Weston CPC Approves $332,000 to Protect Two 17th-Century Houses

WESTON -- October 22, 2018, Weston's Community Preservation Committee unanimously approved $332,000 in CPA funds to place preservation restrictions on two of the town's three surviving 17th-century houses. The committee voted to recommend $81,000 for the John Warren House at 71 Lexington Street, where a restriction would bar exterior changes to three street-facing sides, and $251,000 for the Lilac House at 120 Summer Street, protecting the original north section of a structure forensically dated to the 1680s. A presenter from the Historical Commission warned that a 1966 statewide count found only 250 first-period houses remaining in Massachusetts and said the number has fallen sharply since, calling the combined request "an expensive bargain" to protect two of Weston's three oldest survivors. Both proposals advance to the fall Special Town Meeting, where a committee member is expected to make the motion and offer a statement of support for each warrant article.