Built in 1856, the townhouse at 2 Walnut Street is a unique Second Empire style townhouse erected on one of the last undeveloped lots on the South Slope of Boston’s exclusive Beacon Hill neighborhood. The three-story, brick residence is capped by a mansard roof and its facade is dominated by a full-height octagonal bay, which at the center on each floor, is a recessed brick panel in lieu of windows. The property was originally owned by Henry Sturgis Grew (1834-1910) a real estate developer and politician who split his time between this residence and a large estate called Grew’s Hill, that grew to several hundred acres and contained an active farm, part of which was later incorporated into Stony Brook Reservation. Henry Grew’s daughter, Jane Norton Grew, would go on to marry John Pierpont Morgan Jr. (J. P. Morgan) in 1890. The Grew House was modernized in the 20th century with a Classical door surround, but otherwise, it maintains the appearance of when it was built in 1856.
Buildings of New England 