One of the best houses in Waban Village in Newton is this absolutely stunning Shingle style/Queen Anne home perched high on Moffat Hill. This house was built in 1888 for Louis K. Harlow, who began his career as a professional artist in 1880 and traveled Europe to study the work of prominent painters. Back in the Boston area, Harlow painted nature and landscapes and produced etchings that were shown in the Boston Art Club and sold worldwide. He later got into poetry and published multiple works. Harlow hired the firm of Longfellow, Alden, and Harlow, to design this country retreat. I assume there is a relation between Louis K. and the architect Alfred Branch Harlow, but I would love to find out the connection! The design is quintessentially Queen Anne, with the asymmetry, complex roof form, varied siding types, and diamond window sashes. The shingled second floor overhangs the fieldstone first floor which to me, evokes the Shingle style where the house seems to have grown out from the earth. I can only imagine how spectacular the interior is!
Buildings of New England 
Yes, Alfred Branch Harlow famous (later Pittsburgh) architect born in Middleborough was related to client Louis (born Lewis) K. Harlow, whose manufacturer father Ivory H. Harlow was a descendant of Branch Harlow. I’m a collector of Harlow’s art living in North Carolina, and will present a lecture on his work in May 2024 at Williamstown, Mass. for American Historical Print Collectors Society annual conference.
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I’m a historian in Middleborough where Louis Kinney Harlow was raised and Alfred Branch Harlow was born. The Harlows were first cousins, the grandsons of Branch Harlow of Middleborough. Louis K. Harlow attended Peirce Academy at Middleborough and eventually joined his father’s lumber milling firm. Later in the mid-1870s, he joined his brother-in-law H. L. Thatcher in establishing a commercial printing business at Middleborough. It is likely through this connection that he first developed an understanding of printing and the mechanical reproduction of images. The house Louis K. Harlow built in 1876 and occupied until 1881 in Middleborough is still standing. Constructed before Harlow became a professional artist, it is much less grand than the house that he later built in Newton.
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I have a Harlow watercolor,it was a garage sale find, I looked through a bunch of his paintings and didn’t see the one I have, it’s signed and in a very old frame,it has I tiny bit of possible damage ( I can’t tell if it’s the watercolor or on the glass)it can probably be conserved,you can Facebook me, Jim Prakelt,I can let you see pictures,not sure how to do it here
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Who is the architect of the Harlow house in Newton? I know the post says that Harlow’s country retreat was designed by firm of Longfellow, Alden, and Harlow but are these two houses one and the same? Waban, arguably, could have been considered a country setting back in the 1880s.
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Ah! Thank you for catching my typo. I meant to say “this country retreat” not “his” 🙂
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