Dorchester Landmark

Joseph Royall House // c.1770

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This is one of the oldest buildings in Boston! The Joseph Royall House is located at 770 Washington Street in the Ashmont section of Dorchester, set back from the street and passed by thousands who likely do not know its history and significance. The house dates to around 1770 and was built by Joseph Royall, of the infamous Royall Family of Cambridge, Medford, and Antigua, who made much of their money through sugar plantations in the Caribbean and enslaved Africans. Joseph was a nephew of Isaac Royal Jr., the patriarch of the family who resided at what is now the Royall House and Slave Quarters in Medford. Upon the outbreak of the American Revolution, the Tory Royalls were forced to flee for protection, Joseph would move to England. Isaac’s daughter (and Joseph’s cousin), Penelope Royall Vassall had her Cambridge home confiscated as a Tory property during the Revolution, causing her to flee to Antigua. When she returned to Boston after the war she was a widow and lived in poverty. Her cousin, Joseph, would sell her this Dorchester estate in 1782 nearly for free, allowing her to sell the property for money to survive in Boston. The house would remain here for another two-and-a-quarter centuries, as Ashmont grew around it. One-story stores were built in the front yard, completely obscuring the Georgian residence until later owners, Bob and Vicki Rugo, restored the house and demolished the stores in front, preserving this house for centuries to come. While the house is one of the oldest in Boston, it is not a landmark or listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

George A. Eastman House and Stable // 1889

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Built between 1889-1891, the house and stable at 60 Ocean Street in the Ashmont Hill neighborhood of Dorchester was commissioned by George A. Eastman, a Harvard graduate and insurance executive. George Augustine Eastman married Anna C. Winsor in 1870, and the family would remain in this house for nearly 100 years. George Eastman worked as an insurance executive at the Boston office of the Liverpool & London & Globe Insurance Company of England for over 50 years, and built his home next-door to his brother’s at 42 Ocean Street. It is believed that the Eastman House and Stable were designed by local architect Edwin J. Lewis, who designed about a dozen other residences in the surrounding area at the same time. The old stable has been converted to residential use, a great way to adaptively reuse these old, well-built structures.

Clark-Cottle House // 1890

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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.

Hotel Mellen // 1894

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While Ashmont Hill in Dorchester is known for large, single-family Victorian houses, there are a number of grand apartment houses and three-deckers dispersed throughout the area, showing the evolution of housing in desirable neighborhoods in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This is the Hotel Mellen, located at 18-20 Mellen Street, a multi-family building that architecturally blends in with its surroundings, not like many uninspiring boxes being built all over the region today. The property was developed by Louis Pfingst, a German streetcar designer and mechanic who was also active in the local Dorchester Gentlemen’s Driving Club. The building was designed by local architect Alexander B. Pinkham, who specialized in multi-family housing designs around Boston. The rounded bays, recessed porch in the gable, varied siding, and applied ornament, make the building stand out, while fitting well within its context of surrounding homes.

Reed-Fitzgerald House // 1891

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The Reed-Fitzgerald House at 75 Ocean Street in Ashmont Hill, Dorchester, stands out as a simple, yet beautiful example of the Shingle style of architecture for residential purposes. The house here was built in 1891 from plans by Edwin J. Lewis, Jr., a Boston-born architect who worked at the office of Peabody and Stearns before he opened his own firm in 1887, specializing in suburban houses and churches. The first owner of this residence was George Reed, a Boston insurance executive. Years later, the house was owned by Henry Fitzgerald, possibly Henry S. Fitzgerald, the brother of John “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald (1863-1950), the Mayor of Boston who resided in a since demolished house in the neighborhood. Mayor John Fitzgerald was the father of Rose Fitzgerald and maternal grandfather of her sons President John F. Kennedy, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, and Senator Ted Kennedy. Recently, the owners of the Reed-Fitzgerald House have restored the exterior, and stained the shingles the lovely rust color.

