A four-bedroom home designed by modernist architect Walter Pierce is currently on the market for $1.79 million in Lexington's Peacock Farm. Photo courtesy of Modern Mass
Time seems frozen in the midcentury enclaves of suburban Boston, neighborhoods where architecture and community remain fixed in an era before McMansions that maximize development on building lots.
Untouched by the wave of teardowns replacing ranches and Capes in many suburbs, neighborhoods such as Peacock Farm, Six Moon Hill and Five Fields in Lexington continue to attract buyers attracted to modernist architecture and elements of utopian living.
Dan Hisel, a Lexington architect and Peacock Farm resident, said the neighborhood’s reputation attracts buyers who aren’t interested in cookie-cutter styles.
“People who buy into the neighborhood typically get it and want to preserve the character of the neighborhood,” Hisel said.
Architect-designed split-levels nestle atop rocky ridges in tree-lined landscapes, accommodating the suburban desire for privacy. Neighborhood associations were originally based upon the co-op model, giving owners a partial ownership interest in common areas such as picnic groves and swimming pools.
The neighborhoods’ static appearance is no accident: Covenants and conservation districts ensure a thorough review of proposed changes to homes and yards, preserving an atmosphere that devotees swear by as uniquely human-scaled.
“Depending upon the neighborhood and who’s interpreting the architectural guidelines, they can be quite stringent, or not stringent,” said Bill Janovitz, a Lexington real estate agent who has a specialty in midcentury properties.
Tech Boom Spurred Migration
During the same post-war era when Cambridge’s technology industry was migrating to western suburbs, an experiment in residential living sprang up in towns such as Lincoln, Belmont and Lexington.
Architects from an influential Cambridge firm, The Architects Collaborative, developed subdivisions on still-affordable rural parcels, and designed many of the homes. Alongside colleagues, they settled into the neighborhoods with their families. Researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Lincoln Laboratory were well-represented in the new subdivisions, Amanda Kolson Hurley wrote in her 2019 land-use history, “Radical Suburbs.”
A four-bedroom home designed by modernist architect Walter Pierce is currently on the market for $1.79 million in Lexington’s Peacock Farm. Photo courtesy of Modern Mass
Architects Walter Pierce and Danforth Compton purchased a former dairy farm near the Lexington-Arlington line in the early 1950s and began designing a new development, Peacock Farm. The 42 acres were subdivided into 65 home lots, most of which were completed by 1958.
The “Peacock Farm”-style home designed by Pierce became a predominant architectural style in the neighborhood and beyond. Its split-level design could be flipped on the site to match tricky topography. The basement level accommodated a single-car garage and flexible space for uses such as a children’s playroom, Hisel said.
“It was a very clever design,” he said.
Such homes initially sold for $20,000 in the 1950s, according to town historical documents. In the past two years, three homes on Peacock Farm Road have sold for over $1.3 million.
Hisel’s business partner and next-door neighbor, Katie Flynn, have designed renovations and additions for approximately a dozen homes in the neighborhood since 2010. The original homes’ single-paned windows are inefficient, and renovation projects often include window replacement and updated kitchens and baths, Hisel said.
As builders and homeowners seek to keep the midcentury designs fresh through new construction, the style has a distinct advantage in a region with scarce vacant land. Modernist homes remain well-suited to difficult building lots, said Colin Flavin, founding principal of Boston-based Flavin Architects.
“Almost all of the good lots have already been built on, and any lots that are left over are on the market without a building on them are that way for a reason,” Flavin said. “The Architects Collaborative bought Six Moon Hill. It was rocky and difficult to build on. They found a way to work around that, because that sort of the essence of that type of design is to work with the landscape.”
rchitects Walter Pierce and Danforth Compton developed a former Lexington dairy farm as the Peacock Farm subdivision in the 1950s. Photo by Steve Adams | Banker & Tradesman Staff
Appeal for Techies and Creatives
Janovitz and fellow agent John Tse founded their Modern Mass real estate team, currently affiliated with Compass, in 2005 as midcentury architecture was winning over a new generation of buyers.
While the western suburbs off Route 2 have always been desirable because of their quality schools, Janovitz said, demand skyrocketed immediately after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our team did gangbusters during those years. There were literally lines out to the street, and anything that was well-priced, we were usually looking at multiple offers,” he said.
In today’s double-income households, the buyer profile skews toward technology and finance, Janovitz said.
“It’s almost always somebody in tech with a partner who is a creative type,” he said. “We’ve got engineers, biotech in a big way and venture capital.”
Peacock Farm-style home designs also are represented heavily in the Turning Mill neighborhood near the Bedford-Lexington line. The development contains 150 homes built in the late 1950s and early 1960s, a neighborhood pool and 15 miles of trails on conservation land.
Steve Adams
But unlike other midcentury enclaves, the Turning Mill neighborhood did not have preservation protections until recently. Concerns about teardowns prompted passage of a new town bylaw in 2016 enabling the creation of neighborhood conservation districts.
The Turning Mill Neighborhood Conservation District, a town-appointed board, now reviews proposed changes to properties’ appearance.
Walls between properties are typically prohibited. Neighborhood association-owned swimming pools, community-owned parks and social events such as pancake parties and 5K races foster connections.
“Without sounding too weird or a ‘Stepford Wives’ type of thing, it’s a very communal sense,” said Michael Samra, an architect at Boston-based Studio Troika and a Peacock Farm resident. “It’s because of the pool and the conservation land that you get to know a lot of your neighbors. I know at least 30 people by name when I’m out walking my dog.”
In Peacock Farm and other neighborhoods, design review committees pass judgment on exterior modifications, changes to landscaping and tree removal, and the design of sheds and playscapes. In recent years, the Lexington Historic Commission has gained jurisdiction over many midcentury properties, adding another level of protection.
“Houses were being torn down and people said, `We have to pull together to protect this,’” Janovitz said.
