'''FORM B − BUILDING'''
Massachusetts Historical Commission
Massachusetts Archives Building
220 Morrissey Boulevard
Boston, Massachusetts 02125
Photograph
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'''Locus Map''' (''North is up'')
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| '''Recorded by: Jennifer B. Doherty''' |
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| '''Organization: Medford Historical Commission''' |
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| '''Date:''' ''March, 2015'' |
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Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
{| | L – 08 – 32 | | Boston North | | MDF.M | | MDF.382 |}
NRDIS (4/21/1975); LHD (2/15/1985)
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| '''Town/City:''' Medford |
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| '''Place:''' Medford Square [[Category:Medford Square]] |
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| '''Address:''' 30 Hillside Avenue |
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| '''Historic Name:''' George T. Leonard House |
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| '''Uses:''' '''Present: Single-family Residential [[Category:Single-family Residential]]''' |
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'''Original: Single-family Residential [[Category:Single-family Residential]]'''|- | '''Date of''' '''Construction:''' 1947-1948 |- | '''Source:''' Deeds |- | '''Style/Form:''' Colonial Revival [[Category:Colonial Revival]], side entry Colonial |- | '''Architect/Builder:''' Gerard P. Friel [[Category:Gerard P. Friel]], builder |- | '''Exterior Material:''' |- |
'''Foundation: Poured concrete'''|- |
'''Wall/Trim: Vinyl clapboard siding'''|- |
'''Roof: Asphalt [[Category:Roof:Asphalt]] shingle'''|- | '''Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:''' None |- | '''Major Alterations:''' Vinyl replacement sash |- | '''Condition:''' Fair |- | '''Moved: no''' '''yes''' '''Date:''' |- | '''Acreage:''' 0,15 A |- | '''Setting: In a neighborhood of earlier houses, most built in the 1890s, in the Colonial Revival [[Category:Colonial Revival]] and Queene Anne [[Category:Shingle Style/Queen Anne]] styles. The neighborhood is densely-settled, with small lots and few mature trees. The hillside location provides views of Medford and Boston.''' |}
Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
''If checked, you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.''
'''''Use as much space as necessary to complete the following entries, allowing text to flow onto additional continuation sheets.'''''
'''ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:'''
''Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community.''
''The George T. Leonard House is a simple post-war Colonial Revival [[Category:Colonial Revival]] single-family house identical to its neighbors to the north at 32 and 36 Hillside Avenue. The two-story, side-gable, double-pile house sits on a poured concrete foundation, is covered in vinyl siding, and has an asphalt shingle roof. Attached to the south, left elevation at the basement level, accommodated by the steep downward slope of Hillside Avenue, is a single-bay, single-car garage, also with a side-gable roof. Visible in aerial photographs at the rear of the house is a single-story enclosed porch with a shed roof. The porch covers two-thirds of the rear of the house, with a wooden deck to the north covering the rest of the rear of the house. The original plot plan, included below, demonstrates that the garage was part of the original build.''
''The Leonard House, in contrast to the older Colonial Revival [[Category:Colonial Revival]] and Queene Anne [[Category:Shingle Style/Queen Anne]] style houses in the rest of the neighborhood, is notably simpler and smaller in scale. Its form is a smaller side-entry variant of the more popular symmetrical center-entrance Colonial Revival [[Category:Colonial Revival]] type prevalent throughout the 20th century. The main entry is located at the north end of the main façade. A shallow projecting pediment sits over the door. Evidence from the other buildings suggests that this pediment is an original treatment and that it is not the remnant of a porch roof.'' Older assessor’s photographs and street view images of the two houses at 32 and 36 Hillside Avenue show that their main entrances have been modified, and that they once had a shallow pediment similar to the one found on the Leonard House. ''The modern vinyl one-over-one sash windows have false muntins to give the appearance of six-over-six sash. Shutters frame the windows on the main façade, while those on the sides of the house do not have shutters. The first floor is highlighted by a group of three windows to the south of the main entry. The façade’s fenestration and entrance pattern suggests a side hall plan with living and dining room spaces on the left and a kitchen behind the main stair on the right. On the front pile of the north elevation is a secondary entrance. Its placement, partially in the building’s foundation at grade, suggests it leads down to the building’s basement.''
''The Leonard House sits on the west side of Hillside Avenue facing southeast across the street. The steep slope of Pasture Hill rises across the lot, with the garage on the south end of the house sitting slightly below the main level of the house. The lot is open, with no major plantings or mature trees.''
'''HISTORICAL NARRATIVE'''
''Discuss the history of the building. Explain its associations with local (or state) history. Include uses of the building, and the role(s) the owners/occupants played within the community.''
''Although the George T. Leonard House is part of the Hillside Avenue Historic District [[Category:Hillside Avenue Historic District]], it was built much later than the neighboring houses. The Leonard House, as well as the two houses to the north at 32 and 36 Hillside Avenue, were part of a parcel of land that was not developed until 1947. Charles H. Webster owned the land in 1898, and lived nearby for a time at 15 Hillside Avenue (MDF.276). It is unclear how he acquired it from the Magoun estate; the Magouns owned much of the land in the area during the 19th century. At some point in the 20th century, Angelina Gange acquired the land; it was divided into two parcels, one 9,141 square feet and the second 9,818 square feet. Gange was an Italian immigrant who arrived in the United States with her husband Adolfo in 1895. Although census and directory records from the early 20th century list Adolfo as a sole sorter for a leather company, by 1938 he had established a real estate and insurance business with an office on Main Street, near Medford Square [[Category:Medford Square]]. A. Gange & Sons, Inc. is still based in Medford, and is operated by Adolfo and Angelina’s grandson.''
''After Angelina Gange’s death, Adolfo Gange sold the land on Hillside Avenue to Gerard P. Friel [[Category:Gerard P. Friel]] in 1947. Although the deed includes the standard phrase “with the buildings thereon,” evidence suggests there were no buildings on the two parcels at that time. First, there are currently three houses on the property, on three lots, rather than two lots. Secondly, Friel was a builder, suggesting that he built the houses himself. He is listed in census records and directories from the first half of the 20th century as a builder living on High Street. Friel split the two lots into three lots, as indicated on a plan filed with the Middlesex South Registry of Deeds, built a house on each lot, and sold the houses in 1948, the year after he acquired them.''
''Friel sold the Leonard House to Robert and Ethel M. Kearns in 1948. The Kearnses sold the house the following year to George T. and Ann B. Leonard. After Mr. Leonard’s death in 1989, Ann B. Leonard sold the house to her children the following year but maintained a life estate for herself. Mrs. Leonard died in 2000, and her children sold the house to the current owners the following year.''
''The George T. Leonard House is part of the Hillside Avenue Historic District [[Category:Hillside Avenue Historic District]], which was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on April 21, 1975 and which was made a local historic district on February 15, 1985.''
'''BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES'''
''Maps''
''Atlas of the City of Medford, Middlesex County, Mass.'' Boston, MA: Geo. W. Stadly & Co., 1898.
''Published Sources''
''Various Medford city and house directories''
''Unpublished Sources''
''“About Us,” A. Gange & Sons, Inc.'' http://gangeinsurance.com/about_us.html
''Middlesex South Registry of Deeds Book 7231, Page 173; 7311/238; 7416/321; 20424/297;32798/174; Middlesex South Registry of Deeds Plan 1930 of 1947''
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''North (right) elevation''
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