West Cambridge Painters — Huron Village, Brattle Street & Fresh Pond

A Historical Commission memo, drawing on its Northwest Cambridge survey, says more than a thousand two-family houses went up in North and West Cambridge between 1885 and 1935 for middle- and working-class families, and that the type stopped being built in the Depression. The Huron Avenue streetcar line brought new interest in the 1890s, and the blocks around it filled with Queen Anne two-families and Colonial Revival triple-deckers near the turn of the century. Along Concord Avenue between Vassal Lane and Garden Street, building waited until after World War I and boomed in the 1920s.

Lexington Avenue shows how builders worked in batches. In 1912, John L. Malcolm had architect Elmer Buckley design sixteen gambrel-roofed duplexes and triple-deckers for narrow lots there; the Commission describes one, the 1913 triple-decker at 68-70 Lexington, as shingle-sided with a porch running the full length of its front.

The city counts 4,006 dwellings on 679 acres, with 56.6% owner-occupied. Single-family houses are 50.6% of residential properties and two-to-four-unit buildings 47.0%, though large buildings hold 28.5% of the units. The city's planning page for the area links the Old Cambridge Historic District, which covers most of Brattle Street, along with the Half Crown-Marsh conservation district.

Color approval on Brattle Street

Inside the Old Cambridge Historic District, the Commission reviews every exterior change, paint and roof color included, whether or not a building permit is needed. Color approval therefore has to be in hand before the start date is fixed. In the Half Crown-Marsh district, by contrast, most repairs and paint colors are not reviewed.

Shingle walls and gambrel ends

On a three-story gambrel like 68-70 Lexington, the upper siding, oriel and roof-edge trim sit well above the yard, and reaching them safely calls for staging or a lift. Before shingle walls are coated, split or cupped shingles should be replaced, and loose ones nailed back, so the finish has sound wood to grip.

Long porches

A porch across the full front of a duplex or triple-decker brings floors, steps, rail caps, balusters and a ceiling into one job. Floors and steps take foot traffic and need a coating made for it, while rail caps shed water poorly and deserve an extra look for soft wood before the siding paint is opened.

Older paint under newer coats

In tract 3544, around Fayerweather and Standish Streets, 91.5% of homes predate 1980; in tract 3542, by Lexington and Huron, 83.8% do. Sanding or scraping that much surface brings in lead-safe practices on both the exterior and the rooms inside.