Back Bay Architecture

Williams-Sears House // 1905

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Why cant we all have siblings this generous??

Located in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood, this home was actually constructed as two attached homes for Ralph Blake Williams and his sister, Ruth (Williams) Sears, the wife of Dr. George Gray Sears. In 1905, Ralph B. Williams hired architect Julius A. Schweinfurth, who trained in the architectural firm of Peabody and Stearns, to design a double-townhouse, for him and his sister. After completion, Williams lived in the larger side (right three bays) with his widowed mother, and Ruth lived in the smaller home (left two bays) with her husband. After successive ownership, the buildings were and turned into a lodging house, soon after purchased together in 1955 and turned into a school, the Chandler School for Women. The homes remained separate until 1959, when the school demolished the interior party wall, effectively combining the two properties into one, this is likely when the Sears’ front door was filled in, leaving one front door in the center bay. In 1971, the New England College of Optometry purchased the building and occupies it to this day for classrooms and offices.

The Charlesgate // 1891

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One of the most grand apartment hotels in Boston, The Charlesgate, serves as one of many architectural anchors for the Back Bay neighborhood from Kenmore Square. The apartment hotel was constructed in 1891 and so named after the Charlesgate Park which was created by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted as part of the glorious Emerald Necklace park system. The Back Bay Fens was the first park designed by Olmsted for the City of Boston. Creating the Back Bay Fens was as much a sanitary as an aesthetic project, because the water was heavily polluted and often stagnant; Olmsted envisioned Charlesgate as the meeting point of the Back Bay Fens with the Charles River. The apartment hotel was actually designed and was financed by the architect, John Pickering Putnam, and members of his family. The basement and first story are constructed of Indiana limestone with the remainder of brick, with limestone trimmings. A picturesque effect is obtained by grouping the bays in pairs, and surmounting each pair with gables in the Queen Anne style, and by relieving these features against a high roof of green slate. The building originally featured 30 apartments and has since been reconfigured into over 50. The architectural landmark is one of the best statement-pieces in the neighborhood, and shows that apartment design can be done very very well!

Mount Vernon Congregational Church // 1892 & 1984

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The Mount Vernon Congregation Church was founded in 1842 and originally was located in Ashburton Place on Beacon Hill (which I featured previously). As its members moved to the Back Bay, the congregation decided to build a new church in the western portion of the neighborhood. They hired architect C. Howard Walker to design the new church building, with stained glass windows by John LaFarge and Louis Comfort Tiffany added as memorials to several members of the congregation over subsequent years. As originally designed, the church had a 45-foot high steeple on top of its 85-foot square tower, but over the years it became structurally unsound, and it was removed just before the Hurricane of 1938, which toppled many steeples all over the region. In 1970, the church merged with the Old South Church in the Back Bay. In 1977, developers proposed to remodel the church building into retail and office space. The proposal was approved by the Boston Redevelopment Authority in January of 1978. Before work could commence, a fire destroyed much of the church building leaving a shell of Roxbury Puddingstone walls and the tower, the developer pulled its funding and the building’s future was uncertain. One year later, architect Graham Gund purchased the building. Gund was familiar with adaptive reuse projects, like his restoration of the Middlesex County Courthouse in Cambridge for his own office in Cambridge in the 1970s. Gund redesigned the building into 43 condominium units called Church Court. What are your thoughts on the architecture?

Hotel Royal // 1886

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This large apartment house at the corner of Beacon and Exeter Streets in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston commands its site with a six-story rounded corner oriel. Built in 1885-6 for George H. Brooks, a developer, the apartment house exhibits a Romanesque Revival design with the use of a monumental arch at the entrance, decorative brownstone and terra cotta, and the large full-height rounded bays. The apartment hotel was designed by architect Samuel D. Kelley, who designed many apartment houses and tenements in the Boston area. Sadly, the conical roof atop the corner oriel was removed sometime in the 20th century, somewhat minimizing its architectural integrity. The apartment hotel is now home to 30 condominium units.

Isabella Stewart Gardner Townhouse // 1860

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152 Beacon (center) and 150 Beacon (right) demolished. Courtesy of Boston Athenaeum.

In 1860, David Stewart, a merchant from New York, built a townhouse on Beacon Street in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood as a wedding present for his twenty year old daughter, Isabella Stewart, and her new husband, John (Jack) Lowell Gardner. The house was originally numbered 126 Beacon, but re-numbered as 152 Beacon ca. 1862 when homes were built on the south side of the street. The home was the city dwelling of the young couple, who also owned “Green Hill” in Brookline, and an estate on the North Shore. Isabella Stewart Gardner began amassing a large collection of art and their Back Bay home was insufficient to display it all. In 1880, John purchased the neighboring home at 150 Beacon from Andrew Robeson, a wealthy merchant from Fall River, who’s main home is now the headquarters of the Fall River Historical Society. Soon thereafter they combined the two houses, with the address of 152 Beacon, to provide greater space for the display of the growing art collection being assembled by Isabella. After her husband’s death in late 1898, Isabella Gardner pursued plans for a new home that would provide a suitable setting for her art collection. She purchased land in the Fenway and began construction on her mansion, Fenway Court, now the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. One year after completion of Fenway Court, the two townhomes were purchased by Eben Draper, who razed them for his mansion in 1904 (see last post).

