{{Short description|Modernist subdivision in Lexington, Massachusetts}} {{For|the restaurant|Five Fields (restaurant)}} {{Use American English|date=September 2025}} '''Five Fields''' is a modernist residential neighborhood in Lexington, Massachusetts developed starting in 1951. It consists of 68 half-acre (0.2 hectare) lots with modernist houses on an 80-acre site designed by The Architects Collaborative (TAC). Partners in charge from TAC were Norman Fletcher and Louis McMillen with Richard Morehouse as senior associate.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gropius |first1=Walter |last2=Harkness |first2=Sarah P. |title=The Architects Collaborative 1945-1965 |date=1966 |publisher=Arthur Niggli Ltd}}</ref> A 20-acre portion is held in common and includes community facilities such as a swimming pool and playground.<ref>Linda Matchan, "An era fades at Five Fields in Lexington", ''The Boston Globe'' [https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/08/19/era-fades-year-old-modernist-lexington-community-designed-walter-gropius-called-five-fields/6ipEQ9PaUi9Y73o4XC7rYJ/story.html August 20, 2013]</ref><ref>Katharine Schwab, "A Utopian Midcentury Neighborhood Gets Updated For Helicopter Parents", ''Fast Company'', [https://www.fastcompany.com/3068337/a-utopian-midcentury-neighborhood-gets-updated-for-helicopter-parents February 21, 2017]</ref>
{{quote box|align=right|width=35%|Setbacks from the roads were staggered and orientations varied according to the gentle rise and fall of the land. TAC preserved the farm’s old stone wall and as many old oak trees as possible. Five Fields attracted the same kind of young intellectuals [as Six Moon Hill]: The first neighborhood group that formed met to read Ancient Greek together.|—Amanda Kolson Hurley, "The Rise of the Radical Suburbs"}} Five Fields was one of a series of "innovative contemporary housing developments" in Lexington, starting with Six Moon Hill (The Architects Collaborative, 1948), and then Five Fields (1951), Peacock Farm (Walter Pierce and Danforth Compton, 1952), and Turning Mill / Middle Ridge (Carl Koch, 1955).<ref name="lex">"Post 1940 Period", ''Comprehensive Cultural Resources Survey'', Town of Lexington, Massachusetts [https://www.lexingtonma.gov/historical-commission/comprehensive-cultural-resources-survey/pages/post-1940-period] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220103143130/https://www.lexingtonma.gov/historical-commission/comprehensive-cultural-resources-survey/pages/post-1940-period |date=2022-01-03 }}</ref> Several other modern housing developments were built later.<ref>Keith N. Morgan, Society of Architectural Historians, "Six Moon Hill", ''SAH Archipedia'' [https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/MA-01-LX3]</ref> Like the Case Study Houses in Los Angeles and the other Lexington developments, Five Fields was "intended as a corrective to the cheap historicism of many new developments".<ref name="dr">Jane Thompson, Alexandra Lange, Ruth A. Peltason, ''Design Research: The Store That Brought Modern Living to American Homes'', 2010, {{isbn|0811868184}}, p. 11 (cf. Design Research (store))</ref> thumb|TAC-designed Five Fields house, minimally modified, built in 1954, photographed in 2022 thumb|TAC-designed Five Fields flat-roofed house, minimally modified, built in 1955, photographed in 2022
The development was established on the former Cutler dairy farm,<ref name="lex"/> near the Waltham line. Stone walls divided the area into five fields. To keep costs down, the houses were originally limited to three standard plans, which allowed the use of common, mass-produced components.<ref>Richard Kollen, ''Lexington: From Liberty's Birthplace to Progressive Suburb'', 2004, {{isbn|1439614083}}, n.p.</ref>
==Notes== <references/>
==Bibliography==
* Denise Dube, "Modern Art: Lexington's Other Historic Home", ''North Bridge Magazine'', Fall 2008, p. 18–26. * Amanda Kolson Hurley, "The Rise of the Radical Suburbs", ''Architect'', [https://www.architectmagazine.com/design/the-rise-of-the-radical-suburbs_o April 9, 2019], adapted from her book ''Radical Suburbs: Experimental Living on the Fringes of the American City'', 2019, {{isbn|1948742365}}
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Category:Modernist architecture in Massachusetts Category:Buildings and structures in Lexington, Massachusetts Category:Houses in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Category:1950s architecture