking was moved from in front of stores to large lots cleared through Urban Renewal or other projects (Liebs 1985:37).
The “Environmental Look,” as described by landscape historian Chester H. Liebs, that emerged following the 1965 White House conference and Jacobs and Carson publications was characterized by a visually quiet style, in contrast to the louder, more emphatic landscape elements of the 1950s and early 1960s. The new aesthetic included elements such as buried utility cables, brick walls, diagonal board or board and batten wood walls, and low-maintenance landscaping incorporating Report Lexington Center Streetscape Historic Resource Assessment of Designed Landscape page 3 of 47
hardy plants set in beds of bark mulch surrounded by repurposed railroad ties, and smaller wooden tub planters (Liebs 1985:66, 72).
By the mid-1960s, American landscape architecture began to reflect Mid-Century Modern design trends, with clean, simple, elegant landscapes with a minimum of materials and no ornate detailing. In urban design, pedestrian malls, which had emerged as a concept during World War II (1939–1945) became increasingly popular starting in the early 1960s. Pedestrian malls were believed to be a panacea for deteriorating downtown areas by reducing or eliminating vehicular traffic while allowing pedestrians to stroll through tranquil, landscaped environments. Designers frequently employed design details such as ornamental light poles, bollards, benches, tree guards, moveable planters, and public art, set within a unique paved environment (TCLF 2017a). Further, Modernist landscapes employed familiar materials, such as brick and stone, in sometimes unusual ways, and were predominantly low maintenance, with plants and trees which did not require a great deal of attention (TCLF 2017b). At the time of the design of the Lexington Center landscape, there was a blurring of the dividing line between architecture and landscape architecture, with numerous architects designing landscapes to surround their buildings (Merrill 2017; Fixler 2017a). Additionally, the British Townscape movement was in response, and counter, to the large-scale separation of people, cars, and buildings, such as at large shopping malls or along prohibitively wide boulevards (Fixler 2017a). First developed by Architectural Review art editor Gordon Cullen, the Townscape movement embodied a holistic view of cities, emphasizing a focus on the relationship between buildings and the surrounding landscape, rather than as discrete elements (Ellin 1999:61). In the United States, this holistic view was embraced by influential writers and urbanists Jane Jacobs, Paul Goodman, Kevin Lynch, and others. Although not described specifically in the same terms as in Britain, the American version attempted to “humanize the city,” thus allowing people to better understand the city and alleviate urban fear (Ellin 1999:61–62). Although Lexington was not necessarily an urban area, the emphasis on the relationship between buildings and landscape would influence the design of the Lexington Center pedestrian promenade.
Lexington Center
In Lexington, the planned construction of a regional shopping center to the north in Burlington (now the Burlington Mall, completed in 1968), and the establishment of Minute Man National Historical Park (NHP) in 1959 in Lexington and Concord prompted a renewed focus on Lexington Center. In the 1930s to the early 1960s, Lexington Center developed like many other small commercial centers, with a wide main street flanked with one-story taxpayer blocks and large two-to-four-story, late- nineteenth-century mixed-use buildings (Historic Photographs 1 and 2). Visitors to the commercial areas parked their vehicles in angled parking lining the curbs and accessed shops via narrow sidewalks. The town leadership held concerns about how the town would be perceived when visitors from all over the world came to see the Lexington Green as part of their visit to Minute Man NHP and recognized that Lexington Center could never hope to directly compete commercially with the mall. In 1964, the Lexington Chamber of Commerce conducted a preliminary study, and in 1965, the Lexington Board of Selectmen authorized a planning study of the town center, paid for in part by contributions from local businesses (Lexington Minuteman 1965a; Sasaki et al. 1965; EDA et al. 1966a:136). Concurrently, Lexington residents authorized the purchase of additional rights-of-way in front of the former Hunt and Central blocks flanking Depot Square as both lots were under redevelopment, allowing for a widening of Massachusetts Avenue near the Battle Green, and a more cohesive setback along the north side of Massachusetts Avenue (Lexington Minuteman 1965a).
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Economic Development Associates, Planners, of Boston and the Greenfield, Massachusetts, architectural firm of Bednarski-Falconer-Stein undertook the planning study in conjunction with a volunteer design advisory committee. The Design Advisory Committee (DAC), also referred to as the Design Advisory Group) was composed of Lexington residents who were architects, landscape architects, planners, engineers, and traffic consultants (Lexington Minuteman 1965a). The DAC and the Advisory Committee of Architects and Planners for Improvement of Lexington Center, selected four members to represent the group at the numerous meetings that would be held about the project. The executive committee members included some of the most prominent designers in Massachusetts, and the US at the time: landscape architect Hideo Sasaki, of Sasaki, Dawson, and DeMay Assoc. Inc., Landscape Architects and Planners, Architects (now Sasaki Associates); architect Norman Fletcher of The Architects Collaborative; architect Walter Pierce of Pierce and Pierce, Architects; and urban planner Donald Graham of the Boston Regional Planning Project (Lexington Minuteman 1965a; EDA et al. 1966a).
Lexington had begun as a Colonial-era town with deep connections to the American Revolution, but by the mid-twentieth century, the town had developed a Modernist design aesthetic, as reflected in the makeup of the DAC spokesmen.
Landscape architect Hideo Sasaki was well known for his modern, contemporary landscape designs, including landscapes for the Upjohn Corporation World Headquarters in Kalamazoo, MI (1957– 1961), Sea Pines Plantation on Hilton Head Island, SC (1958), Boston’s Government Center (1959), the John Deere Company Headquarters in Moline, IL (1964), and, later, Boston’s Copley Square (1970) (Simo 2009). Sasaki studied under Walter Gropius while a student at the Harvard GSD, where he adopted the Bauhaus ideals of collaboration, routinely working with architects and engineers on various projects. Following his graduation from Harvard in 1948, Sasaki worked for architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill before returning to teach at Harvard in 1953 and go into practice for himself in Watertown, MA. While teaching at Harvard and serving as chair of the department of Landscape Architecture (1953–1970), Sasaki, along with Josep Lluis Sert, dean of the Harvard GSD, and Reginald Isaacs, chair of the planning department, developed a collaborative educational environment, bringing the expertise of numerous disciplines to bear on various projects. The collaborative environment, supported by team teaching and group projects, led to a shift in the practice of landscape architecture, architecture, and city planning, among other professions. This shift resulted in the integration of landscapes and buildings with each other, and their surrounding environment (Simo 2009:301–303).
Norman Fletcher was a founding partner of The Architects Collaborative (TAC) with Bauhaus pioneer émigré, and Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) dean, Walter Gropius and others. TAC had designed two Mid-Century Modern enclaves of residences at Six Moon Hill (1948–1950) and most of Five Fields (1951–1958). While Gropius had lived in neighboring Lincoln in the house he designed since 1938, the TAC principals and other Modernist architects designed homes for themselves in these and other Lexington developments.
Architect Walter Pierce, with fellow architect and MIT graduate Danforth Compton, was responsible for the design of the Mid-Century Modern neighborhood Peacock Farm (1952–1958), constructed by the contracting firm of Harmon White and Edward Green. The Peacock Farm design won first place in the 1957 standard-plan competition sponsored by the American Institute of Architects and the popular magazine, Better Homes and Gardens (Yardley 2013). At least four other Mid-Century Modern neighborhoods were designed by Pierce and Compton, and built by White and Green, Report Lexington Center Streetscape Historic Resource Assessment of Designed Landscape page 5 of 47
copying Peacock Farm: Upper Turning Mill Road (1957–1961), Rumford Road (1959), Shaker Glen Estates (1960–1966), and The Grove (1962–1965) (Mausolf 2010).1
Donald Graham was an urban planner who worked for the Providence Redevelopment Agency before moving to Boston to work for the Boston Redevelopment Agency. Later, he was responsible for the master plan for the expansion of the MBTA transit system, particularly the expansion of the Red and Orange lines, and expansion of the commuter rail system (Lexington Minuteman 2012).
