Queen Anne

Amos Lawrence Rowhouses // c.1877

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53-61 Monmouth Street

Amos A. Lawrence (1814-1886), a wealthy Boston merchant, owned land holdings in the present-day Longwood neighborhood of Brookline, just over the Muddy River from Boston, and developed the area into a wealthy and high-quality suburb. Lots were laid and Lawrence hired civil engineer, Ernest Bowditch, to plat for multiple sets of distinctive rowhouses surrounding a small green mall, which was later named Monmouth Court. Once the property was laid out, Amos Lawrence hired the Boston architects, J. Pickering Putnam and George T. Tilden, to design rowhouses for rental income. George Tilden was previously employed at the firm of Ware & Van Brunt, a firm that mastered and popularized the panel brick style in the Boston area in the 1870s and 1880s, and he clearly built upon this expertise for the rows for Amos Lawrence in Brookline. All four rows of houses are distinctive, yet compliment eachother stylistically with projecting bays. intricate brickwork, complex rooflines with dormers, and applied ornament. These two rows on the western side of Monmouth Court at 53-61 Monmouth Street and 19-27 Monmouth Court, were also likely the work of Putnam and Tilden, who practiced jointly for a couple years but published their work separately. Stylistically, the two Monmouth Street rows appear to be of the same architect, George Tilden with identical tilework and elements, and the two Monmouth Court rows as the work of Putnam with polychromatic segmental arches over the windows.

19-27 Monmouth Court

Harrison Gardner House // c.1873

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The Harrison Gardner House on Colchester Street in the Longwood section of Brookline is a stunning late Victorian residence that was “modernized” in 1887 to its current configuration. Harrison Gardner (1841-1899) was a Civil War veteran who arrived back in Boston becoming a wealthy dry goods wholesaler, later investing in Massachusetts mills. On January 20, 1871, Harrison was a founder and treasurer of the Boston Red Stockings of the new National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (NABBP). The team’s name  changed multiple times, eventually landing on the Boston Braves, which would later move to Atlanta to become the Atlanta Braves in the MLB. With increased wealth and status, Harrison Gardner in 1887, hired the prestigious architectural firm of Hartwell and Richardson, to update his Brookline residence with additions and renovations in the Queen Anne and Shingle styles. Years after his death in 1899, Harrison’s widow, Laura Perkins Harrison, moved out of the large Longwood home and into a new, Arts and Crafts style stucco residence on Amory Street, designed by William Gibbons Rantoul.

Webber-Bouve Mansion // 1885

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One of the most unique and truly great Victorian-era residences in Brookline, Massachusetts, can be found on Kent Street, an eclectic and fairly hidden mansion built of stucco, stone and terracotta. Built in 1885 by John Prescott Webber, a Maine lumber baron who moved to the Boston area and became a real estate magnate, the handsome residence was designed by architect, S. Edwin Tobey. The most important element of the structure is its surfacing material, with random and quarry-faced ashlar used on the first floor with roughcast stucco on the second level. Additional detailing includes the large brackets, irregular form and fenestration, massive bays, gables, stone porte-cochere, and carved terracotta details. The house was likely sold to George F. Bouve shortly after it was completed, and he remained the owner until his death in 1898. Mr. Bouve was a shoe and leather dealer and shoe manufacturer. The Webber-Bouve Mansion is one of those houses that the more you look at it, the more detail and unique features you notice. The historic stable was demolished in 1995 in exchange for a preservation restriction on the main house by the owners.

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.

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.

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.

Gibson-Dukakis Double-House // 1881

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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.

Charles P. Flagg House // 1899

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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.

Dr. Caroline Eliza Hastings House // 1890

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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.