Orlando Hiram Alford (1840-1908) was an industrious and hardworking Vermonter who settled in the Boston area to make his wealth. He was a member of Bliss, Fabyan & Co., a large drygoods dealer, and would also become a director of the First National Bank, the City Trust Company, and the Franklin Savings Bank. In manufacturing, he serves the role of director of the Bates Manufacturing Company, the Merrimac River Towing Company, the Columbian Manufacturing Company, the Cordis Mills, and the Thorndike Company (among others). From his many positions and roles, he and his wife Ellen, were able to afford a house lot on Kent Street in the neighborhood between Longwood and Brookline Village. The Alford House, a stunning example of the Queen Anne style remained in family until after Ellen’s death in 1929, when it was purchased by the Boston Hospital for Women as a nurse’s residence. It was later used as apartments and was clad with vinyl siding, obscuring much of the original wood trim detailing. In the 2000s, later owners sought to demolish this house, which served as a rallying cry for neighborhood residents who understood the importance of the house and its context with surrounding lots. After the demolition delay process lapsed, they petitioned for a local district designation, effectively preserving the house for more generations to come! The Lawrence Local Historic District has since provided protection for houses in the area, but does not require a homeowner maintains or keeps up a property in a certain condition. Hopefully the Alford House will be restored soon!
Buildings of New England 
Hi my family owns this house. I love hearing the history of the house but to be frank I do not appreciate the tone of the article towards my family. I want to correct your article and clarify that we did not try to demolish the house. We love this house. Just like many other former owners in the area my father recognized that we could not afford my mother’s medical bills and the house, so we attempted to sell it to a developer who was going to restore it and turn it into condos. Many of the historic homes in the area have resorted to this to pay for such expensive repairs and honor the home…. that or the local hospital would have to buy the former owners out. Now we can not even afford to properly fix the roof because it’s required by the new laws ( so wonderfully implemented when the town blocked my family from selling the property) require it to be made of slate which is extremely expensive. Now it’s not possible for us to fix leaks and now the interior will also suffer… I do hope that one day it can be fixed by our family… who will own this for many generations… to its former glory! I love historic homes. It is a shame that the house is not celebrated but once it is passed on we will try to restore it. It will be very expensive… perhaps we can look into grants… or we could sell it to the 1% wealthy that are pushing out all the original families that were in the neighborhood.
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Hello Rajuli,
Thank you for the added information, it truly is a great home. I saw multiple articles and planning board documents online stating that the house was proposed for demolition in the early 2000s which the information in the post shared. You could look into a certificate of hardship if Brookline offers that for a synthetic slate roof or CPA grants if you are income-eligible. Best of luck to you!
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