John Bednarski and Art Stein, followers of Frank Lloyd Wright and close friends, founded the firm of Bednarski and Stein in Greenfield, MA, in 1960. John Paul Rutherford (Rudd) Falconer was an early partner of Bednarski-Falconer-Stein who left the firm in 1966. Bednarski and Stein designed commercial buildings, churches, public space projects, and residences throughout New England. Their designs were organized around the qualities of a specific site and function (Kronen 2015).
Lexington Center Streetscape
Planning Study 1965–1966
The planning study, begun in 1965, resulted in a proposed three-phase redevelopment of Lexington Center, shown in the Proposed Actions Schedule published in the 1966 A Plan For Lexington Center (Plan) (Figure 3). The Plan focused on work to be completed before 1968 with later logical extensions. As stated, the Plan “contains proposals for the next few years, policies for the next decade, and considers generalized estimates for the time beyond” (EDA et al. 1966a:1). Phase 1, to be carried out 1966–1967, encompassed the areas immediately east and west of Depot Square on the north side of Massachusetts Avenue. Phase 2, slated for 1967–1968, was to encompass Depot Square and the south side of Massachusetts Avenue from the west side of Depot Square to just east of Edison Way. Undated future work in Phase 3 was to encompass the remainder of the north side of Massachusetts Avenue from the east edge of the Phase 1 work to the east side of the US Post Office. The plan also recommended that curbs be relocated to provide a total of 60 feet of travelled way, with 46 feet allocated for moving traffic. 4 feet were to be allocated to widen the sidewalks on the south side of Massachusetts Avenue, with the remaining 10 feet allocated to the sidewalk on the north side of Massachusetts Avenue, which would have a “carefully designed sidewalk surface with a double row of trees, other plantings, and benches” (EDA et al. 1966a:10, 135). The south sidewalk would have small-scale landscaping and furnishings to complement the north sidewalk (EDA et al. 1966a:136). The final version of the plan expanded the improved sidewalks west to Meriam Street and east to the town offices. On-street parking would remain on the south side of Massachusetts Avenue, in front of the post office on the north side of Massachusetts Avenue, and on side streets including Clarke, Muzzey, and Waltham streets. A major beautification element of the of the Center was “a dramatically landscaped promenade linking the Green, the commercial Center, and the civic area” that would be complemented by the development of new architecture and pedestrian areas linked to parking and commercial buildings” (EDA et al. 1966a:2).
In the November 21, 1965 issue of the Lexington Minuteman, proposals for the redevelopment of Lexington Center were presented to the residents of Lexington through an unattributed front-page article and a letter to the Board of Selectmen which was also published in the Lexington Minuteman,
1 Another Lexington neighborhood, Middle Ridge, was conceived and designed by architect Carl Koch using his semi-prefabricated “Techbuilt” homes (ca. 1956–1967). Report Lexington Center Streetscape Historic Resource Assessment of Designed Landscape page 6 of 47
written by Hideo Sasaki, Stuart O. Dawson, and Don H. Olson, all members of the DAC and landscape architects in the firm of Sasaki, Dawson, and DeMay (Harvard Crimson 1962; Sasaki et al. 1965). The letter from Sasaki, Dawson, and Olson attempted to answer potential questions about the plan while laying out some of the more important elements, including more fully explaining the proposed plan for the first phase of construction, which would focus on the improvement of Massachusetts Avenue on either side of Depot Square only. Massachusetts Avenue would be laid out with four 11-foot-wide travel lanes, an 8-foot-wide parking lane, and a 2-foot-wide painted median in the center of the road. Parking was slated to be removed only from the two blocks under redevelopment, with parking lots to the north of the buildings able to be expanded if necessary (Sasaki et al. 1965). After the initial phase of redevelopment, further improvements between the Battle Green and the town offices could be staged based on available funding (Sasaki et al. 1965).
Due to the purchase of the right-of-way in front of the Hunt and Central blocks, the DAC suggested the development of a pedestrian promenade along the north side of Massachusetts Avenue. The committee also suggested rerouting traffic in some places, adding new roads to provide direct access to off-street parking areas, and redesigning specific intersections to alleviate traffic congestion and hazards. The committee also recommended that an overall plan for Lexington Center be created to allow growth in an organized way to prevent “indiscriminate encroachment” on adjacent residences (Sasaki et al. 1965).
In a subsequent issue of the Lexington Minuteman, the need for a comprehensive design plan for Lexington Center was emphasized. The DAC’s proposal described the commercial district as ‘ordinary and uninteresting,’ and stated that the ‘typical commercial storefronts fail to impart a distinctive character to the Center.’ The proposal then contrasted the existing main street with Depot Square, which the DAC described as a ‘delightful area,’ and with Lexington’s ‘most attractive asset,’ the Battle Green and its adjacent historic buildings (Lexington Minuteman 1965b). The proposal also noted that Massachusetts Avenue was so wide that traffic kept the shops on the north and south sides of the street separated. The road was wide enough to permit a pedestrian promenade on the sunny side of the street which could link the Battle Green with the town offices, and could eventually be expanded to include Belfry Hill and the Old Burial Ground, both on the south side of the street, near the Battle Green (Lexington Minuteman 1965b). The 1966 Plan also noted the separation of the north and south shops, and argued that the proposed landscape plan would project a sense of enclosure, enhanced by trees planted on the north and south sides of the street, in order to visually reduce the separation between the two sides of the street (EDA et al. 1966a:134).
In an April 21, 1966 letter to the editor published in the Lexington Minuteman, Hideo Sasaki furthered the argument for a pedestrian-friendly streetscape, as opposed to a wide, busy through road, by citing numerous cities and towns throughout the United States undertaking beautification projects. Some, such as Fresno, CA; Providence, RI; Kalamazoo, MI; Toledo, OH; Miami, FL; and Pomona, CA, had closed their main street entirely to vehicular traffic. Others, such as Ann Arbor, MI; Atlanta, GA; Newark, NJ; New Haven, CT; and Norfolk, VA, had plans to beautify and improve pedestrian access (Sasaki 1966).
1966 Design
The redesign for the Lexington Center Streetscape was overseen by the DAC. The landscape design work was undertaken by Sasaki, Dawson, and DeMay, although it was not recorded as a formal project in the firm’s records. John W. Frey, a graduate of the Harvard GSD, studied under Sasaki and Report Lexington Center Streetscape Historic Resource Assessment of Designed Landscape page 7 of 47
worked for TAC in 1956 before joining Sasaki’s firm in 1957. In 1963, Frey left Sasaki, Dawson, and DeMay to form a new landscape architecture firm with Max Mason, but continued as the consultant to the town for the streetscape design (Lexington Minuteman 1967g). Mason and Frey of Cambridge also designed the landscape for Bicentennial Park in Arlington, MA (1976), among other projects (Frey 2017a; TCLF 2017c).
According to Frey, the design was intended to create an attractive public area in Lexington Center where residents and visitors alike would want to linger. Spaces were delineated by tree and shrub planters along the south side of the sidewalk, which created pockets where benches could be installed, and deciduous trees and yews would create shady, screened areas that would act as barriers between pedestrians and the Massachusetts Avenue traffic. Little-leaf lindens were chosen for their hardiness and ability to survive in urban areas. Brick paving was used as a unifying material, tying the entire streetscape together (Frey 2017a, b). The design embodied many of Sasaki’s key approaches to landscape design, binding the buildings and streetscape together, and with the surrounding environment (Simo 2009:303).
