Lyman Street Historic District

Lyman Street in Waltham was laid out in 1826 by Theodore Lyman to connect Main Street with the First Parish Church. This district covers about 4.9 acres at its southern end and contains 20 buildings, nearly all wood-frame houses built between about 1831 and 1907. Early residents included local businessmen, professionals and workers, among them a blacksmith, a physician, a lawyer and a deputy sheriff. Development came in stages: a few houses before 1840, a main burst from the late 1840s, further building in the 1870s and 1880s, and Colonial Revival houses in the early 1900s. Several houses were moved, including the c1831 David Townsend House, the oldest in the district. The styles present are Federal, Greek Revival, Italianate, Mansard, Stick and Colonial Revival. The district boundaries leave out commercial corners, larger institutional buildings and newer housing. Old stone walls and mature trees add to the setting, and the concentration of well-preserved 19th-century houses is described as unusual in Waltham.