brookline house

Thomas Aspinwall Davis House // 1844

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The Lindens neighborhood, located just east of the civic and commercial core of Brookline Village, was long an apple and cherry orchard known as Holden Farm. Beginning in 1843, the area became the earliest planned development in the town and was laid out as a “garden suburb” for those wishing to escape the growing congestion of Boston. As originally conceived in 1843, it reflected the latest ideals of planned residential development for a semi-rural setting on land owned by Thomas Aspinwall Davis. The streets, parks, and house lots here were laid out by civil engineer, Alexander Wadsworth, who two years earlier, laid out plans for Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, the first “Rural Cemetery” in America. Early homes were built on speculation by John F. Edwards, an architect-builder, for Davis, who was strict about high-quality designs in the Greek and Gothic revival styles in his newly laid out neighborhood. This stately house was built as Thomas Aspinwall Davis’ own residence in the Gothic Revival style. The house originally had a Gothic style full-length porch, but when the house was relocated in 1903 to the present site, to make room for new houses as the neighborhood grew denser. During the move, the porch was removed, but the Davis House still maintains the belvedere at the roof, historic window trim, and decorative bargeboards at the eaves.

Charles Scudder House // 1844

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The Lindens neighborhood, located just east of the civic and commercial core of Brookline Village, was long an apple and cherry orchard known as Holden Farm. Beginning in 1843, the area became the earliest planned development in the town and was laid out as a “garden suburb” for those wishing to escape the growing congestion of Boston. As originally conceived in 1843, it reflected the latest ideals of planned residential development for a semi-rural setting on land owned by Thomas Aspinwall Davis. The streets, parks, and house lots here were laid out by civil engineer, Alexander Wadsworth, who two years earlier, laid out plans for Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, the first “Rural Cemetery” in America. Early homes were built on speculation by John F. Edwards, an architect-builder, for Davis, who was strict about high-quality designs in the Greek and Gothic revival styles in his newly laid out neighborhood. This house, at 12 Linden Street, was built in 1844 by Edwards, and sold soon-after to a Charles W. Scudder, a Boston hardware merchant. The Scudder House is an excellent example of the Greek Revival style in which the front facade of the house suggests a classical temple with flush-board siding resembling the smooth surface of stone. The wrap-around columned porch would have provided great views of the surrounding orchards and gardens until the neighborhood filled in later in the 19th century.

Dr. Tappan Eustis Francis House // 1879

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Located on Davis Avenue, a narrow residential street in Brookline Village, the Dr. Tappan Eustis Francis House is an unusual work by an architect that differs from the style they became best-known and sought after. Dr. Tappan Eustis Francis (1823-1909) graduated from Harvard College in 1844 and Harvard Medical School in 1847 and moved to Brookline where he practiced medicine for over 50 years. For his Brookline residence, Dr. Francis hired William Ralph Emerson, who has become best-known for his Shingle style designs and summer cottages that lined the New England coastline and in Boston suburbs, to furnish plans for his suburban residence. For Dr. Francis’ home, Emerson envisioned a brick house in the English Queen Anne style. The tall chimneys with panel brick designs, corbeled brick brackets and terra-cotta decorations in the gable peaks, and the massive slate-roofed entry porch are all stunning features on the house; but the most intriguing has to be the bracketed hood on the corner of the house which originally sheltered a wooden bench, as depicted in an 1879 drawing.

Edward Stanwood House // 1880

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The Edward Stanwood House at 76 High Street in Brookline, Massachusetts, is one of the finest and exuberant examples of the English Victorian Queen Anne style, notable for its varied wall textures and materials, unique form, and applied ornament. The house was built in 1879-1880 for Edward Stanwood, who was for many years the editor of the Boston Daily Advertiser, and a children’s magazine, The Youth’s Companion. The ornate residence was designed by Clarence Sumner Luce, with interiors by Thomas Dewing. The Stanwood House features a well-preserved exterior and period-appropriate paint scheme, highlighting the bas-relief sunflower ornament and gargoyles. Of particular note is the use of hung tile siding, overlaid to give the appearance of fish scales and the roof cresting.

Charles Storrow Rental House // c.1884

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This charming and quirky Queen Anne style house on Edgehill Road in Brookline was built as a rental property on the estate of Charles Storrow (1841-1927), a wealthy businessman who lived in his home next door (see last post). Like his own home, the residence was designed by Edward Clarke Cabot, his wife, Martha’s father, who utilized varied materials, forms, and roof shapes to create a unique composition unlike anything else in the neighborhood. The bulbous central tower and eyebrow and wall dormers also add intrigue to the design.