Two drawings created for the Lexington Center project exist today (2017) in the Sasaki Associates archives, both of which were published in the Lexington Minuteman in November 1965 and in the 1966 Plan; no other records from the project have been located in the Sasaki archives (Levinthal 2017; Lexington Minuteman 1965b). One is an undated and unattributed “diagrammatic plan” of the proposed beautification project, showing the extent of the DAC’s plan (Figure 4). The drawing shows a double row of trees along the north side of Massachusetts Avenue between Meriam Street and the US Post Office, except immediately in front of Depot Square, and shows potential parking areas north and south of Massachusetts Avenue (Lexington Minuteman 1965b). The second is a perspective sketch of the proposed streetscape looking west from approximately Waltham Street toward the Battle Green drawn by George Conley, a freelance artist who frequently worked with architects and landscape architects (Figure 5) (Frey 2017a). A third image published along with these two images illustrates the planned first phase of the project, encompassing the area between Meriam Street and the east side of the Hunt Block (Figure 6). Similar information is also shown in the Public Actions Schedule (see Figure 3) (Lexington Minuteman 1965b).
The only known copy of a working drawing from the initial phase of work was published in the Lexington Minuteman in 1967 (Figures 7a, b). It was accompanied by a photograph of an architect’s model published the previous month that shows and describes the materials and design as built and largely as it exists today (Figure 7c). The Lexington Engineering Department does not appear to have a copy of the 1967 plan. The construction drawings available for the initial Phase 1 work were prepared by town employees, rather than Sasaki’s firm, reflecting the decision by the town to have Department of Public Works (DPW) employees complete the final designs and oversee the construction project (Malatesta 2017). Construction drawings from 1970, when the streetscape was expanded to the area between Waltham Street and Edison Way (Figure 8), shows the location of streetlights; the placement and dimensions of tree, shrub, and flower planters; and calls out paving materials. Later drawings, including for the renovation of the south side of Massachusetts Avenue, initially scheduled to be Phase 2 of the project but instead executed in Phase 3 (1974 and 1977), and the renovation of Depot Square (1998), exist in the Lexington public records.
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As-Built Streetscape 1967 and 1970
The north side of Massachusetts Avenue between Meriam Street and Edison Way was redeveloped in a variant of the two-phase approach proposed in the 1966 Plan. The first stage in 1967 was the westernmost section of the north side; it encompassed the area from the east side of Meriam Street to mid-block between Depot Square and Edison Way (east), just west of where Waltham Street intersects the south side of Massachusetts Avenue. 2 This work constituted the 1966 Plan Phase 1 and part of Phase 2 (see Figures 3 and 9). East of Edison Way, the 1966 Plan called for a double row of trees between Edison Way and Grant Street, and a single row of trees in front of the US Post Office as part of Phase 3; this does not appear to have been executed (see Figures 6, 7a, 7b, and 9). It is possible the single row of trees was planned to accommodate an existing 40-inch diameter oak tree and numerous utility lines near the Post Office and Town Offices. Although the Plan was intended to connect the Town Offices with the commercial core and the Battle Green, the slated Phase 3 work did not extend that far east, terminating instead on the west side of Grant Street (see Figures 3 and 9). Much of the construction work, including tree and shrub planting, was undertaken by Lexington DPW employees (Historic Photographs 3 and 4). Barretto Granite Corporation of Milford, New Hampshire, cut the granite curbs (Lexington Minuteman 1967a–d). Vincent Scardino, Inc. of Framingham laid the sidewalks, which were paved with red brick from the Spaulding Brick Company of Somerville. The bricks were laid in a running bond on concrete, and the joints were filled with sand. The brick sidewalks flowed into recessed entryways along the south (facade) elevations of the buildings, creating a continuous line of brick. The sidewalks were 31.5 feet wide at their widest point, and 26 feet wide at the narrowest, with granite curbs consisting of slabs of varying length that were 7 inches high and 4 inches thick, with sawn tops and hammered faces. Parallel parking spaces were delineated in the indentations between the widest points of the sidewalk. Tree, flower, and shrub planters consisted of granite slabs 7 inches high and 4 inches thick, with sawn tops and hammered vertical sides.
The 1967 streetscape included 17 tree planters, 5 feet long on a side; and 5 shrub planters, 13 feet long by 3 feet wide (Historic Photograph 5). The tree planters, filled with little-leaf lindens, were arranged in a single line along the center of the sidewalk, with clusters of four trees at the rhythmically-spaced bump-outs in the sidewalk, giving an overall sense of a double row of trees. The shrub planters filled with low-growing yews were set along the outside edge of the sidewalk, parallel to Massachusetts Avenue, on the south side of the single tree plantings. 6 ornamental lights on 9- foot, silver-colored posts were installed. Although benches and settees were part of the design plan, they do not appear on the working drawing published in the Lexington Minuteman (Figures 7a, b) (Lexington Minuteman 1967b; GCGA 2013). In 1969, the Lexington Town-Wide Beautification Committee called for the entire project, from the Battle Green to the Town Offices, be undertaken in phases, due to the success of the initial phase of construction (TWBC 1969:7).
The second stage in 1970 encompassed the abutting section to the east on the north side of Massachusetts Avenue between the mid-block point opposite Waltham Street and Edison Way (east), which was part of Phase 2 in the 1966 Plan (see Figures 3 and 9). The sidewalk was expanded to the south to create a continuation of the wide promenade at the west end of Massachusetts Avenue (Figures 8 and 9). As at the west end, a small number of parallel parking spaces were provided along the narrower portion of the sidewalk. This construction included the installation of 19 tree planters,
2 The actual work done as part of the Lexington Center Streetscape project is referred to as stages in this report in order to differentiate it from the planned phases described in the 1966 Plan. Report Lexington Center Streetscape Historic Resource Assessment of Designed Landscape page 9 of 47
7 shrub planters, and a large flower planter, 20 feet long and 12 feet wide, that was sited at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Waltham Street. 6 more street lights were installed (Historic Photographs 6 and 7) (LED 1970).
Expansion and Modifications 1974–1998
Following the initial stages of work in 1967 and 1970 that completed the 1966 Plan Phase 1 and part of Phase 2 on the north side of Massachusetts Avenue, additional work was completed based on concepts shown in the 1966 Plan along the south side of Massachusetts Avenue. In 1974, the sidewalks on the side streets of Clarke and Muzzey streets, were repaved with concrete. In 1977, the sidewalk between Cary Memorial Library at Clarke Street and Waltham Street was paved with concrete. The brick sidewalk east of Cary Memorial Library was added in 2007. The brick was laid in a running bond with granite curbing, with tree wells rimmed with brick set flush with the surrounding sidewalk, following the suggestion in the 1966 Plan that the south sidewalk complement the north sidewalk, but with smaller-scale landscaping (EDA et al. 1966a:136).
On the north side of Massachusetts Avenue, also ca. 1977, the 1966 Plan Phase 2 area between Edison Way and the drive east of the Post Office was paved with brick and granite curbs, but street trees shown in the Plan were not planted. The buildings in this stretch are set back from the sidewalk with trees in the intervening planting beds. In 1983, the sidewalks in front of the town offices, along the outer edge of the entrance loop and interconnecting the town office buildings, were reconstructed with brick by the Department of Public Works, and sections of brick walk on the east and west sides of Cary Memorial Hall were removed (LED 1974, 1977, 1983).
In 2001–2002, Depot Square was completely rehabilitated by the Massachusetts Highway Department using plans they created dated 1998. This redesign resulted in new straight brick paths running along the perimeter of the park and diagonally from the corners of the park meeting in the center, and curvilinear paths running approximately north-south. Sod and ornamental trees were planted to infill the spaces between the sidewalks. Small, brick-paved pads along the outside edges of the curvilinear paths have single and pairs of wood benches facing in toward the center of the park (MassDOT 1998).
