The General Samuel Chandler House is Lexington's only fully developed example of an Italianate villa dwelling complete with prominent three-story tower, arched windows, and rusticated wood exterior. Chandler, a town leader, general in the militia, and local businessman, was among those instrumental in bringing the Lexington and West Cambridge Railroad to town in 1846. He chose to build his house on an elevated site above Hancock Street near the terminus of the line. Hancock Street became for the next quarter century the most stylish place to live in Lexington, often called the “court end” of the village.