Longwood

Webber Duplex // c.1890

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In the late 19th century, the Longwood section of Brookline, saw a second surge of development when larger pieces of land were sold by heirs of the original developers. On the lot across from the Longwood Towers and near the Longwood rail station, Maine-born lumber dealer, John Prescott Webber, built this two-family residence and rented it out for supplemental income. Webber lived in a large home on Beacon Street while renting this and other properties in town to middle-class commuters to Boston. The Queen Anne style residence exhibits a unique rusticated stone first floor with wide arched entry with Richardsonian Romanesque carved detailing.

Phinney-Bigelow House // c.1899

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Before the turn of the 20th century, William L. and Elizabeth G. Phinney purchased a narrow house lot at the corner of Hawes and Chatham streets in the desirable Longwood neighborhood of Brookline. They then retained the young architect Thomas Marriott James, to design this massive Federal Revival style mansion. After William died in 1911, Elizabeth remained in the house until 1920, when it sold to C. Willard Bigelow a wool dealer and his wife, Ruth. The Phinney-Bigelow House is an exemplary Federal Revival style house on a narrow lot which takes full advantage of its boxy form. The slightly asymmetrical facade with Palladian window, limestone trimmings, and bold entrance are all great additions to the design.

McInnis House // 1901

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Located next door to Ms. Matchett’s house on Chatham Street in the suburban Longwood neighborhood of Brookline, Massachusetts, you will find this very unique example of a Colonial Revival style single-family home. Built by 1901 for lawyer Edwin G. McInnis (sometime spelled McInnes) and his wife, Mabel, the house is high-style Colonial Revival with symmetrical facade, rustication, two-story Corinthian pilasters framing the bays, Palladian window, and Federal style entry with fanlight transom. No records of the architect could be located sadly.

Sarah Bennett Matchett House // 1905

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In 1905, Sarah A. Bennett Matchett (1833-1910), a widow, purchased a desirable house lot in the Longwood section of Brookline, Massachusetts. She inherited a large fortune upon the passing of her husband, William F. Matchett (1832-1901), who was the long time treasurer of the Boston and Roxbury Mill Corporation. The couple had no children, but she watched over her nieces and nephews following her brother’s death. Ms. Matchett hired architects Arthur Everett and Samuel Mead to design a large Colonial Revival style home on the lot, which was then built in 1905. Upon her death in 1910, she willed each of her four nieces and nephews $25,000 (roughly $800,000 (a piece) adjusted for inflation to today. She also willed $200,000 to Harvard College and funds to Massachusetts General Hospital and the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. After her death, her Brookline residence was inherited by her eldest niece, Helen Maud (Bennett) Richardson and has been lovingly maintained over 110 years later!

Benjamin Green House // 1927

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Located on Beech Road overlooking the “village common” of Longwood Mall, this 1920s Georgian Revival mansion showcases the curb appeal and perfect siting of suburban houses of the period . The home was built in 1927 for Benjamin Green, a real estate dealer and his family. The Green’s hired architect Harry Morton Ramsay, a noted area architect who specialized in suburban single-family homes of this period, to design the Georgian Revival style home. The brick residence features a symmetrical facade, half-round portico with Corinthian columns, round arched first floor and dormer windows, and decorative brickwork.

George G. Quincy House // 1909

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If you love Colonial Revival style homes, the Longwood neighborhood in Brookline is a must-visit area to stroll around! This house is tucked away in the neighborhood and was a treat to stumble upon. This large home was designed by the underappreciated architect, James Templeton Kelley for a George G. Quincy. The Colonial Revival style dwelling is actually built of wood with a brick veneer and has an open pedimented entry with fanlight and transom surround. The round-headed windows on the first floor are especially notable.