Current Conditions
Today, the Lexington Center Streetscape as-built in 1967 and 1970 as a pedestrian promenade on the north side of Massachusetts Avenue between Meriam Street (west) and Edison Way (east) is largely intact. The sidewalks are paved with original brick and edged with granite curbs, and retain the rhythmic spacing of six bump-outs to create parallel parking areas. Granite tree, shrub, and flower planters remain extant, in their original configuration, as reflected in the working and construction drawings (Figures 7a, b, c, and 8) (Lexington Minuteman 1967b, 1967c; LED 1970). The alignment of single and paired trees creates a continuous sense of a green swathe along street edge. Wood benches flank the single tree planters on the east and west sides. Alterations to the historic streetscape since its construction are limited and discrete, and resulted from improvements in Americans with Disabilities Act regulations. These changes consist of the installation of concrete pedestrian ramps, that replace original brick paving, localized at the crosswalks on Massachusetts Avenue and side streets. Many little-leaf linden trees have been replaced in kind due to disease or damage, but some original trees survive, as documented in a recent Tree Inventory and Management Plan (Bartlett Tree Experts 2017). Several yews have been replaced with tall ornamental grasses (Frey 2017a). Report Lexington Center Streetscape Historic Resource Assessment of Designed Landscape page 10 of 47
Decorative silver metal light fixtures remain extant, and fixtures on the south side of Massachusetts Avenue, east of Waltham Street, installed in the late twentieth or early twenty-first century are visually similar, although they are painted black. Small, wooden barrel planters are scattered along the north and south sidewalks, but do not appear on construction schematics, likely due to their movable, temporary nature. On side streets, particularly Waltham Street, concrete sidewalks have been patched with asphalt or concrete. Research is ongoing to determine if the benches currently along Massachusetts Avenue are similar to those initially installed.
On the north side of Massachusetts Avenue, sidewalks are brick as far east as the US Post Office. On the south side of Massachusetts Avenue, brick sidewalks extend east from the east side of Cary Memorial Library to Wallis Court, and retain their post-1977 landscaping. The sidewalks on Waltham, Muzzey, and Clarke streets, all of which run south from the south side of Massachusetts Avenue, are paved with concrete, as is the sidewalk immediately in front of Cary Memorial Library. Single- and double-stem parking meters are placed at the sidewalk edge along Massachusetts Avenue and Waltham, Muzzey, and Clarke streets, as well as along the outer edge of the Depot Square loop.
Historic Character Defining Features
The Lexington Center Streetscape, notably the promenade section on the north side of Massachusetts Avenue retains numerous original elements as reflected on construction plans that embody the design aesthetic and plan as developed by the DAC and its executive committee, with Hideo Sasaki as the leading landscape architect in the group, and further developed by Mason and Frey. These elements are character-defining features of the Lexington Center Streetscape. The primary landscape of the promenade north side is balanced by the simpler south side opposite. The materials chosen, specifically brick and granite, were meant to blend the old and the new, linking the historic and the modern to create a meaningful environment (Walker and Simo 1994:8–10). Vegetation sufficiently hardy for the urban setting was selected for shade and screening.
The character defining features are: • Brick sidewalks • Granite curbing • Granite tree wells • Granite shrub planters • Granite flower planter • Decorative light fixtures • Vegetation – little-leaf linden trees, yews and mixed shrubs
Other elements, which are movable, and part of the overall design concept but were not included on the construction drawings are: • Wood benches • Wood barrel planters
These features, and the layout, in itself, are character-defining features of the Lexington Center Streetscape. Although not directly attributed to Hideo Sasaki based on the available documentation, the Lexington Center Streetscape exhibits many of the qualities seen in Sasaki landscapes that were designed to provide oases in the middle of dense urban spaces, and to create landscapes that could “restore the human spirit” (Birnbaum 2010).
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Assessment as Mid-Century Modern Landscape
The Lexington Center Streetscape, as designed and implemented beginning in 1965, was the result of a collaboration between the DAC, the Lexington Planning Board, and the Lexington Board of Selectmen in order to improve the aesthetics of Lexington Center. The DAC’s Executive Committee, comprising a landscape architect, two architects, and a planner––Hideo Sasaki, Walter Pierce, Norman Fletcher, and city planner Donald Graham––oversaw the design process. Sasaki, as the only landscape architect on the Executive Committee, and nationally- and internationally-known for his collaborative process in designing landscapes in conjunction with architects and planners, was likely the driving force behind the design concept. Landscape architect and Sasaki alumnus John Frey, who served on the DAC, worked on the project in conjunction with the Sasaki firm, and later as a consultant to the town while a principal at Mason and Frey (Frey 2017a; Lexington Minuteman 1967g).
The only known copies of the concept drawings (Figures 4 and 5) are in the archives of the Sasaki Associates, the successor firm to Sasaki, Dawson, and DeMay. Despite the lack of archival documentation indicating that the Lexington Center Streetscape was designed by Hideo Sasaki or his firm, the landscape nonetheless embodies the design principles of Sasaki. Specifically, landscapes designed by Sasaki or his firm were “understated, uncluttered, seemingly natural, [and] elegantly crafted” (Simo 2009:303). Further, due to Sasaki’s dedication to collaboration with practitioners in other fields, his work integrated land, buildings, and the surrounding environment to create seamless landscapes (Simo 2009:303). Sasaki employed geometric forms contrasted with shapes formed by shrubs, trees, and groups of plantings to create contrast and texture in the landscape (Walker and Simo 1994:242). These principles are evident in the Lexington Center Streetscape, with brick flowing in and out of entryways along the north side of Massachusetts Avenue; low, square and rectangular planters with trees, yews, and flowers; and the use of brick as a unifying material, connecting the pedestrian walkway with the historic brick buildings lining the north and south sides of Massachusetts Avenue.
Mid-Century Modern landscapes, as discussed previously, made use of familiar materials, such as concrete, brick, and stone, sometimes in unusual ways. Designs were intended to be low maintenance, and incorporated plants, trees, and shrubs which did not require a great deal of care. Mid-Century Modern designs, particularly those created by Hideo Sasaki and his colleagues, were not focused on form, but rather on purpose, and how the landscape was to be used. This focus on purpose often resulted in subtle landscapes that were not “enormous artifact[s] of super modernism,” but instead spaces that were meant to be enjoyed by people (quoted in Walker and Sino 2009:8) (Fixler 2017b).
The Lexington Center Streetscape promenade design as conceived and designed starting in 1965 and constructed in 1967 and 1970 on the north side of Massachusetts Avenue between Meriam Street and Edison Way, embodies Mid-Century Modern principles. The layout of design elements, including rhythmic sidewalk bump-outs to create wide and narrow spaces, and tree, shrub, and flower planters, creates small pockets of quiet, separated from the main pedestrian pathway adjacent to the commercial buildings lining the sidewalk; vegetation separates these pockets from passing cars on Massachusetts Avenue. Constructed of brick and granite, the landscape elements employ familiar materials. The brick paving serves as a unifying element, tying together the commercial buildings, pedestrian corridor, and seating areas, and the granite delineates the edges of the sidewalk and acts as a simple, subtle, decorative element, surrounding various tree and shrub plantings.
