Amory-Richards House // 1865

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Built in 1865 along with its neighbor and later renovated in the Colonial Revival style, the Amory-Buckingham House on Colchester Street stands as an altered, yet historically significant residence in Brookline’s important Longwood neighborhood. A large lot on Colchester Street was purchased by Dr. Robert Amory (1842-1910), who in 1864, married Marianne Appleton Lawrence (1843–1882), daughter of Amos Adams Lawrence, a major developer of the nearby Cottage Farm neighborhood of Brookline. This stone cottage, one of two neighboring homes built at the same time for Dr. Amory was likely his main residence when not residing at his Boston townhouse or summer residence in Bar Harbor, Maine. The property was sold by the end of the 19th century to Edwin Buckingham and in 1902 to George L. Richards, who had the home expanded with an additional floor added with gambrel roof. A detached stable was also constructed around this time.

Amory-Boit House // 1865

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Built in 1865, the Amory-Boit House on Colchester Street in Brookline‘s exclusive Longwood neighborhood, is a stunning Second Empire style home with connections to prominent local families. The residence has a one-story stone base which meets the slate mansard roof providing two-and-a-half stories above which are crowned by iron cresting at the peak of the roof. The property was one of the early homes built in the area, developed by David Sears, one of the wealthiest property owners in Boston, who recognized the potential for development of this marshy area of Brookline due to its close proximity to the city. A large lot on Colchester Street was purchased by Dr. Robert Amory (1842-1910), who in 1864, married Marianne Appleton Lawrence (1843–1882), daughter of Amos Adams Lawrence, a major developer of the nearby Cottage Farm neighborhood of Brookline. This stone cottage, one of two neighboring homes built at the same time for Dr. Amory, was likely rented to friends and family with the other as his primary country house. This home was later sold to real estate and insurance businessman and author Robert Apthorp Boit (1846-1919). Robert Boit published the novel, Eustis in 1884 and his family history, Chronicles of the Boit Family and Their Descendants, in 1915. The home and its neighbor had been undergoing renovations for a while and are located within a local historic district.

Max Katz House // 1947

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Built in 1947, the Max Katz House on Kent Street in Brookline, Massachusetts, is one of the area’s best examples of Mid-Century Modern residential architecture. The main block of the house has an angle roof line with its facade dominated by a massive stone chimney. The residence was designed by architect Samuel Glaser, one of the earliest practitioners of Modern architecture in the Boston area, for Max Katz (1895-1996). Katz was born in Lithuania and came to Boston with his mother when he was nine years old. He founded the Merchant Tire Company in 1922 and was also one of the original organizers of Brandeis University. He and his wife, Augusta, lived in this Modern home for much of their lives. The Katz residence retains much of its architectural integrity and is an excellent and well-preserved example of 1940s Modernism.


Sears-Amster Cottage // c.1865

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Prior to 1850, the area today known as the Longwood neighborhood of Brookline remained largely farmland on the banks of the Muddy River. In the first half of the 19th century David Sears (1787-1871) and Amos Lawrence (1814-1886), both prominent Boston businessmen, bought up large tracts of what had been Judge Sewall’s estate. The arrival of the Brookline Branch Railroad (now the MBTA Green Line D branch) served as an impetus to develop the area more fully. David Sears and Amos Lawrence developed houses in present-day Longwood and Cottage Farm and rented the homes to friends and family. One of the rented houses built and rented by David Sears is this Second Empire cottage which dates to the 1860s. The house was long-rented to wealthy families until the Sears heirs sold the house to Nathan Leo Amster and his wife, Estelle Dreyfus. Nathan L. Amster was a railroad executive who eventually became president of the Manhattan Railway Company. When the purchased the cottage, the Amster’s hired Boston architect Clarence Blackall to renovate and “modernize” the home, which added the Classically inspired elements. The couple did not appear to live in the house long, as they spent most of their years in their Fifth Avenue NYC residence. The Sears-Amster Cottage remains an important early house in the Longwood development of Brookline.

