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Sears Stable – The Vincent Clubhouse // c.1856

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Located behind the David Sears Mansion (now Greek Consulate) on Beacon Street, this handsome utilitarian structure fronts Brimmer Street in Beacon Hill and predates the building it adjoins. The two stables and attached caretaker’s residence was built around 1856 for David Sears, who lived farther down Beacon Street, but also owned other buildings on the street which fronted the Public Garden. He built this stable in the Flat of Beacon Hill, an area west of Charles Street in what Samuel Eliot Morrison coined, “the horsey end of town” for its prevalence of stables and carriage houses. The architect is not known, but the handsome structure features bays of shallow, recessed brick arches and brick dentil courses, showing the importance of good design even for uses such as a stable. The building later became space for furniture storage and an ancillary apartment to the adjacent mansion, until 1957, when the it was acquired by the Vincent Club, a women’s organization with the mission of raising money for the Vincent Memorial Hospital whose mission was to treat the “diseases of women.” Even though the Vincent Hospital merged with Mass. General Hospital in 1988, the Vincent Club remains in this former stable as its home-base and continues to carry out its mission to advance the field of women’s healthcare.

Swansea Town Hall // 1891

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The Swansea Town Hall in Swansea, Massachusetts, is one of the most unusual and architecturally eclectic town hall buildings in New England, and was a gift to the community from a wealthy resident. Built in 1891 from plans by Boston architect, James Merrill Brown, the building is constructed of randomly laid rubblestone with brownstone trim with a massive pyrammidal slate roof and offset turret and tower containing a historic clock. The building was the gift of benefactors, Frank Shaw Stevens and Elizabeth Case Stevens, who lived down the street in the town’s largest mansion. The Stevens’ donated the building with the stipulation that the building was to be available to every and any religious society desiring to hold funeral services there and to also provide space for a public library. The town obliged. The space was outgrown and the Stevens’ would later donate the town’s public library next door and a church, that also held funeral services for the community. The building has been home to the Town Hall since 1891.

First Congregational Church of Sharon // 1839

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Sharon, Massachusetts, is a small suburban community south of Boston that is lesser known than its neighbors, but the community has some great old buildings! The Town of Sharon was originally part of a 1637 land grant given by the Dorchester Proprietors to encourage new settlement in areas southward. In 1726, the lands of the present towns of Sharon, Canton and Stoughton, were separated from Dorchester and called the Stoughton Territory. Settlers in present-day Sharon found it difficult to attend mandated church services centered around present-day Stoughton and petitioned the General Court in 1739 to set off as a separate precinct. The request was granted and the Second Precinct was established, and incorporated as Stoughtonham in 1765, changing its name in 1783 to Sharon, named after the Sharon Plain in Palestine. In 1813, the local congregationalists split due to theological differences and some formed a Unitarian church. The Congregationalists moved down the street and built a new church in 1822 which was destroyed by fire in 1838 and replaced a year later by this edifice. Built in 1839 the First Congregational Church of Sharon is a vernacular and well-preserved example of a Greek Revival church building in the Doric order with towering pilastered steeple, monumental portico supported by four fluted Doric columns, and flushboard siding. The Congregational Church retains an original bell cast by the The Revere Copper Company of nearby Canton.

Nelson Hotchkiss House // 1850

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Nelson Hotchkiss was a New Haven lumber dealer and developer in the Wooster Square district and had this stately home on Chapel Street built for his family. While the architect is not confirmed, it is probable that the residence (along with neighboring homes also developed by Hotchkiss) was the work of Henry Austin, who partnered with Hotchkiss on developments in New Haven and Trenton, New Jersey. The Nelson Hotchkiss House was built in 1850 and is an excellent example of Italianate style with boxy form, broad overhanging eaves, brick walls covered with stucco and Austin’s signature Greek Doric columns with fluted shafts and foliate capitals. The house maintains a window hood over the upper floor window with delicate carved wood bargeboard.

Bromley-Bradley House // c.1850

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One of the eclectic mid-19th century residences in New Haven’s Wooster Square neighborhood is the Bromley House, an exuberant blending of architectural styles that have been lovingly preserved. The history is a little murky on this residence but from research, the home was built around 1850 and was possibly a two-story flat-roofed Italianate style design with three-bay facade and off-center entrance. The home was acquired by Joseph Bromley, who appears to have added a third-story with gable roof. After the Civil War, the property was purchased by Lyman Erving Bradley, a veteran of the war who was employed as a police officer and later as private security for an area factory. It appears that Mr. Bradley, before his death in 1901, had the property expanded with a whimsical front porch, three-story side addition, and applied ornament in the Queen Anne style. The home is today a three-unit condominium, similar to the three-deckers found in cities all over New England.

