Brookline Massachusetts

Kaffenburgh House – Bertram Inn // c.1910

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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 Potter Rental House // 1889

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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 & Ellen Alford House // 1883

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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!

Wightman-Pope House // 1910

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In 1910, Ralph Linder Pope (1887-1966) graduated from MIT and later became Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Northwestern Leather Co., Boston. He married Elizabeth S. Wightman two years earlier and her father, George Wightman, purchased a house lot near his own 1902 mansion in the Longwood section of Brookline, Massachusetts and had this brick residence built in 1910 for the new couple. Mr. Wightman commissioned the famed architectural firm of Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge to design his daughter’s home in the Colonial Revival style.

Benjamin Green House // 1927

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Located on Beech Road overlooking the “village common” of Longwood Mall, this 1920s Georgian Revival mansion showcases the curb appeal and perfect siting of suburban houses of the period . The home was built in 1927 for Benjamin Green, a real estate dealer and his family. The Green’s hired architect Harry Morton Ramsay, a noted area architect who specialized in suburban single-family homes of this period, to design the Georgian Revival style home. The brick residence features a symmetrical facade, half-round portico with Corinthian columns, round arched first floor and dormer windows, and decorative brickwork.

George G. Quincy House // 1909

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If you love Colonial Revival style homes, the Longwood neighborhood in Brookline is a must-visit area to stroll around! This house is tucked away in the neighborhood and was a treat to stumble upon. This large home was designed by the underappreciated architect, James Templeton Kelley for a George G. Quincy. The Colonial Revival style dwelling is actually built of wood with a brick veneer and has an open pedimented entry with fanlight and transom surround. The round-headed windows on the first floor are especially notable.

Lawrence-Christian House // c.1855

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Another of the early homes of the affluent Longwood subdivision of Brookline, Massachusetts is this painted brick house which dates to the 1850s. The house was developed by Amos A. Lawrence, who developed much of the neighborhood, renting out suburban houses to wealthy Boston-area residents. In 1866, Lawrence sold the property to Samuel S. Allen of Roxbury and it would change ownership a half-dozen times in the next century. The property was added onto and modernized a few times, notably during the ownership of Henry A. Christian, MD, the first Chief-of-Medicine at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital over the Muddy River in Boston. The streamlined late-Colonial Revival look with vestibule side entry, windows, and shallow hipped roof are all likely later alterations from the 1850s house.

Brookline Arts Center – Former Fire Station // 1886

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The Longwood area of Brookline, Massachusetts, is among my favorite neighborhoods to stroll and admire great old buildings. The area is home to many grand houses, churches and later high-style apartment buildings but this diminutive building is often overlooked at the edge of the neighborhood! The structure was erected in 1886 by the Town of Brookline as a new Chemical Engine House. The locally renowned architectural partnership of Peabody and Stearns designed the Shingle style fire station for the town, an important hire as the surrounding neighborhood was dominated by stately old homes in a suburban setting. Eventually, in 1965, the firehouse was closed and in 1968, the Brookline Arts Center renovated the building, where their programs have been continuously based in the years since. The brick and shingle building is maintained by the non-profit, preserving a significant piece of the town’s history for the public to enjoy!

Arthur Jones Double House // 1896

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As Brookline Village developed in the mid-late 19th century, house lots were scarce. Demand for housing saw the demolition of a number of older 1840s Greek and Gothic Revival style cottages for multi-unit dwellings as duplexes and three-deckers which surged in popularity in the Village from the late 1890s to the 1910s when three-deckers were effectively banned in Brookline. In 1896-1897, Arthur R. Jones had large double houses built here and nextdoor, which were rented out to families. Newton architect Henry McLean designed these double houses as pairs of attached single-family dwellings separated by a brick party wall blending both Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styles under one roof. The homes show what housing was available to middle-class residents of the Boston area, a price-point that is unattainable to most in the area today. Though, it is great to see these old homes lovingly preserved so well by their owners!

Elijah Emerson Double House // 1884

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Brookline Village is full of amazing double houses (or duplexes) built in the late 19th century. Many feature Queen Anne detailing and are architecturally striking with porches, complex rooflines, and trim details. This example was built in 1884 by Elijah Emerson, who had an estate nearby. His house was originally located where the park, Emerson Garden is located, but it was moved across the street. He had this double house built and rented it out to middle-class families who flocked to the neighborhood for the ease of access to Downtown Boston, while maintaining a bucolic feel (why many still today move to Brookline). Even though it is covered in aluminum siding today, the original wood clapboards and trim likely are waiting underneath to be revealed someday. But for today, we can gawk at the original details that are visible, including the semi-circular window, recessed porch with decorative balustrade, and porch with original entry doors.