Mary E. Paul Triple Decker // 1898

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

The Triple Decker is a popular housing form that between 1880 and 1930, saw an estimated 15,000 examples built in Boston and surrounding cities. The unique construction of three flats stacked on top of eachother provided density and lowered housing costs for three families and supplying the housing needs of huge numbers of new immigrants and working class families, providing an important path to homeownership. Often, a family could purchase a property, building a triple decker and could live in one unit while renting the others to pay for the mortgage and taxes, providing upward mobility for those who so long were priced out of owning their own home. By the late 19th century however, strong and organized pushback against the housing type occurred, led by groups like the Immigration Restriction League, who were “convinced that Anglo-Saxon traditions, peoples, and culture were being drowned in a flood of racially inferior foreigners from Southern and Eastern Europe,” sound familiar? Led by Prescott Farnsworth Hall, a Brookline resident, the group advocated to limit immigration from areas they deemed “lesser” and locally, fought to ban the construction of triple deckers in Massachusetts, ultimately succeeding in part when in 1912, Massachusetts passed a law allowing cities and towns to ban triple deckers by preventing construction of any ‘wooden tenement’ in which ‘cooking shall be done above the second floor. While major catastrophic fires like the Great Chelsea Fire of 1908 were fresh in people’s minds, a leading cause for the legislation was likely to limit upward mobility of groups of people from owning real estate. The Mary E. Paul Triple Decker, pictured here, was built in 1898 in the Shingle style, contributing to the rich architectural and social character of the surrounding neighborhood.

James H. F. Standish House // 1874

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

In 1873, James H. F. Standish (1811-1887) purchased a house lot on the corner of Francis and Toxteth streets in Brookline and set out building his forever home for his wife, Sarah. James and Sarah originally lived in Bath, Maine, where he worked as a builder and mason, constructing many large homes there before relocating to Brookline where he likely remained busy as Boston and its surrounding communities experienced a period of rapid development and suburbanization. James surely built this house and rear stable himself in the interpretation of the Stick and Italianate styles for his family, who moved in by 1874. Sadly, Sarah died unexpectedly in 1876 of heart disease, and James would sell their Brookline home. The Standish Home has been preserved by subsequent owners, including the central cupola, bracketed and dentilled cornice, stickwork and iron cresting. The Standish House was individually listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1985 as a well-preserved, evocative example of Victorian period styles in a residence.

Gibson-Dukakis Double-House // 1881

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

Built in 1881 as an eclectic example of a Second Empire and Queen Anne style Victorian double-house, this charming residence on quiet Perry Street in Brookline, Massachusetts, shows that gentle density like double-houses and three-deckers provides needed housing without disrupting neighborhood character. The property was built for George Gibson and subsequently rented to two families as an investment. In the mid-20th century, half of the double-house was purchased by Michael Dukakis and his wife, Katharine “Kitty” (Dickson) Dukakis. Michael Dukakis would become a prominent politician, first being elected as a Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1963 later serving two terms as Massachusetts Governor. He was later nominated by the Democratic Party for president in the 1988 election, but ultimately lost to the Republican nominee, George H. W. Bush.

Sewall Apartments // 1938

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

This garden apartment complex at 98-116 Sewall Avenue in Brookline is an excellent example of the Art Deco style which reached its height in popularity in the midst of the Great Depression, so fewer examples of the style are typically found. Here in Brookline, the city was seeing rapid development in the early decades of the 20th century, where large estates were subdivided and commercial areas expanded into once residential neighborhoods. U-shaped in plan and standing three-stories, this complex replaced a large property owned by the Stearns Family, a prominent local family with many properties around present-day Coolidge Corner. The apartments were developed by the G & S Investment Company, a real estate development firm, who hired architect, Saul Moffie, to design the building. Completed in 1938, the complex has richly articulated facades with a variety of geometric brick patterns, including chevrons, diapering, header courses and soldier courses with each entryway identified by a projecting pavilion with a stepped stone parapet above. The doors and sidelights are wood with glass panels in a chevron motif similar to the brickwork and all residential units have steel multi-pane windows. What a gem!

Charles P. Flagg House // 1899

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

Located on Sewall Avenue in Brookline, Massachusetts, the Charles P. Flagg House exemplifies upper-class single-family housing built in the late 19th century that has been added onto and converted into multi-family housing to serve a growing city. Charles Partridge Flagg (1851-1911) was a real estate developer and head of the D. F. Flagg & Co., a wholesale liquor company his father started in Boston. He purchased the former Dexter property, subdivided the estate, and hired architect Julius A. Schweinfurth to design a home for his family. “Jule” Schweinfurth was long-associated with the firm of Peabody & Stearns of Boston, which in the late 19th century, was one of the premier architectural offices in the United States, but when he was not offered a partnership offer by his bosses, he established a new firm under his name. For the Flagg House, Schweinfurth blended the Shingle, Queen Anne, and Arts and Crafts architectural styles with a unique asymmetrical roofline, wide overhanging eaves with cross brackets and exposed rafter tails, consistent shingle siding, and a two-story polygonal oriel with domed roof at the corner. The Flagg House was moved forward on the lot to facilitate a rear addition and completely renovated in 2011, transforming it into a seven-unit condominium building with garage and elevator. This example of “gentle density” is exactly what communities should allow for, to preserve the character at the streetscape but provide additional housing.

