A playful interpretation of a medieval English cottage, with its stucco cladding, half-timbering, weatherboards in the gable ends and ornamental well enclosure in the front yard, can be found on Woodland Road in Brookline. The whimsical cottage was built in 1928 for Arthur B. Bernard, the son of the president of the New England Leather Company in Boston’s Leather District. Arthur would follow his father’s footsteps and join the business himself. Architect and builder, Fred S. Wells of Newton designed and constructed the house (and others in the area in the same style). What’s your favorite part of this house?
The early decades of the 20th century were the golden years for suburban development in the Boston area. With personal automobiles better-connecting the city to lesser developed areas like Milton, Newton and Brookline, middle-upper class residents were able to relocate to the suburbs and build stately homes, typically in one of three architectural styles: Colonial Revival (most common), Tudor Revival, or Arts and Crafts (least common). This large house is located on Randolph Road in the Woodland/Heath area of Southern Brookline, and dates to 1928. The residence was constructed for Dr. Walter C. Miner, an orthopedic dentist, and his wife, Ethel and designed by the firm of Strickland, Blodgett & Law. The large house sits on a double-lot, and is notable for its symmetry, slate tile roof, and rough-faced stucco walls.
The St. Paul’s Episcopal Church of Brookline, Massachusetts is an architecturally and historically significant landmark to the area. The congregation was established in 1849, and within months, in May 1850, the corporation, which was made up of wealthy Boston-area residents, accepted an offer from Augustus Aspinwall of a building lot to erect a church. Esteemed ecclesiastical architect, Richard Upjohn, the architect of Trinity Church in New York, was hired to design the church in Brookline of the same, Gothic style. The wealth of the congregation was evident by the consistent expansions of the complex, to include a chapel, rectory, parish house, and other expansions to those buildings. St. Paul’s Church is the oldest religious structure in Brookline, and almost was lost when the sanctuary was devastated by fire in 1976, leaving only its exterior walls and two stained glass windows. The congregation rebuilt the interiors and the building remains well-preserved at its exterior, built of Roxbury Puddingstone.
The congregation of Ohabei Shalom is the oldest jewish congregation in the greater Boston area and the second oldest in New England. It was formed in 1843 and was the first formal congregation in Boston. After a smaller space, they purchased the former South Congregational Unitarian Church on Union Park Street in the South End of Boston. The congregation split over ideological differences and the decision was made for one half of the congregation to build a new temple in Brookline, where many of the members began to move to. Land on Beacon Street, just west of the Longwood section of Brookline was purchased in 1921, and it would be four years until a temple center (now the hebrew school) was built in 1925. The larger temple was built just after on the corner of Beacon and Kent streets in Brookline from plans by Clarence Blackall, a noted architect in the area. With its lively use of polychromatic masonry and Byzantine ornament, all surmounted by a great copper dome, the congregation boasts the most architecturally outstanding synagogue in the Boston region and it has been maintained well for the almost 100 years since it was built.
Across the street from the C. D. Hammer House on Sewall Avenue in Brookline, Massachusetts, this later take on the Queen Anne style with Tudor Revival elements is about to go through quite a transformation!
A little history before I share the proposal for the site… This house was built around 1910 for Bessie V. and Carl J. Kaffenburgh, a tobacco dealer with a store in Downtown Boston. The house was from plans by architect Harry E. Davidson, who had previously designed stucco houses with Tudor influences for both the Vorenberg and Kaffenburgh family including 20 Amory Street in the nearby Cottage Farm neighborhood. By 1940 the house was owned by Hazen Blood and his wife. The Bloods had rented out rooms in the house totalling 13 lodgers here as a rooming house in the 1940 directory. In 1987, owner, Bryan Austin purchased the property restored it, and opened it as the Bertram Inn.
In recent years, the adjoining lots were eyed for redevelopment and demolition was proposed for this property. Neighborhood opposition and the demolition delay process allowed for review of the plans, which now includes the “restoration” of the main house with a six-story boxy addition on the rear containing condominium units. While the proposed addition is not contextual to the historic Tudor Revival house, it does save the original building and provides much-needed housing for others, so I guess this is a win! What do you think?
