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Peacock Farm Historic District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
4 Compton Circle
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Location	Lexington, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°25′15″N 71°12′13″W / 42.42083°N 71.20361°W / 42.42083; -71.20361
NRHP reference No.	12000949
Added to NRHP	November 21, 2012

Peacock Farm is a residential neighborhood located in Lexington, Massachusetts. This historic neighborhood was designed by architect Walter Pierce and built between 1952 and 1958 with the goal making modernist homes accessible to those with limited budgets. The 45-acre subdivision had formerly been a wetland where peacocks were raised and took its name from the previous identity of the site.

Pierce said most traditional architects found the land undesirable for development: "Much of the land gradient was steep, and much of the site was underlaid with ledge. To our eyes, these were assets that could be worked with. The land formed a natural bowl, shielded from the north by the hill and sloping down to the south and southeast, nice attributes in this northern latitude."

History

Located near the Arlington town line and just north of Routes 2 and 4/225, the Peacock Farm neighborhood is a development of contemporary style houses built between 1952 and 1958. It was the third important planned modernist development to be begun in Lexington, after Six Moon Hill and at about the same time as Five Fields.

In 1951 Danforth Compton and Walter Pierce, recent graduates of the M.I.T. School of Architecture, purchased 42 acres of land that had been a dairy farm in the 19th century. The original c.1830 farmhouse and barn still stood and can still be seen today, at the entrance to the modern development. As the name suggests, peacocks were raised here in the early twentieth century.

With a goal of making contemporary styling accessible to those with limited budgets, Compton and Pierce designed a single-story house with raised basement, low pitch roof and vertical cedar siding that was available in several sizes. The entry was at mid-level and the houses incorporated large expanses of glass. The house at 4 Peacock Farm Road was built as a demonstration model late in 1951.

The neighbourhood was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012 as the Peacock Farm Historic District.

Residents

Notable residents include Jill Stein, the 2012 and 2016 Green Party nominee for president, Eric Kramer, a landscape architect known for his awe-inspiring plan for Alamo Plaza, Dan Hisel, an Architect who designed many additions for houses in the neighborhood.

Contacts

P.O. Box 297 Lexington, MA 02421 info at peacockfarm.org

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Middlesex County, Massachusetts
• Six Moon Hill, an earlier modernist development nearby

References

1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
2. Survey from Lexington Historical Society
3. Yardley, William. "Walter Pierce, Modernist Architect, Dies at 93." The New York Times. March 17, 2013, A24.
4. Yardley, William, A24
5. http://jills9.sg-host.com
6. http://reedhilderbrand.com/works/alamo_plaza_interpretive_master_plan

External links

• Historic Survey of Peacock Farm at lexingtonma.gov
• Boston Globe article on Modernist Neighborhoods in Massachusetts
• ModernMass.com – A brief history of modernist neighborhoods and houses in Lexington and Boston's western suburbs

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