Governor Draper Mansion // 1905

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Adjacent to the Warren House (last post) on Beacon Street in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood, this massive mansion is one of my favorites on the street. Built in 1905, and designed by architect Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow, Jr. an amazing local architect, and nephew of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The grand mansion was the home of Eben Sumner Draper and his wife, Nancy. Eben Draper was a manufacturer of cotton machinery in the Draper Corporation, founded by his father in Hopedale, MA. Draper graduated from MIT and entered his fathers business, which upon the time of his graduation, was the largest plant for manufacturing cotton machinery in the world. In 1905, Draper was nominated and elected as Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, the same year he had this mansion constructed. In 1908, Draper was elected Governor, and served two terms under the Republican Party, pushing a pro-business, and anti-reform agenda, a bill legalizing the merger of the Boston and Maine Railroad with the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, signaling approval of what was seen as monopolistic business practices, something the Draper Corporation was known for in Hopedale. The former single-family home was converted to six condominium units in 2000. Fun fact: the Draper Mansion replaced the 1860 home David Stewart, a merchant from New York, built as a wedding present for his daughter, Isabella Stewart, and John (Jack) Lowell Gardner. Isabella would later create the beloved and iconic Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The couple purchased the adjacent townhome in 1880 to store their growing art collection.

Hollis Hunnewell House // 1870

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In 1870, when Boston’s new Back Bay neighborhood was being developed, Hollis Hunnewell and his wife Louisa, decided to erect a mansion to establish themselves in the burgeoning neighborhood. Hollis was the first son of Horatio Hollis Hunnewell, the businessman and railroad tycoon who made a fortune, eventually developing a family compound in nearby Wellesley. The couple hired esteemed architect Charles Brigham to design a home on the prominent corner lot that would live up to the Hunnewell name, and he did not disappoint. Just three years after the home was completed, they added a one-story addition, adjacent to the alley to quell a wind-tunnel effect that was occurring down the alley. In December, 1876, a fire broke out in the home, trapping maid Annie O’Hara at the top floor where she died. After the fire, the Hunnewell’s decided to renovate the home, adding the prominent corner tower with cresting. Hollis died in 1884, leaving his wife and two children alone in the home (along with the housekeepers, maids, and other help) until her death in 1890. The home is an excellent example of late Second Empire architecture in Boston, and it showcases the immense wealth some distinguished families had in the region in the 19th century. Today, the 13,000 square foot home is occupied as a single family home, assessed at over $17.5 million!

King House // 1880

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Located at the corner of Commonwealth Avenue and Fairfield Street in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, this MASSIVE townhome exudes wealth and prestige. The home was built in 1880 as the home of iron and steel manufacturer George Parsons King and his wife, Sarah Williams (Lothrop) King. The home was designed by architect William Whitney Lewis and took over a year to build, even with numerous skilled craftsmen. The Kings lived in the Hotel Vendome two blocks away while this home was being built. The brownstone and brick Victorian Gothic townhouse has its main entrance on Fairfield Street within an arched vestibule. The home remained a single family home through numerous later owners until 1979 when it was converted to six condominium units, all still with plenty of space.

Massachusetts Normal Arts School // 1886-1967

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The Massachusetts Normal Art School was one of the many Richardsonian Romanesque buildings constructed in the Back Bay, but it did not survive like so many others did. The building’s history goes back to the 1860s, when wealthy Bostonians petitioned for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (State Government) to assist with the founding of new institutions to enhance the quality of life in the state. Due to this, the legislature funded three major institutions including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1860) and the Museum of Fine Arts (1870), and founded in 1873, the Massachusetts Normal Art School. The Normal Arts School was tasked with training future teachers for public schools and budding professional artists in the arts, with courses ranging from drawing to architecture. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts rented space in various buildings in Downtown Boston before they appropriated $85,000 and hired the firm of Hartwell & Richardson to design and oversee construction of the new school at the corner of Newbury and Exeter Streets. The Richardsonian Romanesque building was constructed of red brick and brown freestone, featured entrances on both street facades, and held gallery spaces inside for members of the public to view the work created at the school. The school outgrew the original building, which could comfortably fit just 100 students, and in 1929, a new building was constructed at Brookline and Longwood Avenues. Before moving one more time to its current location in 1983, the school was renamed to the Massachusetts College of Art and is best known as MassArt today. The original school in Back Bay was demolished in 1967 and was home to a surface parking lot before the existing building was constructed.

Porter House // 1906

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Built for “the best-known real estate operator in the city [Boston]”, this stunning townhouse, while narrow, packs a punch among the gorgeous homes on Marlborough Street in the Back Bay. This home was designed by the architectural firm of Winslow & Bigelow and built for Alexander Sylvanus Porter, Jr., and his wife Henrietta Goddard Wigglesworth. Mr. Porter was a partner of J.K. Porter & Co., auctioneers and real estate brokers. He was crucial for the development of many iconic buildings in Boston and New York, including the Touraine Hotel, the Boston Stock Exchange, the Brazer Building, and more. The townhome can be classified as Classical Revival with the symmetrical facade with central door, use of classical pilasters at the central bay, and decorative stone ornamentation on every floor.