Queen Anne

Point Allerton Life Saving Station // 1889

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The United States Life-Saving Service was a United States government agency that grew out of private and local humanitarian efforts to save the lives of shipwrecked mariners and ship passengers. It began in 1848 when the congress appropriated $10,000 to establish unmanned lifesaving stations along the New Jersey coast south of New York Harbor. That same year the Massachusetts Humane Society also received funds from Congress for lifesaving stations on the Massachusetts coastline. It was decided to establish a life saving service station at Point Allerton after 61-year-old Joshua James and his crew rescued 29 people from four vessels wrecked in the Boston Harbor during the great storm of November, 1888. The United States Corps of Engineers had this Queen Anne style life saving station built at the northern shores of town, overlooking the Boston harbor. Joshua James became the Keeper of the station at 62, seventeen years past the mandatory retirement age of 45 for a federal appointment with the new U.S. Life–Saving Service. The station is the best-preserved of 32 stations that once lined the Massachusetts coast (most have since been demolished or adapted to other uses). It is now operated as the Hull Lifesaving Museum.

Former Allerton Point Post Office // c.1890

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By the end of the 19th century, various coastal developments on the elongated coastal town of Hull, Massachusetts, developed into established neighborhoods of cottages. As a result, new stores, schools, and post offices were built to accommodate the increase in population. William Henry Sylvester (1840-1923) a local resident, built this structure to serve as a store, professional offices, and post office. Like other buildings in the area constructed in the 1890s, the structure blends Queen Anne and Craftsman elements in a great composition. Sadly, the building has not been maintained and the windows are now boarded up, with the entire waterfront parcel selling in 2018. Plans to demolish the buildings on the site, including this charming structure were proposed to erect new townhomes, but they have not materialized. I’d love to see the site redeveloped with much-needed housing, but this structure should be incorporated in the development.

Winfield S. Richards Cottage // c.1890

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Summer cottages of the late 19th century are always a treat to come across! While most cottages I feature on here are more high-style and were built for the wealthy, Hull, Massachusetts, has some of the best middle-class summer cottages in New England! Steamships and rail service from Boston and other cities opened up Hull and Nantasket Beach to summer residents and day visitors alike, creating a massive increase in building in the latter decades of the 19th and early 20th centuries. This cottage was owned by Winfield S. Richards and his wife Myra of Newton, Massachusetts. The cottage blends Queen Anne and Craftsman styles with complex Queen Anne massing, turned posts, and recessed second story porch, and sloping roof extension to create the Craftsman-esque front porch. The cottage is one of the better-preserved in town and an excellent blending of architectural styles.

Bread Loaf Campus – Maple Cottage // c.1900

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Welcome back to the Bread Loaf Campus! For more early history and context of the complex, check out the post on the Bread Loaf Inn. By 1900, owner Joseph Battell’s enterprise exceeded the capacity of the original inn, and cottages were added to accommodate more guests visiting his new permanent home in the mountains of Ripton, Vermont. Located adjacent to the Mansard-roofed Birch Cottage, one of the most visually striking buildings in the campus is Maple Cottage, which reads more porch than cottage, but it’s 100% perfect. It was the last cottage built by Battell for his family and friends to stay at when visiting. They must have loved evenings on the three-floors of porches looking out over the Green Mountains.

Henry S. Chase House // c.1882

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One of the many “hidden” gems of old houses in Brookline is this charmer on Francis Street, just west of the Longwood district. The residence was built by 1882, by Henry Savage Chase (1825-1885) who lived in a larger stone mansion across St. Paul Street (no longer extant). This house was rented out by Chase, possibly to friends and remained in the family for decades. This early Queen Anne style dwelling (and likely the main house) was designed by architect Edgar Allen Poe Newcomb, a relatively unknown architect of the period. The house has an irregular plan with varied siding and materials, with applied ornament that has survived intact for nearly 150 years.

Kaffenburgh House – Bertram Inn // c.1910

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Across the street from the C. D. Hammer House on Sewall Avenue in Brookline, Massachusetts, this later take on the Queen Anne style with Tudor Revival elements is about to go through quite a transformation!

A little history before I share the proposal for the site… This house was built around 1910 for Bessie V. and Carl J. Kaffenburgh, a tobacco dealer with a store in Downtown Boston. The house was  from plans by architect Harry E. Davidson, who had previously designed stucco houses with Tudor influences for both the Vorenberg and Kaffenburgh family including 20 Amory Street in the nearby Cottage Farm neighborhood. By 1940 the house was owned by Hazen Blood and his wife. The Bloods had rented out rooms in the house totalling 13 lodgers here as a rooming house in the 1940 directory. In 1987, owner, Bryan Austin purchased the property restored it, and opened it as the Bertram Inn.

In recent years, the adjoining lots were eyed for redevelopment and demolition was proposed for this property. Neighborhood opposition and the demolition delay process allowed for review of the plans, which now includes the “restoration” of the main house with a six-story boxy addition on the rear containing condominium units. While the proposed addition is not contextual to the historic Tudor Revival house, it does save the original building and provides much-needed housing for others, so I guess this is a win! What do you think?

C. D. Hammer House // 1893

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This lovely Queen Anne style residence near the Longwood section of Brookline was built in 1893 for C. D. Hammer, the General Agent for the Provident Life and Trust Company of Philadelphia. The stately suburban dwelling was designed by architect Julius A. Schweinfurth, a noted architect who designed many buildings in the region. While some of the stickwork and applied ornament has been covered by vinyl siding, much of the original detailing and some windows remain. The dropped pendants in the gables with flared bargeboard and highly ornamental corbels are a great touch and remain to this day. I bet all of the original details are still under that vinyl, just waiting to be shown again!

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. He built this just before the larger Queen Anne duplex was built nextdoor from plans by Rand & Taylor, architects, and it was rented out as a single-family income-producing property. Various exterior wall textures, irregular massing, and turned supports 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-1 (yes you heard that right) curved sash windows! The property was later purchased by Herbert M. Leland, a broker.

William Potter Rental House // 1889

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William W. Potter, a shoe manufacturer and businessman, and his wife, Isabella Abbe Strickland Potter, lived in the Longwood section of Brookline and became active in the surround areas development in the last decades of the 19th century. William bought land off Kent Street and began to lay out house lots, becoming a developer overseeing construction of stately Queen Anne Victorian rental properties marketed to upper-middle-class residents. For this house on Francis Street, he commissioned architects George Rand and Bertram Taylor, who were known for producing stylish residential designs for the middle class in the Boston area. The massive property was a duplex, providing units to two lucky families! The building has just about every hallmark feature of the Queen Anne style including: the conical roof on a rounded corner bay, a complex roofline, asymmetrical plan, varied siding/materials, and applied ornamentation. In the 1920s, the house was owned by Simmons College, and used as a boarding house. Luckily, the property was restored and now is one of the finest residences in the neighborhood.

Orlando & Ellen Alford House // 1883

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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!