Lexington HDC Presses Developer to Simplify 16 Clarke Street Mixed-Use Proposal

LEXINGTON -- March 5, 2026, Lexington Historic Districts Commission sends 16 Clarke Street mixed-use building back for another revision, targeting an April vote. The commission spent the majority of its March 5 session pressing North Shore Residential Development Inc. and its architect on what commissioners called an overloaded roofscape, too many gables, too many pitches, and too many materials, on a proposed building adjacent to Cary Memorial Library in the Battle Green District. Commissioner Daniel Hisel said the building needs "to choose a side," calling it caught between colonial clapboard and brick-building identities. Chair Lee Noel Chase demanded natural paving materials drawn from the town's centerscape palette, greater specificity on molding profiles and railings, contextual renderings showing the library alongside the new building, and a mid-month submission deadline before any vote. The commission separately approved extensions and minor alterations at three other properties, including a wayfinding sign at the Battle Green and a door-to-window conversion at 1833 Massachusetts Avenue, and resolved a paint-color dispute at 678 Massachusetts Avenue by a 5-1 vote favoring a uniform concrete ivory body color over the previously approved red barn scheme.