'''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 – 59 | | Boston North | | MDF.M | | MDF.1121 |}
LHD 2002
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| '''Town/City:''' Medford |
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| '''Place:''' Medford Square [[Category:Medford Square]] |
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| '''Address:''' 43 Pilgrim Road |
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| '''Historic Name:''' Lawrence F. White 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:''' 1997 |- | '''Source:''' Assessor’s records |- | '''Style/Form:''' Colonial Revival [[Category:Colonial Revival]] ‘Millennium Mansion;’ gable block |- | '''Architect/Builder:''' Unknown |- | '''Exterior Material:''' |- |
'''Foundation: Poured concrete'''|- |
'''Wall/Trim: Vinyl clapboard siding'''|- |
'''Roof: Asphalt [[Category:Roof:Asphalt]] shingle'''|- | '''Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:''' None |- | '''Major Alterations:''' Unknown |- | '''Condition:''' Excellent |- | '''Moved: no''' '''yes''' '''Date:''' |- | '''Acreage:''' 0.20 A |- | '''Setting: In a densely-settled residential neighborhood developed during the 1920s and 1930s. Most neighboring houses are smaller Colonial Revival [[Category:Colonial Revival]] and Tudor single-family houses.''' |}
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 traditional late 20th century styling of the Lawrence F. White House is a contrast to the earlier 1920s and 1930s Colonial Revival [[Category:Colonial Revival]] and Tudor-style houses that line the rest of Pilgrim Road. Employing decorative devices such as a projecting gable and a round-headed window, the house is an early example of the suburban type designated ‘millennium mansion’ in McAlester’s new edition of A Field Guide to American Houses.''(New York: Knopf, 2013) pp. 707-715. ''The White House is a two-story, double-pile, side-gable single-family house that is five bays wide with a center entry. Even with its modern suburban form and styling, the house does not have a garage. Like most modern houses, the building sits on a poured concrete foundation, is covered in vinyl clapboard siding, and has an asphalt shingle roof. An open porch with a shed roof shelters the first floor of the main façade. The porch is supported by turned posts and balusters reminiscent of the Queene Anne [[Category:Shingle Style/Queen Anne]] style. The main entry door has a large oval of glazing in the center, and is framed by full-height sidelights. One of the few distinct architectural features on the house is the window in the second story above the main entry set into a projecting gabled bay. The window is a large fixed pane flanked by casement windows; all three sections are surmounted by a full-arched window. The proportions of this composition, though a stylistic reference to the Palladian or Venetian form, are distinctly modern in their execution. Single-story polygonal bays are located in the right half of the façade and rear pile of the right elevation, suggesting the location of entertaining spaces such as living and dining rooms in the interior plan on that side of the building. The other windows on the house are modern one-over-one sash.''
''Sited on a cul-de-sac at the end of Pilgrim Road, the White House is elevated slightly above the street and faces north. Because of the building’s slight elevation, a long brick and slate stoop leads up to the porch and main entry.''
'''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.''
''The Lawrence F. White House was built on a lot that was not subdivided until the 1980s, which was unusual for this densely-developed residential neighborhood. The land the house sits on was once part of 35 Hillside Avenue (MDF.26), which sits behind the White House to the south. Domenic Alto purchased the large 51,725 square foot lot of 35 Hillside Avenue from Josephine D. Bono and Mary Bono in 1968. Further information regarding the Bonos or their acquisition of the property is not currently readily available. The same year, Alto sold a half-interest in the property to a group of men doing business as Zamparelli and White, while maintaining the other half-interest for himself.''Although the deed was signed in 1968, the same year Alto purchased the property from the Bonos, the deed was not recorded until 1974. The reason for this delay is not clear. ''The Zamparelli and White firm included John F. Zamparelli, David R. White, Anthony J. Diperna, and David Berman. Little information has been found about most of the men in the group, but John F. Zamparelli was a politically active and well-known Medford resident.'' He served in the Navy during World War II and graduated from Tufts University and Boston College Law School. Zamparelli was elected Register of Deeds for Middlesex County in 1969, and held that position for many years. No information has been found connecting him to the other men in the Zamparelli and White group, nor has any information been found on his real estate interests. Zamparelli sold his interest in the land to David R. White in 1978, removing him from the ownership group. A later deed notes a court case for the dissolution of Zamparelli and White, but no other information has been found on the company. The occupations of the other men are unclear. The group filed a plan with the Middlesex South Registry of Deeds in 1983 dividing the large lot into two smaller lots. Lot A, to the south, had 22,397 square feet and the house of 35 Hillside Avenue. Lot B, to the north, was an empty lot of 29,512 square feet.
In 1984, the group sold their shares in the undeveloped Lot B to Frank J. and Charlotte A. Scuderi. Mrs. Scuderi is the daughter of Domenic Alto. The Scuderis are real estate agents in Medford with an office at 12 High Street. In 1985 the Scuderis filed a subdivision plan with the Middlesex South Registry of Deeds and the Medford Planning Board, showing the creation of three lots and a cul-de-sac at the end of Pilgrim Road. It is unclear if the Scuderis built houses on the three lots before they sold the lots to new owners. The deeds between the Scuderis and the new owners do not mention buildings although the construction dates of the buildings are generally the same year the Scuderis sold the lots.
The White House was built slightly later than the other two; the reason for the delay is unclear. The Scuderis finally sold the last lot to Lawrence F. and Lisa N. White in 1997.
''Even though it was recently constructed, the Lawrence F. White House is part of the Hillside Avenue Historic District [[Category:Hillside Avenue Historic District]] because it was built on land included in the district. The district was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on April 21, 1975 and was made a local historic district on February 15, 1985. This property was included in the expansion of the Hillside LHD in 2002.''
'''BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES'''
''Published Sources''
''“CofC selects John Zamparelli as ‘Citizen of the Year,’” undated article in Medford Public Library clippings file.''
''Unpublished Sources''
''Middlesex South Registry of Deeds Book 12709, Page 84; 13391/444; 15856/272; 15866/26; 15931/87; 15931/88; 15975/30; 27144/185; Plan 69 of 1985; Plan 1177 of 1983.''