New England Architecture Blog

Holmes-Stetson House // 1841

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Built the same year as the Old Kingston Town House in Kingston, Massachusetts, this handsome Greek Revival style house sits on the town’s Main Street and has ties to two of the communities oldest and most significant families. The house was constructed in 1841 with matching side porches for Horace Holmes (1809-1855), a merchant and son of Joseph Holmes, a wealthy ship owner and builder. Horace operated a store near his home until his death in 1855. The property was later purchased by Captain Charles Stetson, a master mariner. The couple’s weath soon allowed them to sell this older residence and they built a “modern” Italianate style house at the rear garden (now 20 Green Street) to reside in. After successive ownership, the Greek Revival style house was converted to a store, but has since been reverted back to a residence, retaining much of its original fabric.

Old Kingston Town House // 1841

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Overlooking the town green in Kingston, Massachusetts, this stately Greek Revival home was once the original town house for the community, containing meeting hall, town offices and even a jail cell! Before we go into that further, it is helpful to learn about history first. Present-day Kingston was within the tribal homeland of the Wampanoag people, who in the decades prior to the arrival of the Mayflower, saw their populations decimated from a rapidly spreading pandemics due to earlier contacts with Europeans. Originally part of Plymouth, Kingston was first settled by Europeans shortly after the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock in 1620. In 1717, residents in the northern part of Plymouth petitioned the General Court to be set off from Plymouth as a separate township or a precinct. They were allowed to become the north precinct of Plymouth on the condition that they maintain a suitable minister. The northern precinct was wealthier and led to present-day Kingston incorporating as its own town in 1726, following a tax dispute. Early town meetings were held in the parish church until the separation of church and state necessitated a new town hall. The town hall here was built in 1841. As the town grew the building was re-oriented southward and enlarged in 1871 from plans by architect Luther Briggs. Further alterations were made to the building in 1935 under the guidance of the architectural firm of J. Williams Beal & Sons. In the early 2000s, space, parking, and accessibility concerns led the Town of Kingston to sell the 1841 Town House, which was purchased by private owners and converted to a residence. Inside, remnants of the old town house include old signs, office doors for city departments, former vaults converted to closets, and even a jail cell in the basement. Talk about a unique adaptive reuse!

Braeside Cottage // 1888

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Tucked away in the town of Hunter in the Catskill Mountains of New York, the summer colony of Twilight Park has stood as an exclusive and private resort community established in the late 19th century. Twilight Park was born out of the Twilight Club, a Manhattan social club in the late-19th century and brought to life by founder, Charles F. Wingate. Mr. Wingate traveled to the mountaintop in 1887, and became enamored by its natural beauty. He arranged for the purchase of a former sheep meadow and led the construction of the first cluster of cottages in what would become a large community of over 100 summer homes. Cottages were laid out on roughly parallel roads at different elevations and on old connecting paths that later became roads with all lots built on ledges overlooking the Catskills. The first cottages were log cabins, and quickly followed by larger, Queen Anne style “cottages” as others invested in the development. This cottage, known as Brae Side Cottage, was built in 1888 during the first phase of development in Twilight Park, and it is notable for its varied siding, diamond-pane windows, complex roof form with dormers, and the laticed entry.

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.

Frank and Laura Carter House // 1889

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Effortlessly blending the Shingle and Queen Anne architectural styles, the Frank and Laura Carter House at 107 Ocean Street in Ashmont, Dorchester, Massachusetts, is one of the finest Victorian residences in the neighborhood. The house was designed by famed local architect Arthur Vinal, who also furnished plans for the Dorchester Temple Baptist Church nearby that same year. The house was built for Frank Carter (1859-1950), treasurer of the Bay State Belting Company, and his new wife, Laura. Special details on the house include the polygonal bay capped by pyramidal roof, belt-course of shingles breaking up the facades, and stunning two-bay eyebrow dormer facing the street with shingled returns.

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.

George and Emma James House // 1894

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Built in 1894 for George and Emma James, the house at 47 Ocean Street in the Ashmont area of Dorchester, stands as one of the finest high-style examples of a Queen Anne single-family residence in Boston. George James was born in Vermont and worked as a farmer before moving to Boston, where he found work as a shoe manufacturer, opening offices and manufacturing facilities in the Leather District. The house was clearly designed by a skilled architect, and historians note that the residence was the design of architect S. Edwin Tobey, a skilled proponent of the Queen Anne style, seen here with its incredible detailing and unique form. The high-relief carvings in the gable and panels stand out, along with the recessed porch, and historic stable at the rear.

Sidney A. Kimber House // c.1894

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Built by 1894, this fabulous Queen Anne victorian house can be found on Ashmont Street in Dorchester, and it has a period-appropriate color scheme. The residence here was built for Sidney Arthur Kimber (1866-1956) a London-born printing expert, who for years worked at the University Press in Cambridge. Mr. Kimber was an expert on printing and wrote many books on the subject; he even built a working model of the first printing press brought over from England to Cambridge in 1638. The Kimbers lived here for just a few years before moving, and the house was sold a few times until the first long-term owner, Helena T. Shortell. The house is lovingly preserved and features a unique entry tower capped by an ogee roof.

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. 

Dillaway House // 1889

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One of the finest and refined examples of the Shingle style in Boston can be found on Alban Street in the Ashmont Hill section of Dorchester, a lovely, walkable neighborhood where you can find timeless examples of just about any Victorian-era architectural style. Built for Charles F. Dillaway, a banker in Boston, this home was designed by local architect, Edwin J. Lewis, architect for many houses in the Ashmont area.  Lewis’s designs are distinguished by their crisp geometry, often with horizontal lines emphasized and small-paned windows. The house has been slightly modernized by later owners who added new siding within the inset porch and a more moody color scheme. 

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. 

Mary S. Hartford House // 1890

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This charming Shingle style bungalow at the corner of Harley and Walton streets in Dorchester’s Ashmont Hill neighborhood, was built around 1890 for Ms. Mary S. Hartford. Mary Hartford (1840-1910) was the mother of famed American painter, Edmund Charles Tarbell, and the wife of Edmund Whitney Tarbell, who died in 1863 after contracting typhoid fever while serving in the Civil War. After the death of her husband, Mary sent her son to live in Groton, Massachusetts with his grandparents to raise them as she remarried to David Francis Hartford, a shoe manufacturer. David and Mary lived nearby on Alban Street, and rented this and other houses to tenants for supplemental income. Local architect Edwin J. Lewis furnished plans for the house as a prototypical example of the Shingle style. Mary died in 1910 and in 1917, David Hartford, as his wife’s executor, deeded this property at 17 Harley Street to Emma C. Rich, the wife of George M. Rich, a Boston banker. The house is excellently preserved, even down to the appropriate brown stained shingles.

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.