Report Lexington Center Streetscape Historic Resource Assessment of Designed Landscape page 12 of 47
The promenade section retains a high degree of historic integrity.3 Comparison of information from interviews and historical sources (design intent statements, newspaper accounts, plans, aerial photographs, and photographs) with current conditions show that there have been few changes since the original construction. The level topography and the road and sidewalk circulation systems are essentially unaltered, with the exception of handicap ramps added at the crosswalks and side streets. The spatial organization of functions and elements remains a central characteristic including the symmetrical rhythm of single and paired trees, bed planters, and lights, and the asymmetrical arrangement of features within the linear area that distinguish the pedestrian way and seating areas. Views and vistas within the landscape framed by the north building edge, trees, and Massachusetts Avenue have been retained, as well as the iconic intermittent view west to the Captain John Parker statue and First Parish Church on Battle Green (1711) and the peripheral visual presence of the south side of Massachusetts Avenue. The hardscape materials of red brick laid over concrete with sand joints and the grey granite curb and planter boxes edging continue to provide color and texture. The original species of little-leaf linden trees and yews and mixed shrubs create views, scale, and light- shade contrasts. The original lantern street light fixtures are a vertical visual element that provide the nighttime light environment. Wood benches, probably non-original but likely at the scale of the originals, provide seating.
The promenade section is associated with simpler components on the south side of Massachusetts Avenue (executed after 1977) as shown in the 1966 Plan, and between Edison Way and the east side of the Post Office on the north side of Massachusetts Avenue, as shown in concept in the 1966 Plan but not fully executed. East of the Post Office, the sidewalk in front of the town offices and along the street edge west is paved with concrete, and brick sidewalks line the outer edge of the entrance loop leading to the town offices. Elsewhere in the streetscape, elements seen in the primary historic landscape, including brick paving, granite curbing, and large, shady street trees, create a transition zone between the primary historic landscape and the Battle Green and residential neighborhoods beyond.
The Lexington Center Streetscape is associated with broad patterns of historical community development in Lexington Center and reflects the community’s response to a nexus of town and regional events in the mid-1960s that prompted a private and public partnership to reimagine Lexington with a modern contemporary and forward-looking vision, while celebrating the historic qualities of the town. The redesign of Lexington Center was a major and highly visible initiative in reaction to the planned construction of Burlington Mall and the establishment of Minute Man NHP, which raised concerns about Lexington Center’s existing image and commercial economic status. The landscape stands as a unique expression of the specific conditions of Lexington as a colonial- and Revolutionary War-era town that, by the mid-1960s, had developed one of the largest concentrations of Mid-Century Modern residential neighborhoods in Massachusetts and possibly the country at the time. Leading designers and planners who practiced in this mode designed and resided in the town and became active in the community, helping to shape its distinctive character.
The Lexington Center Streetscape is a distinctive Mid-Century Modern designed landscape that captures the design concepts of the nationally renowned and highly influential landscape architect, and Lexington resident, Hideo Sasaki (1919–2000) and was fully developed and executed between 1965 and 1970 by a collaboration of landscape architects, architects, and town engineers. Although
3 The National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places identifies seven qualities of integrity: location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. Report Lexington Center Streetscape Historic Resource Assessment of Designed Landscape page 13 of 47
archival documentation does not establish this as a Sasaki and Associates design, Sasaki was closely engaged in the concept development as a member of the DAC’s executive committee, and members of the firm worked on the design development (Sasaki 1965; Frey 2017a). The landscape’s creation within a specific historic and cultural context under the multidisciplinary DAC and its executive committee composed of two Modernist architects, a landscape architect, and a planner reflects the pioneering approach to interdisciplinary planning and design that Sasaki instilled in his landscape design firm. The design’s simplicity, spare geometry, and use of traditional masonry materials form a harmonious integrated public space environment at a townscape scale. At a time when closing streets to create pedestrian malls was becoming an increasingly popular approach for commercial area urban design, the Lexington Center Streetscape presents a subtle alternative as a townscape that has endured essentially unaltered for approximately 50 years. The landscape is significant locally within the town of Lexington. There is some evidence that it may have established an early precedent adopted by other communities in Massachusetts and beyond (Fixler 2017b).
Treatment Recommendations
The appropriate framework for guiding work on the Lexington Center Streetscape, and in particular the core promenade section, is the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties, specifically the Rehabilitation Standard, and the Guidelines for Treatment of Cultural Landscapes, specifically the Guidelines for Rehabilitating Cultural Landscapes and the Guidelines for Restoration (Guidelines) developed by the National Park Service (NPS). In the rehabilitation approach, the character-defining features and materials are protected and maintained; however, based on assessment of condition, damaged, missing, or deteriorated existing historic fabric may require repair or replacement using either traditional or substitute materials. Rehabilitation maintains the historic character and fabric, but also provides an opportunity to make possible an efficient contemporary use through alterations and additions (NPS 1995, 1992).
Rehabilitation is defined as “the act or process of making possible a compatible use for a property through repair, alterations, and additions while preserving those portions or features which convey its historic, cultural, or architectural values” (NPS 1995). The 10 Rehabilitation Standards are broad statements.
1. A property will be used as it was historically or be given a new use that requires minimal change to its distinctive materials, features, spaces, and spatial relationships.
2. The historic character of a property will be retained and preserved. The removal of distinctive materials or alteration of features, spaces, and spatial relationships that characterize a property will be avoided.
3. Each property will be recognized as a physical record of its time, place, and use. Changes that create a false sense of historical development, such as adding conjectural features or elements from other historic properties, will not be undertaken.
4. Changes to a property that have acquired historic significance in their own right shall be retained and preserved.
5. Distinctive materials, features, finishes, and construction techniques or examples of craftsmanship that characterize a property will be preserved. Report Lexington Center Streetscape Historic Resource Assessment of Designed Landscape page 14 of 47
6. Deteriorated historic features will be repaired rather than replaced. Where the severity of deterioration requires replacement of a distinctive feature, the new feature will match the old in design, color, texture, and, where possible, materials. Replacement of missing features will be substantiated by documentary and physical evidence.
7. Chemical or physical treatments, if appropriate, will be undertaken using the gentlest means possible. Treatments that cause damage to historic materials will not be used.
8. Archeological resources will be protected and preserved in place. If such resources must be disturbed, mitigation measures will be undertaken.
9. New additions, exterior alterations, or related new construction will not destroy historic materials, features, and spatial relationships that characterize the property. The new work will be differentiated from the old and will be compatible with the historic materials, features, size, scale and proportion, and massing to protect the integrity of the property and its environment.
10. New additions and adjacent or related new construction will be undertaken in such a manner that, if removed in the future, the essential form and integrity of the historic property and its environment would be unimpaired.
Restoration is defined as “the act or process of depicting, by means of new construction, the form, features, and detailing of a non-surviving site, landscape, building, structure, or object for the purpose of replicating its appearance at a specific period of time and in its historic location” (NPS 1995). Restoration pertains to selecting a particular period of time and applying 10 Restoration Standards.
1. A property will be used as it was historically or be given a new use that interprets the property and its restoration period.
2. Materials and features from the restoration period will be retained and preserved. The removal of materials or alteration of features, spaces and spatial relationships that characterize the period will not be undertaken.
3. Each property will be recognized as a physical record of its time, place and use. Work needed to stabilize, consolidate and conserve materials and features from the restoration period will be physically and visually compatible, identifiable upon close inspection and properly documented for future research.
4. Materials, features, spaces and finishes that characterize other historical periods will be documented prior to their alteration or removal.
5. Distinctive materials, features, finishes and construction techniques or examples of craftsmanship that characterize the restoration period will be preserved.
6. Deteriorated features from the restoration period will be repaired rather than replaced. Where the severity of deterioration requires replacement of a distinctive feature, the new feature will match the old in design, color, texture and, where possible, materials. Report Lexington Center Streetscape Historic Resource Assessment of Designed Landscape page 15 of 47
7. Replacement of missing features from the restoration period will be substantiated by documentary and physical evidence. A false sense of history will not be created by adding conjectural features, features from other properties, or by combining features that never existed together historically.
