Boston Historic Houses

Charles and Elizabeth Ware Mansion // 1870

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

Located at the corner of Brimmer and Mount Vernon streets in Beacon Hill, this stately mansion showcases the various architectural styles and methods utilized by architects in the waning decades Victorian-era Boston. Set atop a brownstone base, the floors above are in the “Panel Brick” style, which utilizes brick masonry in a variety of decorative patterns of slight projecting or receding panels. The style was popularized by the Boston architectural firm of Ware & Van Brunt, as noted by architectural historian, Bainbridge Bunting. As expected, this house (and the attached townhouse next door) was designed by William Robert Ware for his uncle, Dr. Charles Eliot Ware (1814-1887) and his wife, Elizabeth Cabot Lee Ware. Dr. Ware was a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and secretary of the Massachusetts Medical Society. After the death of Dr. Ware and Elizabeth, the property was inherited by their daughter, Mary L. Ware (1858-1937), a naturalist and botanist who was the principal sponsor of the Harvard Museum of Natural History‘s famous Glass Flowers. After the death of Mary, the property sold out of the family to Robert Wales Emmons III, a financier from a yachting family. The mansion remains in a great state of preservation, and is among the great Victorian-era residences in Beacon Hill.

Simmons House – Japanese Relocation Hostel // 1856

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

Together with its two neighbors to the south, this townhouse at 6 Walnut Street represents the development of the South Slope of Beacon Hill in the second half of the 19th century, when larger estates continued to be carved up for housing, typically in the Italianate/Second Empire styles. Built in 1856, this residence was constructed on one of the last undeveloped lots in the area and was originally owned by George W. Simmons. Simmons was the owner of a well-known clothing emporium at Oak Hall, North Street, where he sold all kinds of ready-made clothing for men, including that needed by sailors, as well as sets of clothing for those headed for the California gold fields. His business was renowned also for its ambitious and creative advertising campaigns. Simmons died in late 1882, leaving this property to his heirs who sold the property. After successive ownership, the residence was converted to a boarding house during the Great Depression and rented out to families who could no longer afford the large single-family dwellings in the city. After WWII, in 1945, the boarding house was converted into the first Relocation Hostel for Japanese Americans in New England. The mission of the Relocation Hostels was to provide temporary lodging and career guidance to Japanese Americans who had been uprooted from their homes because of unfounded accusations of sabotage during World War II. Massachusetts joined New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and other states in establishing these hostels. Today, the residence is a four-unit condominium. 

Henry S. Grew Townhouse // 1856

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

Built in 1856, the townhouse at 2 Walnut Street is a unique Second Empire style townhouse erected on one of the last undeveloped lots on the South Slope of Boston’s exclusive Beacon Hill neighborhood. The three-story, brick residence is capped by a mansard roof and its facade is dominated by a full-height octagonal bay, which at the center on each floor, is a recessed brick panel in lieu of windows. The property was originally owned by Henry Sturgis Grew (1834-1910) a real estate developer and politician who split his time between this residence and a large estate called Grew’s Hill, that grew to several hundred acres and contained an active farm, part of which was later incorporated into Stony Brook Reservation. Henry Grew’s daughter, Jane Norton Grew, would go on to marry John Pierpont Morgan Jr. (J. P. Morgan) in 1890. The Grew House was modernized in the 20th century with a Classical door surround, but otherwise, it maintains the appearance of when it was built in 1856. 

Tudor Apartments // 1887

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

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.


