Boston Architecture Blog

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.

Second Church of Christ, Scientist, Roxbury // 1915

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Breaking ground in 1915, this early Modern church building must have turned heads when it was being built in Roxbury! In October, 1907, a fine lot of land with a house on it, at the corner of Elm Hill Avenue and Howland Street, was purchased for eighteen thousand dollars by a group of Christian Science followers. In October, 1911, a building committee of five was elected by the church, and by the summer of 1914 the building fund had made such satisfactory growth that ground was broken and work for the new structure begun in September. The congregation hired the illustrious architectural firm of Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge to design the edifice of classic and imposing design. Constructed of gray tapestry brick with limestone trimmings, the auditorium seated upwards of one thousand members, under the dome roof. Today, the building is occupied by Grace Church of All Nations.

Pinderhughes House // c.1916

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As much of the streets north of Franklin Park were developed in the early 20th century, a mix of middle-class apartment buildings and stately single-family homes began to sprout up. Boston contractor Hugh Nawn hired architect Julius Adolphe Schweinfurth to design this house, seemingly on spec, as an income-producing venture. Schweinfurth was employed by the architectural firm of Peabody and Stearns and worked as chief designer there until 1895, when he opened his own practice. His design for Mr. Nawn was this stately Colonial Revival style mansion, similar to Nawn’s own home just across the street, which overlooked Franklin Park. After WWII, Roxbury’s population saw an increase in Black residents, who began to be pushed out of the South End due to increased cost of living. This home was purchased by Dr. Charles A. Pinderhughes (1919-1998), Chief of Psychiatry at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in West Roxbury who also taught at Boston University, Tufts, and Harvard. He was engaged in the local chapter of the NAACP and advocated for African American residents when Urban Renewal began to destroy much of the surrounding neighborhood by the Mayor and Boston Redevelopment Authority. The Pinderhughes House is a well-preserved architectural landmark that also has ties to a more recent and overlooked history of the neighborhood. I hope this house stays like this forever!

William Lloyd Garrison School // 1910

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Tucked away in a residential neighborhood, the William Lloyd Garrison School in Roxbury’s Washington Park neighborhood is among one of the more successful school building designs of the early 20th century. Built in four stages between 1910 and 1929 to service a growing neighborhood over time, the school is named for abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, who formerly lived in a home relatively closeby. The school complex consists of several different sections organized around a central courtyard and joined by passageways, all designed by the extremely underrated architectural firm of Newhall & Blevins in the Tudor style. Following the period of Urban Renewal in the neighborhood, the school district built contemporary schools and deaccessioned older schools. Today, the former William Lloyd Garrison School houses apartments.

Westminster Court Housing // 1967

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As populations boomed in the decades following the conclusion of WWII and suburbs drew wealthier residents to single-family neighborhoods, city governments were desperate to keep tax dollars in city limits. As a result, many cities instituted a policy called Urban Renewal, where neighborhoods (often with higher percentages of minority or immigrant populations) and historic housing were demolished as a form of “slum clearance” and modern housing centered around the automobile sprouted up in their place. The Washington Park section of Roxbury in Boston was one of the hardest-hit neighborhoods in the 1960s as part of a series of neighborhood plans by the Boston Redevelopment Authority. This housing development, called Westminster Court, was developed on one of the new Urban Renewal parcels in Washington Park. Designed by famed modernist architect Carl Koch, the Mid-Century Modern buildings were constructed in modular units to cut costs and expedite construction time. The buildings utilize precast frames with contrasting exterior panels of brick, exposed aggregate concrete, and aluminum. While many dislike these buildings, it is important to understand the history behind them and how they are part of the complex history of many cities.

Hutchings-Pfaff Gatehouse // c.1884

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Once located at the entrance to the Hutchings-Pfaff Mansion, this small stone gatehouse is all that remains of a great Roxbury estate. Built of locally quarried Roxbury Puddingstone decades after the main house was completed, the Victorian Gothic style cottage surprisingly survived the subdividing of the large property and was sold as a private home in the early 20th century. It is uncommon to see these types of outbuildings survive into the 21st century, so I hope to see this charming cottage survive another 150 years!