8. Chemical or physical treatments, if appropriate, will be undertaken using the gentlest means possible. Treatments that cause damage to historic materials will not be used.
9. Archeological resources affected by a project will be protected and preserved in place. If such resources must be disturbed, mitigation measures will be undertaken.
10. Designs that were never executed historically will not be constructed.
The Cultural Landscape Guidelines identify six categories of features to be considered, two of which (topography and water) are not applicable to the Lexington Center Streetscape:
• Spatial Organization and Land Patterns; • Vegetation; • Circulation; • Structures, Furnishings and Objects; • Topography; and • Water.
The Guidelines call for an approach that:
• Identifies, retains, and preserves historic materials and features; • Protects and maintains historic features and materials; • Repairs historic features and materials; • Replaces deteriorated historic materials and features; • Designs for the replacement of missing historic features; • Minimizes alterations/additions for the new use; and • Takes into account special considerations for accessibility, health and safety, environmental, and energy efficiency.
The treatment recommendations of this assessment, discussed below, are organized to reflect the four relevant categories of features outlined in the Cultural Landscape Guidelines, noted above. In general, the approach recommended is a combination of restoration of specific elements in the promenade and overall rehabilitation of the Lexington Center Landscape. The program should celebrate and preserve the Mid-Century Modern character of the landscape and the design intent of the 1966 Plan as developed and constructed between 1965 and 1970. The Ad Hoc Committee notes that the heart of the project is between Edison Way and Meriam Street on the north side of Massachusetts Avenue and requires the greatest level of historic design sensitivity, with particular emphasis on the ‘eddies out of the stream of movement for pleasurable pause’ (Ad Hoc Committee 2017:32). Specific Ad Hoc Committee recommendations are addressed as appropriate under each sub-heading.
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Spatial Organization and Land Patterns
The spatial organization of the Lexington Center Streetscape within the area of the primary historic landscape should be maintained wherever possible, without sacrificing pedestrian safety. In the primary historic landscape, between Meriam Street and Edison Way, the spatial organization reflects not only the design intent as discussed in the 1966 Plan, but the Sasaki-inspired landscape design. In this area, the alignment and spatial organization of bump outs should be maintained in order to preserve the rhythmic flow of the sidewalk along the north side of Massachusetts Avenue. In the secondary landscape, the Lexington Center Ad Hoc Committee recommends that the sidewalk on the north side of Massachusetts Avenue east of Edison Way or the Lexington Town Offices, dependent upon final roadway and turn lane alignment, be widened to allow for more trees or plantings, thus extending the visual effect of the primary historic landscape (Ad Hoc Committee 2017:31–32). This recommendation is compatible with the design intent of the 1966 Plan.
The spacing and arrangement of tree and shrub planters as multiple small discrete elements of the landscape, particularly along the north side of Massachusetts Avenue, should be maintained in order to create a shady canopy of trees and the eddies, or quiet oases, described in the 1966 Plan and implemented in the Sasaki-inspired design. This is fitting with the Ad-Hoc committee’s recommendation that the overall landscape layout be retained, with tree and shrub planting locations reused as much as possible (Ad Hoc Committee 2017:34).
Vegetation
The vegetation selected for the Lexington Center Streetscape should reflect the design principles of the 1966 Plan, which included deciduous street trees and low evergreen shrubs designed to create shady, quiet spaces for pedestrians to sit and linger. At the time of completion of the Lexington Center Streetscape in 1967 and 1970, both sides of Massachusetts Avenue were planted with the same type and species of tree, the moderate-height little-leaf linden, which created a uniform, visual element. Due to disease and damage, numerous trees have been replaced, however a significant number of historic trees remain extant. As part of the Lexington Center Streetscape rehabilitation project, uniformity of street trees should be restored. The Ad Hoc Committee presented a list of recommended tree species, none of which were little-leaf lindens (Ad Hoc Committee 2017:36–37). Trees planted as part of the rehabilitation effort should be little-leaf lindens, if the historic trees are to be maintained as part of the landscape. If all of the trees along the north and south sides of Massachusetts Avenue within the project area are to be replaced, the same species of tree should be planted on both sides. Smaller trees may be considered for areas under existing utility lines on the south side of Massachusetts Avenue. New tree species should be similar in texture, color, size, leaf scale and look, and shape to little-leaf linden so that overall look is similar. If tree planters need to be modified to promote tree health based on current best practices, changes should be minimal. Spacing, proportions and height would be retained. The tree well granite curbing should be reused, and any new granite infill should match the existing.
Shrub planters should be maintained and used, as originally intended, to create visual and sound barriers between seating areas and vehicular traffic on Massachusetts Avenue. These plantings should be maintained. Yews should be reinstalled where they have been removed and replaced with tall grasses in order to restore the original design of the landscape. If a different species of evergreen shrub is used, it should be similar in texture, color, size, leaf scale and look, and shape to the yews so that overall look is similar. Report Lexington Center Streetscape Historic Resource Assessment of Designed Landscape page 17 of 47
Circulation
Circulation through the primary historic landscape should be maintained, with pedestrian walkways adjacent to commercial buildings, and trees, shrubs, and small seating areas along the outer edge of the sidewalk. Specific attention should be paid to tree- and shrub-lined seating areas along bump outs on the north side of Massachusetts Avenue, which were an integral part of the Sasaki-inspired landscape design.
The sidewalks along the north and south sides of Massachusetts Avenue may be made wider, if necessary for ADA compliance and ease of pedestrian movement, but should not be made narrower, nor should the general layout, including bump outs be highly altered or removed. Bump outs serve a dual function, delineating parallel parking along the north side of Massachusetts Avenue and providing space to create seating areas in a grove of four trees, a main component of the Sasaki- inspired design. These should be maintained in order to maintain a character-defining feature of the primary historic landscape. Circulation through the secondary landscape can be rehabilitated to make it more visually compatible with the primary historic landscape but should not be altered in such a way as to make it incongruous with the primary historic landscape.
The sidewalk is paved in water struck red brick with granite curbs. The sidewalk should be repaired wherever possible. Replacement paving, including at ADA ramps, should be wirecut red brick of a color matched to the historic bricks that is installed and maintained with methods for a uniform and stable surface. The use of concrete is not recommended, as it is not a material that was historically present in the streetscape and would introduce color and texture that is incongruous with the design intent and execution. If concrete needs to be used for safety and access issues, it should be minimized to the greatest extent possible. The granite curbs should be cleaned and reset, or replaced with units that match the historic in surface finish and color if severely deteriorated.
Structures, Furnishings, and Objects
Many of the sidewalk furnishings and objects, including street lights, benches, wood barrel flower planters, trash and recycling receptacles, and bicycle racks, post-date the design and implementation of the original Lexington Center Streetscape design. The majority of these elements were not specifically described in the 1966 Plan, nor on construction drawings from the project, and may be maintained or replaced in kind. The pedestrian street lights in the primary historic landscape were part of the original Sasaki-inspired design, and should be maintained, or replaced with something visually compatible. The pedestrian lights in the primary historic streetscape should resemble the original lights installed in 1967 and 1970 having octagonal luminaires with no ornamental top on smooth round poles. Changing the color from the original silver to black and using stock catalogue units if possible, as recommended by the Ad Hoc Committee, is appropriate. Street lights at Cary Hall, Town Offices, and Depot Square should be maintained (Ad Hoc Committee 2017:26–27).
Flower planters, consisting of wood barrel planters, are incompatible with the Mid-Century Modern primary landscape, as noted by the Ad Hoc Committee (Ad Hoc Committee 2017:42). These should be replaced with planters that are aesthetically compatible with Mid-Century Modern design, incorporating simple design, little ornamentation, and be constructed of familiar materials, such as wood and metal.