George B. Dexter House // 1885

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

An expression of the Shingle style in all her beauty, the George B. Dexter House on Sewall Avenue in Brookline was built in 1885 both as a residence and a billboard advertising the owner’s business, really. The residence was built for George B. Dexter (1854-1935) a partner in the Dexter Brothers Company a paint and stain manufacturer that was a favorite of architects in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. For his Brookline residence, George Dexter hired architect S. Edwin Tobey to design this Shingled masterpiece with continuous shingle siding with rounded bays and a shingled piazza to showcase the stain products of his company. According to articles, Dexter also stained and painted the interior a variety of colors to showcase the wide range of options his company had. George Dexter would move to Pill Hill neighborhood in a new home just a decade after having this residence built, likely caused by the development of apartments and commercialization in the Coolidge Corner area by the turn of the century. The Dexter House was converted to a two-family in the 1920s and today has three condominium units, with owners clearly taking great pride in this significant residence.

Steuer Apartments // 1913

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

In the early 20th century Brookline, Massachusetts, saw an immense increase to its population, spurred by the streetcar system and a suburbanization of greater Boston. As land is finite, developers eyed the large estates near commuter lines and built apartment buildings to supply housing to middle-income residents. Not all residents welcomed the change as density and the destruction of old estates caused concerns for many wealthy and older residents in Brookline who enjoyed the bucolic suburbs to dense city life. As a result, many Brookline developers hired known architects to design apartment buildings with high-quality materials and finishes to contribute to the rich architectural streetscapes and established neighborhoods. This apartment building, one of two at the corner of Longwood Avenue and St. Paul Street, was built in 1913 from plans by Gay & Proctor, an established local architectural firm. The developer, Bernard Steuer (1859-1921), was an Austrian-Jew that emigrated to the United States and worked in real estate and building in Brookline and Boston. The building features a heavy cornice with modillons, three-story polygonal bays that break up the massing, and cast stone detailing with Beaux Arts style entries.

Dr. Caroline Eliza Hastings House // 1890

Buildings of New England2 Comments

A fine example of the Queen Anne style of architecture, this late 19th century residence in Sharon, Massachusetts, is equally significant for one of its owners, Dr. Caroline Hastings. Caroline Eliza Hastings (1841-1922) was born in Barre, Massachusetts, and after attending public schools there, would enroll at the New England Female Medical College (later absorbed into the Boston University Medical School), graduating with an MD degree in 1868. She conducted a private practice and additionally worked as an instructor at her alma mater. She was affiliated with the Talitha Cumi Home in Jamaica Plain, Boston, a medical facility run by women to treat and house unmarried mothers and their young children. Doctor Hastings was an amazing woman who also established and was president of Boston’s first women’s medical society, and while on the Boston School Committee, implemented the first free school lunch program for poor children in the country. In the early 20th century, Dr. Hastings and her husband, Charles Printer, purchased this house built in 1890 and moved here together, where they likely enjoyed retirement. Dr. Caroline E. Hastings died in 1922, and her Sharon home has been preserved by later owners and resembles the property when she resided here.

Francis L. Willard Summer House // 1886

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

Built in 1886 as a summer house, this handsome Shingle style residence on Pleasant Street in Sharon, Massachusetts, is one of the finest examples of the Shingle style in the area. The house was built as a summer residence for Francis Lyman Willard (1845-1913), who was President and Treasurer of the Riverside Boiler Works in Cambridge, and maintained a primary residence in Jamaica Plain. He and his wife, Mary Smith Willard, had this home built as their country retreat, spending summers here to escape the hustle-and-bustle of city life. The architect could not be discovered at this time, but it appears to have been a Boston-area architect that specialized in the Shingle style due to its unique and high-quality detailing. The feature that stands out is the four-story wood shingled tower on the facade capped by a bell roof that includes a large 20-over-20 double-hung curved wood sash stair window. 

St. John’s Episcopal Church of Sharon // 1902

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

The small yet architecturally significant St. John’s Episcopal Church in Sharon, Massachusetts, was built in 1902 from plans by one of the premier ecclesiastical architects of the early 20th century. Episcopalians in Sharon began demanding their own house of worship in the late 19th century, and by the turn of the century, had funding to erect their own chapel. Boston-based architect, Ralph Adams Cram, of the firm Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson, designed the building, which fits within the scale of the residential neighborhood it is located within. St. John’s is an example of Neo-Gothic Revival architecture, a style which Cram became known for, with a fieldstone base, three feet thick, and stucco gabled facade above with tripartite windows with diamond-cut colored glass. The chapel was expanded at the rear, but maintains its rustic charm at the street.