William W. Potter, a shoe manufacturer and businessman, and his wife, Isabella Abbe Strickland Potter, lived in the Longwood section of Brookline and became active in the surround areas development in the last decades of the 19th century. William bought land off Kent Street and began to lay out house lots, becoming a developer overseeing construction of stately Queen Anne Victorian rental properties marketed to upper-middle-class residents. For this house on Francis Street, he commissioned architects George Rand and Bertram Taylor, who were known for producing stylish residential designs for the middle class in the Boston area. The massive property was a duplex, providing units to two lucky families! The building has just about every hallmark feature of the Queen Anne style including: the conical roof on a rounded corner bay, a complex roofline, asymmetrical plan, varied siding/materials, and applied ornamentation. In the 1920s, the house was owned by Simmons College, and used as a boarding house. Luckily, the property was restored and now is one of the finest residences in the neighborhood.
Orlando Hiram Alford (1840-1908) was an industrious and hardworking Vermonter who settled in the Boston area to make his wealth. He was a member of Bliss, Fabyan & Co., a large drygoods dealer, and would also become a director of the First National Bank, the City Trust Company, and the Franklin Savings Bank. In manufacturing, he serves the role of director of the Bates Manufacturing Company, the Merrimac River Towing Company, the Columbian Manufacturing Company, the Cordis Mills, and the Thorndike Company (among others). From his many positions and roles, he and his wife Ellen, were able to afford a house lot on Kent Street in the neighborhood between Longwood and Brookline Village. The Alford House, a stunning example of the Queen Anne style remained in family until after Ellen’s death in 1929, when it was purchased by the Boston Hospital for Women as a nurse’s residence. It was later used as apartments and was clad with vinyl siding, obscuring much of the original wood trim detailing. In the 2000s, later owners sought to demolish this house, which served as a rallying cry for neighborhood residents who understood the importance of the house and its context with surrounding lots. After the demolition delay process lapsed, they petitioned for a local district designation, effectively preserving the house for more generations to come! The Lawrence Local Historic District has since provided protection for houses in the area, but does not require a homeowner maintains or keeps up a property in a certain condition. Hopefully the Alford House will be restored soon!
Before the turn of the 20th century, William L. and Elizabeth G. Phinney purchased a narrow house lot at the corner of Hawes and Chatham streets in the desirable Longwood neighborhood of Brookline. They then retained the young architectThomas Marriott James, to design this massive Federal Revival style mansion. After William died in 1911, Elizabeth remained in the house until 1920, when it sold to C. Willard Bigelow a wool dealer and his wife, Ruth. The Phinney-Bigelow House is an exemplary Federal Revival style house on a narrow lot which takes full advantage of its boxy form. The slightly asymmetrical facade with Palladian window, limestone trimmings, and bold entrance are all great additions to the design.
Located next door to Ms. Matchett’s house on Chatham Street in the suburban Longwood neighborhood of Brookline, Massachusetts, you will find this very unique example of a Colonial Revival style single-family home. Built by 1901 for lawyer Edwin G. McInnis (sometime spelled McInnes) and his wife, Mabel, the house is high-style Colonial Revival with symmetrical facade, rustication, two-story Corinthian pilasters framing the bays, Palladian window, and Federal style entry with fanlight transom. No records of the architect could be located sadly.
In 1905, Sarah A. Bennett Matchett (1833-1910), a widow, purchased a desirable house lot in the Longwood section of Brookline, Massachusetts. She inherited a large fortune upon the passing of her husband, William F. Matchett (1832-1901), who was the long time treasurer of the Boston and Roxbury Mill Corporation. The couple had no children, but she watched over her nieces and nephews following her brother’s death. Ms. Matchett hired architects Arthur Everett and Samuel Mead to design a large Colonial Revival style home on the lot, which was then built in 1905. Upon her death in 1910, she willed each of her four nieces and nephews $25,000 (roughly $800,000 (a piece) adjusted for inflation to today. She also willed $200,000 to Harvard College and funds to Massachusetts General Hospital and the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. After her death, her Brookline residence was inherited by her eldest niece, Helen Maud (Bennett) Richardson and has been lovingly maintained over 110 years later!
Buildings of New England 