Hutchings-Pfaff Mansion // c.1865

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In the mid-19th century, Roxbury was seen as a country retreat for wealthy Bostonians. Many purchased large estates of land and built mansions where they would find peace and solitude from the polluted Downtown areas. As the need increased for more workers, old farms and estates were subdivided, and single family homes, row houses, and multi-family homes sprang up to accommodate the growing population with the advent of trolley service in 1887. This is one of those estates that were demolished. This house was seemingly built for Colonel William Vinson Hutchings after the conclusion of the American Civil War. The stone mansion featured ample porches and a large stone stable amongst winding dirt paths and mature trees. The property was eventually purchased by Henry and Agnes Pfaff, of the Pfaff Brewing Company nearby. The lot was subdivided by 1895 with houselots carved out of the larger estate. By the 1930s, the stone mansion and stable were demolished, leaving just the stone gatehouse (next post) as the last survivor of this once great Roxbury estate.

Abbotsford Mansion // 1872

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The Abbotsford Mansion in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston was designed in the High Victorian Gothic style and was built of Roxbury puddingstone, which was quarried locally. Abbotsford, originally named “Oakbend”, was built in 1872 as the residence of Aaron Davis Williams, Jr., (1821-1899) an industrialist and son of the founder of the Roxbury Institution for Savings. Roxbury-based architect Alden Frink designed the country estate and it is his most notable work. When Davis lost his fortune, James M. Smith, a brewer who had a passion for Sir Walter Scott, acquired the estate and renamed the house Abbotsford after Sir Walter Scott’s ancestral keep of the same name. The house continued to serve as a private residence until 1924, when the City of Boston acquired it for use as an elementary school and a disciplinary school for boys. The parcel was subdivided and the David A. Ellis School was built on the former grounds. After the building slipped into decline in the 1970s, the National Center for Afro-American Artists purchased the property, filling in the windows to create exhibit space. They have maintained the building to this day.

David A. Ellis School // 1932

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In the early decades of the 20th century, Boston’s population grew to a point that existing infrastructure was becoming an issue. The Boston School Committee as a result, acquired sites via eminent domain, and built ten new school buildings citywide in 1932 alone! The City of Boston acquired this site a decade earlier, but finally broke ground on the David A. Ellis Elementary School in 1931 from plans by architect Ralph Templeton Cushman Jackson. The building is a rare example of a Art Moderne style school building in Boston, and it was named for David Ellis (1873–1929), former chairman of the School Committee. The brick building stands out for its brickwork and sections of terracotta tiles in geometric designs. They don’t make them like they used to.

H. H. Fitch House // c.1870

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Henry Hubbard Fitch (1833-1888) was born in Cornish, New Hampshire, but made Roxbury, Massachusetts his home. He moved to Boston at an early age and later entered into business with Francis V. B. Kern under the firm Kern & Fitch, working as a conveyancer. By 1873, he was also a justice of the peace, notary public, and was Boston manager of the Equitable Mortgage Company. In about 1870, he and his wife, Eliza Anne, had this charming Second Empire style cottage built in the Washington Park neighborhood of Roxbury, a fashionable part of the “suburbs” at the time. They would later relocate, before Henry died in 1888 at the age of 55. The house is one of the best preserved in the neighborhood and a survivor from the wrecking ball that destroyed much of Washington Park.

Hooper Mansion // 1889

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One of the finest Richardsonian Romanesque style mansions in America is this stunner at the corner of Beacon and Hereford streets in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood. Built in 1889, the mansion was commissioned as a private residence for Robert Chamblet Hooper (1849-1908) and his wife, Helen Angier Ames Hooper. Helen’s father, Frederick Lothrop Ames one of the wealthiest men in Massachusetts and major benefactor to in the town of Easton, funded and oversaw construction of the Ames Free Library and the Easton Town Hall both by H. H. Richardson in his namesake Romanesque style. It was likely her family’s prevalence for the style that led to her own home in Boston’s Back Bay to follow suit. The firm of Andrews and Jacques are credited with designing the stately mansion which in 1889, cost over $100,000 to build. Robert Chamblet Hooper was treasurer and later president of the Constitution Wharf Company. A noted dog fancier, he was owner of “Judge” (also known as “Hooper’s Judge”), credited as the ancestor of the Boston Terrier breed. So we have the Hooper’s to thank for Boston’s iconic mascot! In 1913, the building transferred from the Hoopers to Mabel Slater, daughter of painter William Morris Hunt (and niece of architect Richard Morris Hunt) an eccentric widow and inventor. Mrs. Slater is credited with developing an ice-cooled refrigerator, a sleeping bag that doubled as a garment used by soldiers in World War I, and a doll head with movable eyes. Mabel routinely left open a rear door of the mansion in order to encourage the poor to find their way into the kitchen for shelter and food. She had a one-story ballroom built at the rear of the mansion in 1914. The house was converted into 6 condominium units in 2016 and restored at the exterior thanks to the architecture and design studio, Hacin.

