Apartment Design

Tudor Apartments // 1887

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Frederic Tudor (1783-1864) was a businessman and merchant known as Boston’s “Ice King” having founded the Tudor Ice Company and becoming a pioneer of the international ice trade in the early 19th century. Frederic Tudor lived in a house at the corner of Beacon and Joy streets in Beacon Hill, Boston, and after his death, the property was inherited by his widow, Euphemia Fenno and their children. By 1885, the old Tudor House was demolished and replaced by The Tudor Apartments, which was built between 1885 and 1887 to house twelve upper-class families who sought smaller living space as opposed to the typical townhouses in Beacon Hill. Designed by architect, Samuel J. F. Thayer, the nine-story Queen Anne/Romanesque Revival building features a brownstone base with brick walls above, combining the traditional Boston bowfront with late 19th century flair at the upper floors with the partial mansard roof punctuated with dormers and oriel windows. Thayer designed the Joy Street elevation with cascading bays to provide interiors with views of the Boston Common and ample natural light.


Hollander Apartment Buildings // 1892

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These two stunning apartment buildings were constructed in the early 1890s in the Prospect Hill neighborhood of Somerville. Known as the Hollander Blocks after their original owner, Theodore Clarence Hollander, the two apartment buildings are some of the finest in the Boston suburbs. Both detached buildings follow a traditional three-decker block massing and form, but are decorated with varied siding, two-story columned porticos, and elaborate cornice. 

Drouet Block // 1896

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Built in 1896, this handsome, four-story flatiron building at the corner of Bow Street and Somerville Avenue in Union Square, Somerville, was the largest tenement building in the city when completed. The property was developed by Charles Drouet, from plans by local architect, Aaron Hibert Gould. The block originally housed 37 apartments above six retail spaces at the street-level. The series of projections and an interior courtyard provided light and air into the apartments, which made them highly functional and desirable for families in the area. The building is more Colonial Revival than the 1892 Queen Anne style Richmond Apartments, also designed by Aaron H. Gould for Mr. Drouet nearby. The Drouet Block is a well-preserved example of late 19th century tenements in Somerville.

The Highland Apartments // 1892

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The Highland Apartments, on Highland Avenue in Somerville, is one of the city’s most architecturally distinguished and significant late 19th century apartment buildings. Richardsonian Romanesque in style, the building is constructed of brick with brownstone trimmings, a rounded corner tower with conical roof, and Romanesque arched entrances. The building even retains its name, “Highland”, carved in brownstone at the corner. The building contained 12 units, all with multiple windows and views of the adjacent park or ever-growing Boston from its hilltop location. The architect, Samuel Dudley Kelley, was a noted designer of apartment buildings at the time. The Highland remains an important, preserved example of late 19th century multi-family housing, and showcases how far we have fallen when designing such structures today. 

New England Fireproof Construction Co. Apartments // 1917

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One of the most unique and architecturally pleasing buildings in Brookline has to be these apartments on Egmont and St. Paul streets that break the mold of traditional brick or wood-frame apartment houses. Built in 1917 by the New England Fireproof Construction Company as an example of how cheaper cement material can be used effectively and beautifully to design and construct high-quality housing. The company hired architect G. Bertram Washburn to design the buildings which utilize concrete block and cast concrete details with the facades embellished with pilasters capped with Corinthian capitals, engaged balusters, and modillioned and corniced entrances decorated with a lion’s head over each doorway. Additionally, a special touch is the recessed wells in the facade which not only break up the massing of the building, but provide additional light and air into the apartments inside. 

Snider and Druker Apartments // 1913

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By the beginning of the 20th century, Brookline was developing rapidly as a desirable Boston suburb, with easy-access to downtown via streetcar and rail, all with less cramped land and less industrial development impacting the air quality. Developers soon realized that they could build high-quality apartment blocks within established neighborhoods to market to middle-income families who wanted to live in these desirable enclaves without breaking the bank. Developers Snider & Druker (a precursor to the Druker Company) purchased house lots in the neighborhood adjacent to Cottage Farm, a rich enclave of large homes on large lots, and began building apartment buildings. They hired architect Frederick A. Norcross, who specialized in multi-family housing designs, to furnish plans for these Renaissance Revival style apartments at the corner of Browne and Powell streets. Besides the use of buff brick, limestone trim and detailing, and the use of projecting bays to break up the facades, the building’s terracotta roof adds intrigue and individuality to a building form often maligned for blandness. 

Former Essex County Jail // 1811

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The former Essex County Jail is a large and significant building in Salem, Massachusetts, that has seen a recent rebirth thanks to the intersection of historic preservation and the demand for new housing in many New England communities. Constructed of large, Rockport granite blocks, the building was constructed in two phases—the section to the east was constructed in 1811-13 while the parallel west wing dates to 1884, with each of the construction dates inscribed at the top of the pediments on the south elevation. Completing the complex is the 1813 Jailer’s Residence which sits at the edge of the now enclosed courtyard. Those who were committed here were largely sentenced to short terms, many for the offense of drunkenness or petty theft. Inside, prisoners did all the labor, such as cooking, baking, firing the boilers, etc., with the female inmates making clothing for all inmates. The jail was in operation until 1991, and at that time was considered the oldest active penitentiary in the United States. Years prior, in 1984, several detainees had successfully sued the county for inadequate living conditions, leading to the closure of the building. A preservation restriction was established for the building and in 2009, the property was conveyed to a developer who converted the complex into 23 apartments, with 19 in the old jail, three in the old jail keeper’s residence, and one in a converted carriage house. The great preservation/adaptive reuse firm of Finegold Alexander Architects furnished the plans for the successful renovation that provided a new life for a once crumbling eyesore.

Temple Court Apartments // 1912

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Constructed in 1912, Temple Court at 15 Lynde Street was erected on the site of two earlier buildings during a period of great population growth in Salem. The parcels here were acquired by Aroline C. Gove (1857-1939), a prominent local property-owner and developer between 1908 and 1911. Ms. Gove was a prominent Salem citizen and daughter of notable inventor and businesswoman Lydia Pinkham. With a business-oriented mindset like her mother, Aroline hired architect Harry Prescott Graves of Lowell to furnish plans for an apartment building on this site. Completed in 1912, the apartment building, known as Temple Court, included 36 units with two-, three-, and four-room suites with a live-in janitor. The building is unique for Salem as a courtyard style building, more common in Boston and Brookline. The building’s large mass is broken up by its setback with the U-shaped form and central landscaped courtyard, series of projecting octagonal bays, and multiple entrances. Temple Court was converted to condominiums in the 1980s.

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.

330 Beacon // 1959

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While this apartment building is completely out of scale with its surroundings in the Back Bay neighborhood, it is one of my favorite Modernist apartment buildings in the neighborhood it its own right. Hear me out! 330 Beacon was built in 1959-1960 as a seventeen story (plus penthouse) apartment building designed by modernist architect Hugh Stubbins & Associates. The tower is largely constructed of red brick similar to early 20th century apartment houses, and exhibits an undulating facade, possibly as a nod to the prevalence of 19th century projecting bays which the neighborhood is so known for. The fenestration (window placement and proportions) is also interesting as it differs on every third floor, the staggering breaks up the monotony of many similar apartment blocks built in this time period. Many of you likely will not love this building, especially after knowing that it replaced five stunning townhouses, but I love to show how New England architecture has modernized and changed based on ever-evolving tastes and housing demands.