History in the Making

From a letter presented to the Lexington Historical Society on May 4th, 1904, by David Ainsworth Tuttle:

I, David Ainsworth Tuttle, born May 20, 1820 on Allen St. in the southerly part of the town of Lexington, sometimes called Kite End, in House built by my father David Tuttle in 1806 and now owned by Mr. Michael Carroll. Educated in District School and Lexington Academy, commenced to learn the Carpenter's trade in April 1834 of my father, and since that time have erected the following buildings…

In the late 1800s, local historian Charles Hudson characterized the houses on Hancock Street as "the Court End of the village." This elegant, Greek Revival was the first of five homes Tuttle built on the street, located in the prestigious Merriam Hill area of Lexington. In a cycle still prevalent today, Tuttle would build each home "for himself," reside in it for a year or so, then sell it and build another. In 1902, another noted local architect, Willard Brown, remodeled the home.

When the Warners were looking to move from Beacon Hill in 1994, they found this gem in a Boston Globe classifieds ad and ended up purchasing because son Reid wanted to practice batting in the barn, dad Raynor wanted plenty of workshop space, and mom Ranne wanted a grand, stately staircase. Two years of extensive restoration went into the home before the family moved in.

As active members of the Boston preservation community, the Warners were uniquely qualified to modernize their Merriam Hill home while retaining the integrity of the its pedigree. Years of remodeling had taken the home far from its original design. The family researched the look from the turn of the century and set out revive the 1902 details—and infuse the space with all of the comforts of modern living.

Raynor Warner was the architect on the not-so-small job with extensive input from his wife. The most distinctive features of the structural remodeling include building a two-story addition to attach the 6,000 square foot main home to the adjacent 3,600 square foot barn and enlarging the kitchen with a conservatory and bay window (where an elaborate trellis on the ceiling combines with hand-painted vines to reinforce the feel of an outdoor oasis). An intricate, hand-painted Italianate formal garden, which took Canadian artist Michell Pouliot six months to complete, adorns the walls of the dining room. Other special details include: restoration of the main staircase to its original appearance, extension of the Greek Revival moldings, and the addition of marble fireplaces salvaged from two locations in Beacon Hill.

Despite having added 21st century lighting, heating, cooling, and appliances, as well as an exercise room and sauna, media room, mud room, and gift wrapping room, the Tuttle House's distinctive nature remains in the historic details-details rarely found in homes built today: the slate roof, elongated windows in the living room, copper-roofed conservatory, quarter-sawn wood floors with decorative inlays, and vast Shingle-Style barn. However, the piece de resistance is the grand porte cochere, faced with a cut-work trellis bordering beautiful horseshoe-shaped gardens. A room above the porte cochere designed as a summer bedroom echoes the trellis pattern with leaded glass latticed windows.

For the past three years, the Warners, co-authors of the book, New Profits from Old Buildings (McGraw Hill, 1979), have been embarking on a new endeavor—another restoration project of sorts. They are working together to develop the 110,000 square foot former J&K Sales mill in Pawtucket, R.I., into 60 live-work condominium loft spaces, in which they have earmarked a 4,000 square foot space to call home, and which is why they have decided to put The David Ainsworth Tuttle House on the market. True to form, they have taken great pains to develop a loft complex in which the funky, old distinguishing features of the mill will remain intact, but in which the amenities are contemporary and complimentary. For the Warners, it's Back to the Future, take two.