Pope-Barron Townhouse // 1871

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Merry Christmas to those who celebrate! As there is no snow on the ground in Boston, I wanted to share a house with a prominent pine tree, which resembles an oversized urban Christmas tree on Beacon Street. This house at the corner of Beacon and Fairfield streets was built in 1871 by architect and builder Frederick B. Pope on speculation. It did not sell as quickly as he would have hoped, and it took two years for it to finally sell at public auction in 1873. The relatively modest brick Second Empire style house was bought and sold numerous times until March 1905, when the residence was purchased by Clarence Walker Barron, a prominent publisher and journalist. In 1903, he purchased Dow Jones & Company and from 1912 until his death in 1928, he was its president. During this period, he was also de facto manager of The Wall Street Journal, he expanded its daily circulation, modernized its printing press operations, and deepened its reporting capabilities. In 1921, he founded Barron’s National Financial Weekly, later renamed Barron’s Magazine. Barron pushed for the intense scrutiny of corporate financial records, and for this reason is considered by many to be the founder of modern financial journalism. In 1920, he investigated Charles Ponzi, inventor of the “Ponzi scheme”. His aggressive questioning and common-sense analysis helped lead to Ponzi’s arrest and conviction. For his Boston townhouse, Barron hired the firm of Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson to completely renovate the dwelling with an extra floor, limestone facades, and more bold roof design.

Cushing-Gay Townhouse // 1862

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The Cushing-Gay Townhouse at 170 Beacon Street in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston stands out as one of the most unique and pleasing early remodeled homes to look at. 170 Beacon was built by 1862 as one of two contiguous houses (168-170 Beacon) built for John Gardiner Cushing and his younger brother, Robert Maynard Cushing. John Gardiner Cushing built this house, which was originally a Second Empire style home similar to the dark gray residence nextdoor. The Cushing Family owned the property until 1894 and the property was sold to Helen (Ellis) Brooke, the the wife of Rev. Stopford Wentworth Brooke a British politician and later a minister of the First Church (Unitarian) of Boston. The Brooke’s moved back to England in 1900 and this home was sold to Eben Howard Gay, a banker and note broker. Eben’s wife of less than two years died just before he purchased this house on Beacon Street, she was just 26 years old. As a bachelor, Eben Gay hired architect and interior designer Ogden Codman, Jr., to remodel the 1860s house, giving it the present Adamesque front façade and new interiors to provide a setting for his collection of Chippendale furniture. The after being bought and sold numerous times following Gay’s financial struggles and selling of his prized home, the Cushing-Gay Townhome was purchased by the German Government in 1966 and is today the Goethe Institute, Boston, a cultural center and language school for the German language.

Skinner Mansion // 1886

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One of the best early examples of Classical Revival residential architecture in Boston can be found on Beacon Street in the Back Bay, at the Skinner Mansion. Built in 1886 for dry goods merchant Francis Skinner (1840-1905) and his wife, Eliza Blanchard (Gardner) Skinner (1846-1898), the house exhibits a light stone facade with carved detailed panels and fluted pilasters, stone parapet with urns at the corners and a decorative wooden entrance with ironwork. Eliza was the sister-in-law of Isabella Stewart Gardner who herself lived on Beacon Street until erecting what is now the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, in the early 1900s. The Skinners hired architects Shaw & Hunnewell to furnish plans for their Boston townhouse, and they did not disappoint! Today, the mansion is occupied by medical offices, but retains the residential charm and character as it is located in a local historic district.

Wales-Amory Townhouses // 1860

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This is why preservation matters! These two townhouses on Beacon Street in the Back Bay of Boston were constructed in 1859-60 for Gardner Brewer (on the right) and George W. Wales (left). Brewer, an extremely wealthy merchant built the house on the right for his son-in-law and daughter, William and Ellen (Brewer) Amory, as a wedding gift following their February 1860 marriage. The symmetrical pair of houses were both originally clad with a brownstone facade with Second Empire style trim details and a continuous mansard roof. Both houses were renovated by the early 20th century with Colonial influence, as Victorian styles started to wane popularity amongst wealthy circles. The former Amory house (right) was purchased by Della Saul and was operating as a boarding house by the 1930s. It was converted to an apartment building (like condos) and the building was renovated with a new facade in 1935 by brothers and architects George Nelson Jacobs and William Nelson Jacobs with a more modern/Art Deco appearance. The house on the left remained with its more Colonial facade until a 2018 renovation by architect Guy Grassi giving it a cast stone facade, restoring the three-condo house closer to its original appearance.