Report Lexington Center Streetscape Historic Resource Assessment of Designed Landscape page 18 of 47
References
Reports and Articles
Bartlett Tree Experts 2017 Tree Inventory and Management Plan, Lexington, MA. On file, Town of Lexington, MA.
BETA Group, Inc. 2014 Town of Lexington, Massachusetts Department of Public Works, Lexington Town Center Traffic and Streetscape Improvement plans. July.
2013 Town of Lexington, Massachusetts, Existing Conditions Plan. August.
Birnbaum, Charles A. 2010 Two Sasaki Designs Worthy of Discourse. Electronic document, https://tclf.org/content/two- sasaki-designs-worthy-discourse?destination=search-results, accessed November 2017.
Birnbaum, Charles A. and Stephanie S. Foell, editors 2009 Shaping the American Landscape. University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville, VA.
Center Streetscape Design Review Ad Hoc Committee (Ad Hoc Committee) 2017 Report of the Center Streetscape Design Review Ad Hoc Committee to the Lexington Board of Selectmen. On file, Town of Lexington, MA.
Economic Development Associates, Planners, and Bednarski-Falconer-Stein, Architects (EDA et al.) 1966a A Plan for Lexington Center. Prepared for the Lexington Planning Board and the Town Committee to Study the Revitalization of Lexington Center. On file, Cary Memorial Library, Lexington, MA.
1966b Summary Report: A Plan for Lexington Center. Prepared for the Lexington Planning Board and the Town Committee to Study the Revitalization of Lexington Center. On file, Lexington Historical Society, Lexington, MA.
Ellin, Nan 1999 Postmodern Urbanism. Princeton Architectural Press, New York, NY.
GCG Associates, Inc. (GCGA) 2013 Existing Conditions Plans for Massachusetts Avenue. On file, BETA Engineering Group, Inc., Norwood, MA.
Grimmer, Anne E. 2017 The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. National Park Service, US Department of the Interior, Washington, DC.
Harvard Crimson 1962 Name Two Architects. Harvard Crimson, 25 May. Electronic document, http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1962/5/25/name-two-architects-parchitect-arvin-and/, accessed October 2017. Report Lexington Center Streetscape Historic Resource Assessment of Designed Landscape page 19 of 47
James W. Sewall Co. 1971 Aerial survey, Lexington, Massachusetts. James W. Sewall Co., Old Town, ME. On file, Lexington Engineering Department, Lexington, MA.
Keller, J. Timothy and Genevieve P. Keller n.d. National Register Bulletin 18: How to Evaluate and Nominate Designed Historic Landscapes. National Park Service, US Department of the Interior, Washington, DC.
Kronen, H.B. 2015 Mid-Century Modern Mass. The architectural treasures of Bednarski & Stein. In the take magazine. October. Electronic document, http://www.tonypallonedesign.com/uploads/9/8/2/5/98257566/take_bednarski_stein.pdf. Accessed November 2017.
Lexington Engineering Department (LED) 1970 Plan for construction in Lexington Center (Edison Way), Plan No. CON-38. On file, Lexington Engineering Department, Lexington, MA.
1974 Plan for sidewalk construction on Muzzey and Clarke streets, Plan No. CON-32. On file, Lexington Engineering Department, Lexington, MA.
1977 Plan for sidewalk on south side of Massachusetts Avenue, Plan No. CON-2. On file, Lexington Engineering Department, Lexington, MA.
1983 Plan for sidewalk reconstruction, Town Office complex, Plan No. CON-76. On file, Lexington Engineering Department, Lexington, MA.
Lexington Minuteman 1965a Center Studies Report Issued. Lexington Minuteman, 21 October, p.1.
1965b Center Revitalization Proposals. Lexington Minuteman, 11 November, p.6A.
1967a Center Beautification Project Starts Soon. Lexington Minuteman, 27 July, p.1.
1967b Beautification of Center Begins Soon. Lexington Minuteman, 10 August, p.1.
1967c Scene and Herd. Lexington Minuteman, 14 September, p.1.
1967d Center Sidewalk Bid in at $9750. Lexington Minuteman, 28 September, p.1.
1967e Photograph of newly-planted trees along the north side of Massachusetts Avenue. Lexington Minuteman, 19 October, p.1. 1967f Photograph of town employees planting yews in shrub planters on the north side of Massachusetts Avenue. Lexington Minuteman, 2 November, p.1.
1967g Center Architect to Speak 19th. 12 October, p.3.
Report Lexington Center Streetscape Historic Resource Assessment of Designed Landscape page 20 of 47
2012 Donald Graham Obituary. Electronic document, http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/wickedlocal-lexington/obituary.aspx?n=donald-m- graham&pid=155804258, accessed November 2017.
Lexington Town-Wide Beautification Committee (TWBC) 1969 Report of the Town-Wide Beautification Committee. On file, Town of Lexington, MA.
Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) 1998 Plans of Emery Park in Depot Square, Lexington Plan No. CON-106. On file, Lexington Engineering Department, Lexington, MA.
Mausolf, Lisa 2010 Massachusetts Historical Commission Area Form A: The Grove, Lexington, MA (LEX.AL). On file, Massachusetts Historical Commission, Boston, MA.
National Park Service (NPS) 1995 The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties: Rehabilitation. Electronic document, https://www.nps.gov/tps/standards/four- treatments/treatment-rehabilitation.htm. Accessed November 2017.
1992 The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties and Guidelines for the Treatment of Cultural Landscapes. Electronic document, https://www.nps.gov/tps/standards/four-treatments/landscape-guidelines/index.htm. Accessed November 2017.
1990 National Register Bulletin 15: How to Apply the National Register Criteria for Evaluation. National Park Service, US Department of the Interior, Washington, DC.
Sasaki, Hideo, Stuart O. Dawson, and Don H. Olson. 1965 Letter to Lincoln Cole Jr. and the Board of Selectmen. Published in the Lexington Minuteman, October 21, p. 4A.
Sasaki, Hideo 1966 Letter to the Editor. Published in the Lexington Minuteman, April 21, p. 4.
Simo, Melanie 2009 Hideo Sasaki (1919–2000) in Shaping the American Landscape, Charles A. Birnbaum and Stephanie S. Foell, editors. University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville, VA.
The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) 2017a Pedestrian Mall. Electronic document, https://tclf.org/category/designed-landscape- types/pedestrian-mall, accessed November 2017.
2017b Modernist. Electronic document, https://tclf.org/cateogery/landscape-style/modernist, accessed November 2017.
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2017c John W. Frey, FASLA. Electronic document, https://tclf.org/sites/default/files/microsites/pioneers/boston/frey.html, accessed November 2017.
Walker, Peter and Melanie Simo 1994 Invisible Gardens: The Search for Modernism in the American Landscape. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
White House Conference on Natural Beauty (WHCNB) 1965 Beauty for America: proceedings of the White House Conference on Natural Beauty. Superintendent of Documents, Washington, DC.
Yardley, William 2013 Walter Pierce, Modernist Architect, Dies at 93. New York Times, 17 March, p. A24.
Personal Communication
Aliza Lowenthal, Sasaki Associates Archivist/Librarian, Watertown, MA, email to Virginia Adams, October 5, 2017.
Tricia Malatesta, Engineering Department, Town of Lexington, MA, email to Gretchen Pineo, November 2, 2017.
John Frey, Landscape Architect (retired), Lexington, MA, email to Gretchen Pineo, November 29, 2017b.
Interviews
David Fixler, Architect, David N. Fixler Architecture, Planning, Preservation, Weston, MA, October 30, 2017a.