Houghton House – Yawkey Family Inn // 1890

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Built on the site of an earlier house at 241 Kent Street in Brookline, this grand, Queen Anne style house has seen a life as a single-family home, fraternity house, and ultimately, the Yawkey Family Inn, a temporary residence for patient families undergoing procedures and treatments at Boston Children’s Hospital. A landmark example of the Queen Anne architectural style, the handsome near-symmetrical residence has paired conical towers at the facade, a brick first floor, paneled chimneys, and elaborate carvings in the entry portico, second-story bays, wall surfaces and gabled dormer. Planning for the new mansion began in 1889 when owners, Harriet and Andrew Jackson Houghton, owner of the Vienna Brewery in Boston, hired architect, James Templeton Kelley, to furnish plans for their new suburban mansion. Sadly, Andrew Houghton died in 1892, shortly after the house was completed, and Harriet remained here until her death in 1925. After this, the property was sold to the Beta Upsilon Association for use as a Fraternity House for the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity of MIT and later as a fraternity house for a Northeastern University frat. In 2009, the property was purchased, renovated and expanded to the rear as the Yawkey Family Inn, ensuring its preservation and remaining as a quieter neighbor to the surrounding residents than its previous use.

Silas Peavy House // 1905

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Silas Peavy (1858-1939) was born in Waterville, Maine, and with his brothers, Gustavus and Leopold, worked at his father’s clothing and merchandise store. The family moved to the Boston area and established J. Peavy and Brothers, continuing the family business in Boston with locations in New York. In 1904, Silas Peavy purchased a house lot on Kent Street and hired the architectural firm of Hartwell & Richardson to design a house there for his family. Peavy likely moved to this neighborhood as it became a Jewish enclave around the turn of the 20th century. The Silas Peavy House is an excellent example of the Neo-Classical style with symmetrical facade, porte cochere on the side, and monumental elliptical portico supported by two-story Ionic columns.

George and Alice May House // 1883

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Built in 1883 for George Putnam May and his wife, Alice (Walworth) May, this Queen Anne style residence on Francis Street in Brookline, Massachusetts, contains all of the traits of the architectural style. George P. May was employed at the Walworth Manufacturing Company a plumbing pipes and equipment manufacturer founded by James J. Walworth, who was Alice May’s uncle. The property was subdivided on Alice’s fathers estate which fronts Kent Street nextdoor. I wonder if George wanted to live in the rear yard of his father-in-law! For their Brookline residence, the couple hired architect, S. Edwin Tobey, who paid great attention to detail. The May House features an asymmetrical plan, varied siding types, complex rooflines, and a corner tower with conical roof.

Lawrence School // 1929

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The Lawrence School in Brookline, Massachusetts, is a stunning example of a public school building built in the interwar period in the Colonial Revival architectural style. Constructed in 1929, the building replaced an earlier, Stick/Queen Anne style school designed by the firm of Peabody & Stearns. The school is named after Amos A. Lawrence (1814-1886) a prominent local landowner in Brookline. When the earlier school building was outgrown and deemed obsolete, planning began for a new, modern school building for the community. The new Lawrence School was designed by R. Clipston Sturgis a notable local architect who specialized in the Colonial Revival style, and opened in September 1930. The handsome brick building is in the form of a long rectangular block with two perpendicular wings at each end. At the center of the main block is the principal entrance with its columned portico on a projecting pavilion all in cast stone, a cheaper alternative that resembles limestone.

Blenheim Apartments // 1898

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As Brookline, Massachusetts, saw rapid development in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, developers redeveloped lots formerly occupied by single-family residences and built large, multi-family triple-deckers and apartments, specifically in neighborhoods in close proximity to train stations into Boston. This building, constructed in 1898 by local builder, John H. Pineo, for owner, Walter H. Whittemore as an investment property. The building contained six apartments as a double triple-decker with two units on each floors accessed by a central entry and stairwell. The building has been known as the Blenheim Apartments and blends Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styles into a single, eclectic composition. The large massing is broken up by both the undulating facades and roof with projecting bays, dormers and corner towers, along with the applied ornament of panels, dentils, corbels and broken pediment motifs. If all multi-family housing looked like this, people would not complain about density as much!

Potter-Leland House // c.1888

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Francis Street in Brookline, Massachusetts, has some of the finest Queen Anne Victorian residences in the Boston area. This is the Potter-Leland House, built by 1888 by William Potter, a wealthy shoe manufacturer and businessman who developed rental housing in the neighborhood not far from his house on Kent Street. Various exterior wall textures, irregular massing, and turned posts on the front porch contribute to the Queen Anne character of this house, but the real showstopper is the rounded bay projection with three, 25-over-2 (yes you heard that right) curved sash windows! The property was later purchased by Herbert M. Leland, a broker.