Charles Storrow House // 1884

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Facade

This shingle and brick Queen Anne style house at 112 High Street in Brookline, Massachusetts, was built in 1884 for Charles Storrow and his wife, Martha Cabot Storrow from plans by architect, Edward C. Cabot, Martha’s father. The lot here is said to have been gifted to Charles from his father, Charles Storer Storrow, a prominent civil engineer and industrialist, who is known for designing and building the dam and textile mill complex in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Besides the Victorian main house, the property included a historic stable and a detached house on an adjacent lot, which appears to have been rented by Mr. and Mrs. Storrow. The property was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted’s firm, with rustic rock walls, natural topography, and large, mature plantings. The Storrow House originally had stained glass windows designed by John LaFarge, which were sold in the 1970s. 

Side elevation.

Charles Torrey House // 1889

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The Charles Torrey House at 36 Edgehill Road in Brookline, Massachusetts, is a great example of a Queen Anne style residence in the Boston suburbs. The stately home was constructed in 1889 for Charles Torrey, an artist who specialized in nautical scenes. The house is unique for its brick first floor, shingled second and stucco with half-timbering in the gable, a feature that suggests the renewed interest in English medieval motifs. The architect for the Queen Anne style home could not be located, but it appears to be from a more prominent Boston-area firm of the late-19th century. The house is currently (2025) undergoing a renovation.

Moorfield Storey House // 1875

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The house at 44 Edgehill Road in Brookline, is a brick Queen Anne style residence built for Moorfield Storey (1845-1929) by architect and neighbor, Robert Swain Peabody, who was Moorfield’s friend and college roommate. Both Peabody and Storey would later move in the early 20th century to the Fenway in neighboring houses, also designed by Robert S. Peabody. Moorfield Storey was a president of the American Bar Association and the president, for most of its existence, of the Anti-Imperialist League, an organization founded to oppose the annexation of the Philippines as a colony and to support free trade and the gold standard. Storey consistently and aggressively championed civil rights, not only for African Americans, but also for Native Americans and immigrants. He opposed immigration restrictions, and supported racial equality and self-determination. He would become the first president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), from its founding in 1909 until his death in 1929. The Storey House in Brookline is a well-preserved and early example of the Queen Anne style, that would dominate architectural tastes for the following decades.

Samuel Cabot Jr. House // c.1886

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This altered Queen Anne/Shingle style residence on Edgehill Road in Brookline, Massachusetts, was built around 1886 as a suburban retreat for Samuel Cabot Jr. (1850-1906) and his wife, Helen (Nichols) Cabot. Samuel Cabot, a member of the affluent and well-connected Cabot family of Boston, was a chemist who worked alongside his uncle, Godfrey Lowell Cabot, to produce household disinfectant, sheep dip, wood preservatives, and shingle stain using coal tar that was a by-product of the gas works in Boston. Their companies would split, with Samuel’s part of the company continuing as Samuel Cabot Incorporated, and Godfrey’s became Cabot Corporation. To showcase his company’s amazing wood stains, Samuel Cabot had this house built in Brookline, from plans by his uncle, Edward Clarke Cabot, of the firm Cabot & Chandler. In the 20th century, the house was somewhat streamlined with some dormers removed and the main entry relocated to the present location.

Low-Rock House // 1888

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This handsome shingled Queen Anne style home on Allerton Street in Brookline, Massachusetts, is part of the reason why the “Pill Hill” neighborhood gets its name. The residence was built in 1888 for Mr. Sumner Flagg, likely as an investment property as the neighborhood developed into one of the finest in the Boston area. An early resident here was Judith Motley Low (1841-1933), founder of the Lowthorpe School of Landscape Architecture, which was the first school intended solely to prepare women as landscape professionals in a field dominated by men. In 1945, the Lowthorpe School merged into the Rhode Island School of Design and became the basis of RISD’s Landscape Architecture Department. Another prominent resident of the house in the 20th century was Dr. John Rock (1890-1984), a physician and scientist who worked nearby at the Massachusetts Hospital for Women. As a Catholic doctor, John Rock is best-known for two groundbreaking medical discoveries in women’s health: the birth control pill and in-vitro fertilization. Dr. John Rock and his lab technician, Miriam Menkin, were the first researchers to fertilize a human egg outside of a human body in February of 1944, this research was compounded and later led to in-vitro fertilization as we know it today. Additionally, while running his clinic, Dr. Rock encountered a number of women bearing unwanted children that they could neither afford financially nor handle physically. Rock observed numerous women who, after giving birth to multiple children, had prolapsed uteri, malfunctioning kidneys, and were prematurely aging. In 1952, Rock was recruited to investigate the clinical use of progesterone to prevent ovulation. Enovid, the brand name of the first pill, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and put on the market in 1957 as a menstrual regulator. In 1960, Enovid gained approval from the FDA for contraceptive use.