One of the more exuberant and ornate homes in Roxbury’s Washington Park neighborhood is this charmer on Howland Street. The eclectic house was built in around 1894 for Ellen S. Johnston from plans by local architect Timothy Edward Sheehan and stands out for its preserved exterior in a neighborhood where many homes are covered in later siding, obscuring the ornate details underneath. Details include: swag and garland applied ornament, two bays at the facade (one polygonal and one rounded), a Colonial Revival style porch, and central rounded dormer. Wow!
Albert Cabot Betteley (1816-1893) was an inventor and coal dealer in Boston. He invented an elevator to hoist goods into a warehouse, a peat grinder for the speedy drying of peat for fuel, and even patented wooden pavement…seriously. He eventually would build this home on Cobden Street in Roxbury where he and his wife Mary Jane would live out their retirement. While he didn’t “make it big” persay with his inventions, he exemplified the typical middle-class resident of Roxbury at the time and built this modest home, with its two-story form with octagonal bay, bracketed cornice, and mansard roof. The cottage was recently repainted the purple color, which I really enjoy!
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.
Andrew F. Leatherbee (1842-1920), a wealthy lumber dealer in Boston, built this large Stick style victorian house in Newton Center around 1870, likely using his own lumber products! The large frame house is prominently sited on a corner lot on Beacon Street, a short walk to Crystal Lake, a natural pond in the center of town. I could not find information as to who the architect was, but it was likely a notable local firm. As Andrew got older, he downsized and relocated to a smaller apartment in Cambridge. Upon his death in 1920, the property was sold by his heirs to Mae Van Dusen. The house is a high-style example of the Stick style of architecture, with large half-timbers, heavy porch bracing, and a central tower with pyramidal roof. Swoon!!!
Two is always better than one, especially when it comes to historic townhouses! These two residences on Beacon Street in the Back Bay neighborhood were built in 1862 for two esteemed Boston families, the Storrows and the Meyers. 192 Beacon Street (right) was built as the home of Charles Storer Storrow and his wife, Lydia (Cabot Jackson) Storrow. Charles S. Storrow was an engineer by training and made his fortune as the chief engineer at the Essex Company, a company organized to harness the water power of the Merrimack River downstream from Lowell, Massachusetts in present-day. There, Storrow designed and built the Great Stone Dam across the Merrimack river, canals to distribute the water, several large textile mills, and a city, Lawrence, to house the mill workers. He came up with the idea to make roads that go to the mills in Lawrence, allowing him to become the first mayor of Lawrence in 1853. He retired and lived out his final years at this home in Boston. James J. Storrow, after whom Boston’s Storrow Drive is named, was Charles Storrow’s grandson. 194 Beacon Street (left) was built as the home of George Augustus Meyer and his wife, Grace Helen (Parker) Meyer. George Meyer was a prosperous German-American East India merchant and lived in this home until his death in 1889.
Built ca. 1890 for Boston salesman Washington Libby Krogman (1858-1894), one of Boston’s finest Queen Anne style homes can be found in the Clam Point neighborhood of Dorchester. The pronounced sculptural qualities of this residence, together with the juxtaposition of clapboards and patterned shingles, variety of window sizes, and ornamentation place this house squarely within the pantheon of important Queen Anne designs within the city of Boston. Painted in a manner that showcases its sheathing and ornament to great advantage, this well-preserved house is particularly noteworthy for its graceful verandah that encircles a distinctive, round, conically-capped tower at its northeast corner. The home was only occupied by Washington Krogman for less than four years when he died unexpectedly in 1894 at just 35 years of age. The property was deeded to his widow Carrie for a few years before she sold the property to Thomas Francis McManus, a noted naval architect (schooner designer). The home remains one of the finest mansions in Dorchester.
Built in 1883 for a member of the Thomas Wales family, this house in Clam Point, Dorchester, possesses a compact essentially rectangular clapboard and wood shingle-clad form. The architect, John A. Fox, designed the main façade elegantly with an open Stick style porch projecting from the center of the first floor which is enclosed by a steeply-pitched roof. The pitch of the porch roof is echoed in the small and shallow gable-like lintels which are really unique to the area. The treatment makes the facade read somewhat like a face.
Nothing beats a good Victorian-era house! This example in the Clam Point neighborhood of Dorchester does not disappoint. The Stick-style double-house was built for miss Mary E. Noyes and Ms. Hersey replacing an older house on the lot. The women hired architect John A. Fox to design the house which possesses one of the most complex forms and roof configurations in the neighborhood. Clad with clapboards at the first and second stories, its six intersecting gables are sheathed with scalloped shingles. At the main entrance on the façade is an open porch with square posts and railings with turned balusters. The side façade is even more complex with two side gables and a two-tier porch enlivened by Chinese Chippendale and spool work railings. The Herseys, along with Mary E. Noyes, co-owned the house until 1884; thereafter it was owned by Mary E. Noyes until around World War I. The stick style home really pops with that blue color, what do you think?
Originally built for Charles E. Jenkins, a partner in Bailey & Jenkins, suppliers of doors and blinds, this house in Dorchester’s Clam Point neighborhood stands out as one of the earliest and high-style mansions in the area. It appears to have been designed by local architect Luther Briggs, Jr. Shortly after its completion, the property was purchased by Theron and Rebecca Shaw. Theron was a partner at Lindsley, Shaw & Co., boot dealers in Downtown Boston. He died in 1870 and the house was sold to Dr. Luther Dimmick Shepard, a dentist. While the house (like many in Boston) is covered in later siding and has a plain white color scheme, the building retains its architectural integrity and would really shine when restored! What color would you love to see this Italianate/Second Empire style mansion be painted?
Roxbury is not well-known for its Shingle style architecture, but this example might change that! This dwelling was built around 1895 by the heirs of Horatio Harris on family land that was subdivided for house lots at the end of the 19th century. The expansive Harris estate was developed, largely on speculation and included some amazing single family homes, rowhouses and multi-family dwellings. This Shingle style home appears to have also been built on speculation and was owned by the Harris heirs for some time. The property was occupied for some time by Peleg E. Eddy and his wife Caroline in the earliest years of the house’s existence. I could not locate the architect, but it could be estimated as a design by J. Williams Beal, a local architect who was commissioned to design the nearby Harriswood Crescent development for the Harris family. The design features a Roxbury puddingstone first floor and chimney which contrast elegantly with the shingle siding.
Another of my favorite townhouses in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston is this Victorian Gothic mansion on Beacon Street, built for Daniel and Mary Knowlton. The residence was designed by the firm of Allen and Kenway and built in 1880 and stands out architecturally for its use of style and use of material amongst a sea of brick. A former cotton merchant, Daniel Knowlton was treasurer of the Flexible Shoe Nail Company and later worked as a stockbroker. The large single-family dwelling was converted into four condominium units in 1989, but has since been switched back to a single-family residence. It sold for $11.2 million dollars as a five bedroom, six full and two half bath home in 2017. Yikes!
Buildings of New England 