Longwood Towers // 1925

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No trip to Longwood in Brookline would be complete without checking in on one of the finest multi-family housing developments of New England… This is Longwood Towers. The development was originally built in 1925 from plans by architectural/engineering firm Kenneth DeVos and Co. who built three near-identical developments in the early 1920s: Detroit (1922), Brookline (1925), and finally Philadelphia (1928). The complexes were all originally called Alden Park Manor. Kenneth DeVos worked with local architects for each project to oversee construction details and furnish interior detailing as needed. For Brookline, he hired Harold Field Kellogg, who earlier served as the first director of the Boston Housing Authority. The design is Tudor Revival in style with towers connected by social spaces and a lobby linking the towers with a dining room for residents, a ballroom, lounge, day care facilities, barber and beauty shops, and a garage. The idea of a parking garage incorporated into an apartment complex was a very new idea when these were built, so much so it was written about as a new amenity for future developments to emulate. Another interesting tidbit about the complex is that it was featured in architectural journals in 1926 as it solved the “garbage problem” with trash chutes on each floor which terminated down in a brick incinerator (no longer in use). The Longwood Towers in Brookline were eyed as innovative and set trends for later developments, here’s to hoping future developers take cues to what makes good design and finishes rather than just profit with so many new boxy, uninspiring 5-over-1 apartment buildings going up all over the region.

Pope-Gardner-Robbins House // c.1870

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Historians date the bones of this house in the Longwood section of Brookline, Massachusetts to the 1870s (or earlier), but its present appearance is definitely from the early 20th century. This is the Pope-Gardner-Robbins House on Colchester Street, a lovely span of stucco-sided homes in one of my favorite neighborhoods in the Boston area. An early (1874) map of the area shows this was the home of T. B. Pope, and later purchased by Harrison and Laura Gardner, husband and wife. Harrison Gardner was a founder (and served as treasurer) of the Boston Red Stockings of the new National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (NABBP). The Red Stockings eventually became the Boston Braves baseball team and are now the Atlanta Braves. The multi-lot property was likely rented by Gardner for supplemental income and was eventually sold to Annette R. Robbins, who seemingly had this home renovated in the 1920s and others nearby built or renovated as well. The house is today an excellent (and fairly uncommon) example of a Colonial Revival style house with stucco siding.

Judge Philip Rubenstein House // c.1915

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In the early 20th century, the suburban development of Longwood in Brookline saw another period of rapid development. Larger estates were subdivided and developed with all kinds of housing from single-family mansions to middle-class homes to large apartment buildings. One of the more modest-sized houses built in the first decades of the 20th century was this house, one of a collection of stuccoed homes on Colchester Street. The house was purchased by Judge Philip Rubenstein, the first member of the Jewish faith to serve on the Massachusetts bench and one of the first three judges of Boston’s juvenile court, the first in the country. The unique home is clad with stucco with a terracotta shingle roof and Colonial Revival style entry, showing an effective blending of the Arts and Crafts and Colonial styles.

A. M. Donna end House // 1928

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Abraham Malcolm Sonnabend was born in Boston on December 8, 1896, the son of Esther and Joseph Sonnabend. Sonnabend graduated from Harvard College in 1917 in order to enlist at the outbreak of the Great War. At the end of World War I, Sonnabend joined his father’s real estate organization. He married Esther Lewitt in 1920, and by 1927, he had increased his real estate holdings to a net worth of $350,000. Just before the 1929 stock market crash, Sonnabend hired Boston architect Sumner Schein to design this Tudor Revival style home, on a site formerly occupied by a larger Queen Anne style residence. Built in 1928, the Tudor Revival house features clinker brick walls with cast stone trim and a two-story castellated bay all capped by a slate roof. The enterprising A. M. Sonnabend would eventually outgrow this modest Tudor home after he got into hotels as investments. In 1944, Sonnabend (with seven partners) acquired a package of Palm Beach, Florida hotels for $2.4 million including the Biltmore, Whitehall and the Palm Beach Country Club. He would sell the Biltmore to Conrad Hilton for a massive profit. In 1956, Sonnabend created the Hotel Corporation of America (HCA) and grew the business to new heights. The 1928 Sonnabend House is significant architecturally and as the first purpose-built property by the late-developer.