David Fixler, November 30, 2017b.
John Frey, Landscape Architect (retired), Lexington, MA, November 2, 2017a.
Fred Merrill, Senior Planner, Sasaki Associates, Inc., Watertown, MA, October 31, 2017.
Local Repositories
Edwin B. Worthen Collection, Cary Memorial Library, Lexington, MA.
Lexington Center and Mid-Century Modern collections, Lexington Historical Society, Lexington, MA.
Report Lexington Center Streetscape Historic Resource Assessment of Designed Landscape page 22 of 47
FIGURES
Report Lexington Center Streetscape Historic Resource Assessment of Designed Landscape page 23 of 47
Report Lexington Center Streetscape Historic Resource Assessment of Designed Landscape page 24 of 47
Figure 3. Public Actions Schedule for Lexington Center Streetscape project in the 1966 Plan. Phase 1 was scheduled for 1966–1967, Phase 2 for 1967–1968, and Phase 3 for an unspecified date in the future (EDA et al.1966b). Report Lexington Center Streetscape Historic Resource Assessment of Designed Landscape page 25 of 47
Figure 4. Ca. 1965 unattributed diagrammatic plan for the revitalization of the Lexington Center streetscape. (Courtesy Sasaki Associates Archives, Watertown, MA. Also published in the Lexington Minuteman, 1965b). Report Lexington Center Streetscape Historic Resource Assessment of Designed Landscape page 26 of 47
Figure 5. Perspective drawing of Lexington Center streetscape, looking towards the Lexington Battle Green from near the Woolworth’s Building (now CVS). Drawing by freelance artist George Conley (Courtesy Sasaki Associates Archives, Watertown, MA).
Figure 6. First section of Massachusetts Avenue proposed for revitalization, published in the Lexington Minuteman November 11, 1965 (Lexington Minuteman 1965b, from the collection of the Lexington Historical Society, Lexington, MA).
Report Lexington Center Streetscape Historic Resource Assessment of Designed Landscape page 27 of 47
Figure 7a. Western section of working drawing of Lexington Center streetscape beautification project as published in the Lexington Minuteman, September 14, 1967 (Lexington Minuteman 1967c, from the collection of the Lexington Historical Society, Lexington, MA).
Figure 7b. Eastern section of the working drawing of the Lexington Center streetscape beautification project as published in the Lexington Minuteman, September 14, 1967 (Lexington Minuteman 1967c, from the collection of the Lexington Historical Society, Lexington, MA).
Figure 7c. Model of Lexington Center streetscape beautification project at western end as published in the Lexington Minuteman, August 10, 1967 (Lexington Minuteman 1967b, from the collection of the Lexington Historical Society, Lexington, MA). Report Lexington Center Streetscape Historic Resource Assessment of Designed Landscape page 28 of 47
Figure 8. Construction drawing CON-38 for the north side of Massachusetts Avenue sidewalks between Waltham Street (lower left) and Edison Way (upper right) (LED 1970). Report Lexington Center Streetscape Historic Resource Assessment of Designed Landscape page 29 of 47
Figure 9. Lexington Center Streetscape proposed phases with actual construction dates and significance (1966 Plan for Lexington Center and Lexington Department of Public Works plans). Report Lexington Center Streetscape Historic Resource Assessment of Designed Landscape page 30 of 47
HISTORIC IMAGES
Historic Photograph 1. Ca. 1932 photo of Massachusetts Avenue, looking northeast from near the Ribock Block, 1780–1788 Massachusetts Avenue (Photo by Edwin B. Worthen, courtesy Lexington Historical Society, Lexington, MA).
Historic Photograph 2. Ca. 1960 postcard view of Lexington Center, looking west along Massachusetts Avenue toward the intersection with Waltham Street, near 1726 Massachusetts Avenue (Edwin B. Worthen Collection, Cary Memorial Library, Lexington, MA). Report Lexington Center Streetscape Historic Resource Assessment of Designed Landscape page 31 of 47
Historic Photograph 3. View southeast of newly-planted trees, without their granite curbing, along the north side of Massachusetts Avenue. 1967 (Lexington Minuteman 1967e, from the collection of the Lexington Historical Society, Lexington, MA).
Report Lexington Center Streetscape Historic Resource Assessment of Designed Landscape page 32 of 47
Historic Photograph 4. Town employees planting yews in the shrub planters on the north side of Massachusetts Avenue. The granite curbing around the trees is also in place in this image (Lexington Minuteman 1967f, from the collection of the Lexington Historical Society, Lexington, MA).
Historic Photograph 5. Ca. 1970 photo of Lexington Center, looking northwest toward Woolworth’s Department Store (now CVS, 1735 Massachusetts Avenue) from opposite Waltham Street (Lexington Center Collection, Lexington Historical Society, Lexington, MA). Report Lexington Center Streetscape Historic Resource Assessment of Designed Landscape page 33 of 47
Historic Photograph 6. 1971 aerial image of Massachusetts Avenue showing the Lexington Center beautification project area (James W. Sewall Co., 1971; image courtesy Lexington Engineering Department, Lexington, MA).
Historic Photograph 7. Detail of 1971 aerial image showing 1967 and 1970 Lexington Center Streetscape (James W. Sewall Co., 1971; image courtesy Lexington Engineering Department, Lexington, MA). Report Lexington Center Streetscape Historic Resource Assessment of Designed Landscape page 34 of 47
PHOTOGRAPHS (PAL 2017)
Photo 1. Massachusetts Avenue looking northwest from Depot Square.
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Photo 2. Massachusetts Avenue, 1960s brick sidewalk, granite tree guards, and shrub planters, looking northwest near the intersection with Waltham Street.
Photo 3. Concrete sidewalk and pea gravel walkway at western edge of study area, near Buckman Tavern (LEX.AH), looking southeast.
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Photo 4. Statue of Lexington Minuteman, Captain John Parker (LEX.902), at southwest edge of Lexington Green (LEX.AG), surrounded by asphalt paving imprinted to look like brick, looking northwest.
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Photo 5. 1960s brick sidewalk, wood benches, and granite tree guards looking southeast toward Depot Square.
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Photo 6. 1960s brick sidewalk with double row of trees set within granite tree guards, 1960s lighting fixtures and granite shrub planters (center), and modern concrete pedestrian ramp, looking southeast from Depot Square.
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Photo 7. 1960s light fixture at corner east corner of Depot Square and Massachusetts Avenue, looking southwest.
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Photo 8. Modern light fixture and trash receptacle, moveable wood barrel flower planter, wood benches, and a single row of trees with granite tree guards, looking northwest from Depot Square.
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Photo 9. 1960s brick sidewalk, granite tree guards, wood benches, and granite shrub planters filled with yews.
Photo 10. North side of intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Waltham Street, looking west, with modern concrete pedestrian ramp, granite tree guards, and non- historic information booth.
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Photo 11. Intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Waltham Street, looking north.
Photo 12. Massachusetts Avenue and 1960s brick sidewalk looking northwest from Edison Way.
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Photo 13. US Post Office (1935) and brick sidewalk looking southeast toward Lexington Town Offices.
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Photo 14. Brick sidewalk on south side of Massachusetts Avenue, looking southeast toward Waltham Street, showing modern trash receptacles, wood flower planters, at- grade tree wells, and parking meters.
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Photo 15. Brick sidewalk with granite curb, parking meter, and moveable flower planters on south side of Meriam Street, looking northeast.
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Photo 16. Concrete sidewalk on Waltham Street, looking southwest near intersection with Massachusetts Avenue.
Photo 17. Ca. 1985 brick sidewalks abutting entry loop at Lexington Town Offices.
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Photo 18. 1998 Depot Square sidewalk along Massachusetts Avenue, looking southeast.