Beacon Hill History

Glapion-Middleton House Ell // c.1800

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Less than a dozen wood-frame buildings exist on Beacon Hill in Boston, and this curious building is one of them, and also happens to be one of the oldest structures in the neighborhood! Built by 1800, this structure was constructed as an ell/addition to the Glapion-Middleton House at 5 Pinckney Street in Boston. The Glapion-Middleton House (previously featured) was constructed in 1787 after two Black men, George Middleton and Louis Glapion and their wives, built a small double house in the abolitionist center of Boston, Beacon Hill. In recent years, some have speculated that due to this living arrangement and other accounts, that Glapion and Middleton were in-fact gay men, but this is unsubstantiated. After the home was constructed, a two-story, five-bay ell was constructed which connected the home to Joy Street at the corner. The ell served as additional space for the two families and they appear to have had a workshop or store in part of the building. In 1855, owners demolished the center bay of the ell and erected a brick townhouse, similar to others in the neighborhood. The ell in this building was occupied as a store for the majority of its life and became an Italian restaurant and soon after a “Boyer’s Creamery Luncheon”. The property has since been converted to a residence.

Beacon Hill Reservoir // 1849-1883

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Did you know there was once a massive granite reservoir in Beacon Hill?

Long before the Wachusett and Quabbin Reservoirs that now supply water to Boston, the city’s original municipal water supply was Lake Cochituate, a reservoir in Metro-west. Due to Beacon Hill’s high elevation, the city selected the site behind the recently completed Massachusetts State House, to store and distribute water to the city. The site was too steep, so it had to be graded. Therefore, the top of Beacon Hill, where the beacon had long been standing, needed to be lowered to accommodate the reservoir. The soil was dug by hand and hauled by cart down to fill the old Mill Dam in the Bulfinch Triangle area. The reservoir, which opened in 1849, was unique in its approach. The design of the structure needed to minimize its footprint and reflect well on its surroundings in the prestigious location. In lieu of earthen bermed walls, as was the convention in most period distribution reservoirs, the design chose to create a watertight tank within a masonry structure. This made the structure the first elevated storage tank constructed in New England. Sheet lead was used to make the reservoir watertight (which likely led to a lot of health issues (hindsight is 20/20). By 1870, the poor water pressure made the Boston Waterworks build the Roxbury Standpipe, which relegated the Beacon Hill Reservoir to being an emergency water source for use only in case of fire or accident to the pumping-mains. In 1883, Boston Water Works sold the structure to the Commonwealth, who demolished it for the addition to the State House.

Hampshire House // 1911

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Built in 1911 as a single-family home for Bayard and Ruth Thayer, this building on Beacon Street is one of the most visited in the city (I will get to that later). The four-story home replaced two large townhomes across from the Public Garden and was designed by New York based architect, Ogden Codman, Jr., who was born in Boston into the esteemed Codman family. Bayard Thayer died within five years of the completion of the house, and his widow, Ruth, and their children continued to occupy the massive residence into the 1930s. By 1944, the home was being used as a lodging house, a violation, and it was sold two years later to a realty company who operated apartment houses. From this time the house functioned as a residential hotel known as the Hampshire House. In 1969, Thomas Kershaw acquired the property and kept its name, which it retains today. In the same year they opened the Bull & Finch Pub in the basement, which in 1982 became famous world-wide as the locale for the bar in the television sitcom Cheers, one of the most-watched programs in television history. Pictures of the exterior of the building were used in the show’s credits and scene changes, and the interior was faithfully replicated in a set used in Hollywood. The building is now habitually swarmed by locals trying to get to drink in a piece of cultural history.