Double House

Fosdick-Calder Double House // c.1745

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This 2 ½-story, five-bay house was built for Benjamin Fosdick (1713-1801) and his family on Nantucket. After Benjamin died in 1801, the house was inherited by two of his surviving sons and they divided the house into two, creating a double-house for them and their own families. The symmetrical home was divided down the middle at the central chimney, and two front doors provided access to the two dwellings. The right section was once the home of Capt. William Calder, who escaped shipwreck at Cape Horn
on his first voyage at age 13. He later was captured by the British during the War of 1812, and escaped from Dartmoor Prison in England, making his way back to Nantucket. The double house has retained much of its original design since 1801 until the 1960s when the projecting entrance porch was added.

Hosmer House // 1760

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This 2-1/2 story wood frame house in Acton, Massachusetts was built in 1760, and is one of the town’s best-preserved colonial-era houses. It is an unusual double house, consisting of one section with a square plan, and the other with a typical colonial “half house” plan, having three bays and an off-center chimney. The house was built by Jonathan Hosmer, Jr., a bricklayer whose workmanship is evident in the house’s many fireplaces. Hosmer was also prominent in civic and military affairs; he served (along with his son, who was killed at 17 years old) in the 1777 Battle of Bennington. The home was later owned by Jonathan’s son Simon, who may have added the attached dwelling, creating the double-house form we see today. In 1974 the property was acquired by the Acton Historical Society, which rents one of the units, and operates the rest of the property as a museum. The home is a great example of a Georgian double-house with a saltbox roof.

Latham-Kendrick Houses // 1817

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This unique double-house was constructed in 1817 for Capt. William Harris Latham and Dr. Thomas Kendrick, brothers-in-law, merchants and partners in a store which stood until it was destroyed by fire about 1845. Latham served as a Captain in the War of 1812, and later was an important benefactor of the nearby Thetford Academy, donating money and building materials for the original construction. Wallpaper from this house depicting the City of Leon was donated by a previous owner, Mrs. Charles Vaughan, to the Currier Gallery in Manchester, NH. The homes are an excellent example of the Federal style with a vertical board at the center of the main house facade demarcating the property line. Blind fan transoms and multi-light double-hung windows add a lot of charm to the historic homes.

Hedenskog-Levy House // 1904

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Perched up on Aspinwall Hill, this early 20th century two-family home is one of the best-preserved examples remaining in this section of Brookline. The house represents the positive impact of immigrant communities to Boston area neighborhoods. Located on Rawson Road, the house was built in 1904 by Patrick Moore, a house carpenter based in Boston. The home was un-occupied until 1908, when Lars A. Hedenskog (d. 1908), an unmarried bookkeeper, and his sister, Bertha A. Hedenskog, a dressmaker, lived here. The siblings were natives of Sweden and arrived in the United States at New York and subsequently relocated to Boston, where they were both worked, later purchasing this property together. Hyman J. Levy and his family purchased the property in 1920 after Bertha’s death. Mr. Levy was a Yiddish-speaking Russian immigrant who came to the United States in 1888. Levy was a hardware dealer and owner of H. J. Levy Hardware Company (later the Bay State Hardware Co.) at 1395 Washington Street in Boston’s South End. Levy died in 1955 at the age of 67 when he was shot in the jaw as he lunged to grab a pistol from an attempted robber.