Callender-Sedgwick House // 1802

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

Built in 1802, this large residence at 14 Walnut Street is among the oldest extant mansions on the South Slope of Beacon Hill and includes a large hidden garden behind a granite block retaining wall. John Callender, Clerk of the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth, purchased land at the corner of Mount Vemon and Walnut streets for $2,000 and immediately started construction on his requested “small house finished for little money $5,000-$7,000”, but this was anything but modest. The house originally had its primary facade facing Mount Vernon Street, but in 1821, Walnut Street was lowered by city officials, so Callender had the granite retaining wall built for the garden and new entry built on Walnut Street. Mr. Callender lived here until his death in 1833 and the property was purchased by members of the Lyman family and later by Harriot Curtis (1881-1974) an early amateur female skier and golfer who used her fortune as a philanthropist, funding medical facilities in Boston for impoverished immigrants and served as dean of women in Hampton Institute in Virginia, an HBCU from 1927-1931. The most significant owner, Ellery Sedgwick (1872-1960), lived here from 1908 until his death in 1960. Sedgwick worked as editor of the Atlantic Monthly (now known as The Atlantic), and under his ownership, the magazine became one of the most circulated magazines in the world. The Callender-Sedgwick House features unique flushboard siding, providing a seamless surface that resembles a masonry wall when painted earth tones and a 19th century oriel window. The brick end elevation is punctuated with bays of hung windows and the recessed entry with a long, granite garden wall which has been well-preserved by owners.


Lyman-Gray House // 1834

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

Mount Vernon Place is a short, dead-end street in Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood. The street was once an entire block of eight rowhouses, and was developed in the 1830s on land formerly owned by John Hancock and his family. The residences numbered 1-5 Mount Vernon Place were torn down during the 1910s to accommodate the expansion of the landscaped grounds of the State House, leaving just 6, 7, and 8 Mount Vernon Place. The center rowhouse, 7 Mount Vernon Place, was built in 1834 and is believed to have been designed by Alexander Parris, a prominent local architect who designed Quincy Market and mastered the Federal and Greek Revival architectural styles with many notable buildings all over the east coast. The residence has a three bay facade and brownstone sills, lintels, and door surround and has been preserved for nearly two centuries. The house was long-owned by George W. Lyman, an industrialist who lived nearby on Joy Street. The residence was rented for decades until it was purchased by Francis C. Gray a physician, and inherited by his grandson, Ralph Weld Gray, an architect through the 1940s.

Cutler-Paine House // 1834

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

Mount Vernon Place is a short, dead-end street in Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood. The street was once an entire block of eight rowhouses, and was developed in the 1830s on land formerly owned by John Hancock and his family. The residences numbered 1-5 Mount Vernon Place were torn down during the 1910s to accommodate the expansion of the landscaped grounds of the State House, leaving just 6, 7, and 8 Mount Vernon Place. The easternmost rowhouse, 6 Mount Vernon Place, was built in 1834 and is believed to have been designed by Alexander Parris, a prominent local architect who designed Quincy Market and mastered the Federal and Greek Revival architectural styles with many notable buildings all over the east coast. This house was purchased in 1834, when still unfinished, by William Savage, a merchant, who sold the property to Pliny Cutler, president of the Atlantic National Bank, who appears to have bought it for his son, Dr. William Ward Cutler (1812-1870). The property was owned in the early 20th century by Robert Treat Paine Jr., who likely rented the home to boarders. The residence has a three bay facade and brownstone sills, lintels, and door surround.

Tuckerman-Parkman Mansion // 1825

Buildings of New England1 Comment

The Tuckerman-Parkman Mansion at 33 Beacon Street, like its neighbor, was built in 1825 from plans by architect, Cornelius Coolidge, in the Greek Revival style. The residence was originally purchased by Edward Tuckerman, a wealthy merchant and father of Professor Edward Tuckerman, a prominent lichenologist for whom Tuckerman Ravine on Mount Washington was named. Tuckerman Sr. lived here at 33 Beacon Street until his death. The next owners, Mrs. Eliza Parkman and her son, George Francis Parkman (1823-1908) moved here after the brutal murder and following sensational trial of her husband, Dr. George Parkman (1790-1849). The 1849 trial of Parkman’s murderer, Professor John White Webster of the Harvard Medical School, was called the “case of the century”. Professor Webster owed Dr. Parkman a substantial sum of money. The professor lost patience with Parkman’s constant reminders that his payment was long overdue and killed Parkman in a rage, dismembered his tall, lanky frame and concealed the body parts in a wall of a Harvard Medical School laboratory. With the help of a janitor, Dr. Parkman’s body was discovered. A murder trial ensued, and Professor White was found guilty and subsequently hung. The murder trial has been widely cited as one of the earliest uses of forensic evidence to identify a body. Seeking refuge from the attention and pain from the loss of the family patriarch and trial, Ms. Parkman and her son, George, moved to this home in 1853. Widow, Eliza Parkman died in 1877 and George F. Parkman lived in this home until 1908. In his will, Mr. Parkman bequeathed his mansion and over $5 Million to the City of Boston for the maintenance of the Boston Common. The Tuckerman-Parkman Mansion was restored by the City of Boston in 1972 and used almost exclusively as the Mayor’s residence until 1984. The house is now the official reception hall of the Mayor’s office and appears much as it did when built 200 years ago.