Mary E. C. Bates House // c.1894

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One of the many spectacular Queen Anne style houses in the Ashmont Hill neighborhood of Dorchester (Boston) is this c.1894 residence at 53 Ocean Street. The house was built for Mary Elizabeth (Cushing) Bates and her husband, Henry L. Bates. Henry worked as a bookkeeper and the couple was able to afford a house lot in the fashionable Ashmont area of Dorchester, and had this home built. In the early 20th century, the couple purchased a then-vacant lot next-door at 57 Ocean Street, and had the current house there built, renting it out for years for supplemental income. Hallmarks of the Queen Anne style seen in the Bates house include: varied siding types, large porch supported by turned posts, asymmetry, projecting bay window, and applied ornament seen here in the gable.

Tatro-Tyng House // 1873

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The neighborhood now known as Ashmont Hill had its origins in 1870, when George Derby Welles, who was 26 years old and living in Paris, inherited extensive landholdings in this area from his grandfather’s estate in Dorchester. Welles engaged representatives to subdivide the land. Some parcels were developed with high-style rental properties, managed by his representatives while living abroad, and others were sold and developed by builders, designing homes in the prominent styles at the time. In the early 1870s, the Second Empire style was most popular, though began waning in popularity for Stick and Queen Anne styles. Lots on Welles Street were purchased by Mr. George Tatro, a builder and developer who seemingly designed and built two near identical houses at 48 and 52 Welles street. The houses were completed by 1873 at the time of The Panic, an economic downturn triggered by industrial and railroad over-expansion and consequent bank and business failures. The property was sold, but remained vacant until it was taken over by a bank and then purchased by Catherine Stevens Tyng, the widow of Reverend Dudley Atkins Tyng, who died at just 33-years-old from a freak accident at home. Catherine moved to the area, first settling in Cambridge, to follow her two sons who attended Harvard College, before selling the house and moving to New York. The Tatro-Tyng House is a stunning, and well-preserved example of the Second Empire style, with a shingled bay window and bay dormer in the mansard with applied ornament.

Harrison H. Atwood House // 1888

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When an architect designs their own home, you know it will be something special. This house on Alban Street in Ashmont Hill, Dorchester, was built in 1888 and designed by owner-architect, Harrison H. Atwood (1863-1954). The unique Shingle style residence features a plain, boxy form and is capped by a pyramidal hipped roof with a center dormer. The recessed side entry porch is enclosed by large windows with multi pane sash which is surmounted by flared shingles. Besides being a residential architect, Harrison Henry Atwood also was appointed as the 5th City Architect of Boston, designing schools and firehouses, and served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. While the Atwood House may appear modest from the street, the house stretches back toward the rear of the lot and is larger than meets the eye, also the interior was lavishly decorated with much of the original millwork and mantels intact. 

Mumford House // 1877

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Set back behind a manicured lawn on the charming Alban Street in the Ashmont Hill neighborhood of Dorchester, this Victorian era residence was both a family home as well as a finishing school for young ladies. The house at 35 Alban Street was completed in 1877 for the Reverend Thomas James Mumford, pastor of the Third Church of Dorchester and anti-slavery advocate, who died the year his home was completed. His widow, Elizabeth Goodrich Warren Mumford (1834-1897) would inherit the home from her husband and for supplemental income to maintain the home, she opened the Mrs. Mumford’s Finishing School for Young Ladies, a school to educate and teach young girls manners and religion. Elizabeth Mumford would also publish books on how to conduct classes for Sunday School, Kindergarten, and the home. The Mumford House is a great example of a Stick style residence with less exuberance than some other examples. The picket frieze, applied stickwork on the siding, and more ornate porch are all typical of the style. 

Thomas T. Hartford House and Stable // 1884

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Situated at the corner of Harley and Roslin streets in the Ashmont Hill neighborhood of Dorchester, this property showcases the flair and ornate features of the eclectic Victorian styles, along with an original stable. The property was developed in 1884 by Thomas T. Hartford. Thomas Thurston Hartford (1845-1916), was a shoe machinery manufacturer with offices in the Leather District near downtown Boston, continuing in his father’s company, Hartford Brothers Co. The house and stable are said to have been designed by architect Edwin J. Lewis, Jr., or John A. Fox, who blended Stick and Queen Anne styles. Interestingly, the house features Palladian windows in the gables and was restored by owners, who even went the extra mile to repaint the house in its historic colors.