Judge Alfred Bosworth House // c.1849

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The only two-story temple-front Greek Revival style house in Warren, Rhode Island, the Judge Alfred Bosworth House on Federal Street, is believed to be the work of great architect Russell Warren. Alfred Bosworth (1812-1862) ran a law office in Warren and Providence and represented Warren in the General Assembly from 1839 until 1854 and then served as a justice on the Rhode Island Supreme Court. Bosworth was of counsel for Rhode Island in suits growing out of the boundary question between Rhode Island and Massachusetts, specifically around Fall River. Judge Bosworth died at home in 1862 and his widow, Anne, lived here afterwards. At the end of the century the Bosworth House was converted to an ice cream parlor, named Maxfield’s, which became a very popular attraction in town. The company, owned by Nathaniel and Julia Maxfield, attracted throngs of local residents every summer who would eat ice cream on the front yard of the house. Maxfield’s was even frequented by Providence writer, H. P. Lovecraft, when he was a young man. During the mid-1900s, the house served as a nursing home until 1988, when owners restored the house back to a residence and removed the asphalt siding that was added to the exterior around the time of the Great Depression.

Unitarian Universalist Association Headquarters // 1926

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The American Unitarian Association (AUA) opened its first headquarters in Boston in 1865, forty years after the organization was founded. Since its founding in 1825, the AUA occupied several locations but eventually took residence in a Richardsonian Romanesque style building constructed in 1886 at the corner of Beacon and Bowdoin streets. The handsome structure, designed by Robert Swain Peabody of the firm, Peabody and Stearns, served as the headquarters for the association until it was demolished in the 1920s for the expansion of the Hotel Bellevue. In 1926, the AUA purchased an 1840s townhouse and demolished it, replacing the former residence with their new building to serve as a church headquarters office building. The American Unitarian Association hired the Boston architectural firm of Putnam and Cox to design their building, which employed architectural similarities to the adjacent 1820s townhouses designed by Cornelius Coolidge. The six-story building is constructed of red brick with a two-story granite base with piano nobile with a balcony, all under a mansard roof with dormers. The American Unitarian Association sold their Beacon Street building and relocated to a new headquarters on Farnsworth Street in the Seaport/Fort Point area of Boston in 2014. The 1926 building was converted to high-end luxury condominiums.

Jonathan Warner House // 1798

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The Jonathan Warner House in Chester, Connecticut, is one of the finest Federal style houses in the state and has been meticulously preserved for over two centuries. The house was built in 1798 by Jonathan Warner (1756-1828), a wealthy farmer who invested in merchant shipping ventures and also operated the nearby Chester–Hadlyme ferry transporting people across the Connecticut River for a fee. When he built his house Jonathan Warner used local workmen and timber, importing glass and paint from New York, wallpaper from Hartford, and stone and hardware were brought from Connecticut and New York. The farmhouse remained in the Warner family until 1922 when it was purchased by Malcolm Brooks, who retained all of the receipts and correspondence on the house’s construction and maintenance. Architecturally, the house stands out for its proportions and detailing, specifically at the front door with fanlight and sidelights, which are framed by fluted pilasters, pediment and dentil molding. There is a Palladian-esque window above the entry which is framed by two free standing Ionic columns on brownstone pedestals. What is your favorite detail of this house?

Leet-Ely House // c.1787

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One of the finest homes in Chester, Connecticut, can be found on Liberty Street, a short distance to the village green. The Federal style house dates to about 1787 and was built by Gideon Leet, a Revolutionary War veteran and joiner as his own residence. After Gideon’s death, the property was purchased by Dr. Richard Ely (1765-1816), who may have expanded the residence, and worked locally as a town doctor. The property remained in the Ely familyfor generations and minimal changes have occured to the exterior as a result of this. The modillon cornice, corner quoins, and fanlight transom sheltered under a columned portico add to the charm of this great house. 

Smith-Curtiss House // c.1714

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The Smith-Curtiss House, which is possibly the oldest extant building in Derby, Connecticut, has sat vacant and decaying for years and is owned by the State of Connecticut. Believed to have been built sometime between 1714 and 1740, this historic saltbox farmhouse at 411 Hawthorne Avenue is slowly decaying due to lack of maintenance and funding. Early ownership is difficult to determine, but by the 19th century, the property was owned by Ms. Alice E. Curtiss. The old estate was sold by Ms. Curtiss in 1913 to Frances Osborne Kellogg, a businesswoman, philanthropist and environmentalist, as part of her 350-acre dairy farm and land-conservation holdings. The Smith-Curtiss House was used as a residence for the herdsmen who ran the farm nearby. Before her death in 1956, Frances deeded the property to the state as a public park, and allowed her head herdsman life-occupancy of this house for the remainder of his life. The State of Connecticut assumed possession of this house in 1981. The building has suffered from deferred maintenance since this period, with the State attempting to lease the building to tenants. I hope that local and statewide preservation groups can mobilize to secure grants and funding to restore this important property.