Russell-Bradlee Mansion // 1825

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

The land at the corner of Beacon and Joy streets in Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood was once John Hancock’s west pasture for his grand manor (razed in 1863) until 1819, when subdivision of the Hancock estate began following his death. In 1821, Israel Thorndike, one of the leading land speculators of early nineteenth-century Boston, began buying out the Hancock heirs and house lots overlooking the Boston Common were sold to John Hubbard and George Williams Lyman, who hired architect Cornelius Coolidge, to build some stately Greek Revival townhomes for wealthy Boston elites. The house at the corner of Beacon and Joy streets, 34 Beacon Street, was built in 1825 for Nathaniel Pope Russell, a leading Federal period China Trade merchant. By 1850, James B. Bradlee, a wealthy merchant, had acquired the property. Bradlee’s grandson Ogden Codman Jr., the influential late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century architect and interior decorator, was born in this house in 1863. Codman later collaborated with novelist and tastemaker Edith Wharton on ‘The Decoration of Houses‘, a book that had an enormous impact on the direction of interior design when it was published in the 1890s. Little, Brown and Company, a publishing company founded in 1837, purchased the former residence and moved their headquarters here in 1909. The publishing company sold the property in 1997, and it converted to a single-family home. In 2007, the residence was purchased by Northeastern University and has since been the President’s House.

Clark-Cottle House // 1890

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

One of the most sumptuous Victorian-era homes in Dorchester can be found at 94 Ocean Street, this is the Clark-Cottie House. The residence (and rear stable) was built in 1890 from plans by famed architect Arthur H. Vinal, who designed many other Shingle style and Queen Anne homes in the surrounding neighborhood. The first owners of the mansion were Evelyn and Edward Clark, who after a few years, sold the property to Edgar Cottle, president of the Curtis & Pope Lumber Company. The three-story Queen Anne style mansion features a rounded corner tower, varied shingle siding, shingled porch, and the intact, charming stable at the rear.

Chansonetta Stanley Emmons House // 1893

Buildings of New England2 Comments

Chansonetta Stanley Emmons (1858-1937) was born in Kingfield, Maine, and was one of the great women photographers in the 19th and early 20th century, often depicting domestic life and New England scenes. The young Chansonetta Stanley grew interested in photography after her brothers’ (Francis E. and Freelan O. Stanley) dry-plate printing invention, they also invented the steam-powered automobile known as the Stanley Steamer. She married James Nathaniel Whitman Emmons in 1887 and in 1894, James hired architect Henry McLean, to design a residence for him and Chansonetta, this lovely home on Harley Street on Ashmont Hill. The couple occupied the house until 1898, when James died of blood poisoning at the age of 41. Chansonetta sold the home and moved to Newton, where her two brothers lived and operated their business. The house blends Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styles and originally had a conical roof over the corner rounded bay. The roof was replaced with a flat roof at about the time of the large balcony and extended dormer.

Hilt-Rayner Houses // 1844

Buildings of New England2 Comments

This is your reminder to get lost and explore your city or town. Tucked off Boylston Street sits Boylston Place, a short, dead-end way that is passed by thousands every day, many not knowing about the little enclave of surviving 19th century buildings there. At the end of the street, the Hilt-Rayner Double House remains in great condition and a reminder as to the residential character of the area in the first half of the 19th century. The houses were built by Henry Hilt, a housewright who owned one unit after completion. The other unit was owned by Thomas L. Rayner, who appears to have rented the unit out. The late example of the Greek Revival style in the rowhouse form is well preserved through nearly 200 years of use. Beginning in the 1920s, the two homes were acquired by the Tavern Club, a private social club established in 1884 in the house next door. It remains owned by the Tavern Club today.

Tavern Club // c.1819

Buildings of New England1 Comment

This is your reminder to get lost and explore your city or town. Tucked off Boylston Street sits Boylston Place, a short, dead-end way that is passed by thousands every day, many not knowing about the little enclave of surviving 19th century buildings there. This Federal period house was built in the 1810s for Beza Tucker (1771-1820), who rented the home to boarders until his death in 1820. Tucker bequeathed the house to the American Society for Educating Pious Youth for Gospel Ministry, a nationwide association formed in 1815 with the goal of providing financial support to men seeking a theological education. The Society sold the house in 1834 to Reverend Nehemiah Adams, when he became pastor of the Essex Street Church in Boston. Since 1887, the building has been the home to the Tavern Club, a venerable Boston social and dining club that was invite-only. Presidents in the early years included William Dean Howells, Charles Elliot Norton, Henry Lee Higginson. Inside, the eclectic English pub/Colonial interior with its cozy atmosphere included dining rooms, sleeping accommodations for guests, and a small theatre for annual club productions. The Tavern Club is still in operation and maintains the building today. I can only imagine how great the interior is!

Edgar Allan Poe Birthplace // c.1805-1965

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment
Courtesy of BPL archives

Famed author Edgar Allan Poe was born in this house on Carver Street in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 19, 1809, the second child of American actor David Poe Jr. and English-born actress Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe. His father abandoned the family in 1810 and his mother died a year later from pulmonary tuberculosis. He would be adopted by John Allan, a merchant and slaver in Richmond, Virginia, his adopted family gave him the name “Edgar Allan Poe”. He would live a somewhat nomadic life, moving around often to cities all over the East Coast until his death in 1849 in Baltimore. Although it was his birthplace, Poe’s troubled early childhood likely contributed to his disdain for Boston, where he often referred to Bostonians as “Frogpondians,” after the frog pond on Boston Common, though as an insult. The poet’s seminal work The Raven was published in January 1845 to widespread success. Several months later, Poe was invited to read at the Boston Lyceum with the support of James Russell Lowell, a Harvard professor and editor of The Atlantic Monthly. It did not go well. His childhood home on Carver Street would be razed by 1962 and is presently a surface parking lot for an electrical substation. The city would honor its macabre author by renaming an alley off Boylston Street, Edgar Allan Poe Way, and in 2014, the City commissioned a public statue titled, “Poe Returning to Boston“. Designed by Stefanie Rocknak, the statue depicts Poe walking, facing away from the Boston Common. His figure is accompanied by an oversized flying raven; his suitcase lid has fallen open, leaving a “paper trail” of literary works embedded in the sidewalk behind him.

The Last Tenement // c.1870s

Buildings of New England2 Comments

Originally built in the 1870s, and largely remodeled in the early 1900s, this charming building has been known locally as “The Last Tenement” of the old West End of Boston. Once part of an unbroken a row of 30 brick tenements along the east side of Lowell Street, this building typified much of the West End of Boston, a vibrant and dynamic immigrant neighborhood. Dwarfed by larger, modern apartment towers and highway off-ramps, this stand-alone building is a survivor, and should really be preserved! Here is a little history on The Last Tenement that I found. The building was originally built as a three-story residence just after the Civil War by furniture dealer, George M. Rogers. The building was rented to four families in the 1880 census, showing the diversity of the region with 20 people residing in the building of Irish, English, and German-Jewish backgrounds. At the turn of the century, an elevated rail line was laid out down Lowell Street. After WWII, the neighborhood would see a terrible demise, that has been widely told. City leaders effectively considered the vibrant immigrant neighborhood a slum, and in an effort to redevelop it to bring back middle-class families (and their tax dollars) handed much of the neighborhood to developers to start over, with little more than lip service for the displaced. This building, now with an address of 42 Lomasney Way, was occupied for some time by “Skinny” Kazonis, a low-level Mafia associate of the Angiulo Brothers, which was a leading gang in the North End until the Winter Hill Gang decided to run rackets in the area. The property sold, and residential units have been rented and the building maintained, with the assistance of a billboard for additional income for the owner. The Last Tenement showcases the strength and resilience of the old West End and will hopefully remain as a reminder of the vibrant neighborhood that was razed and replaced with mediocrity.