The Highland Apartments // 1892

The Highland Apartments, on Highland Avenue in Somerville, is one of the city’s most architecturally distinguished and significant late 19th century apartment buildings. Richardsonian Romanesque in style, the building is constructed of brick with brownstone trimmings, a rounded corner tower with conical roof, and Romanesque arched entrances. The building even retains its name, “Highland”, carved in brownstone at the corner. The building contained 12 units, all with multiple windows and views of the adjacent park or ever-growing Boston from its hilltop location. The architect, Samuel Dudley Kelley, was a noted designer of apartment buildings at the time. The Highland remains an important, preserved example of late 19th century multi-family housing, and showcases how far we have fallen when designing such structures today. 

Hotel Royal // 1886

This large apartment house at the corner of Beacon and Exeter Streets in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston commands its site with a six-story rounded corner oriel. Built in 1885-6 for George H. Brooks, a developer, the apartment house exhibits a Romanesque Revival design with the use of a monumental arch at the entrance, decorative brownstone and terra cotta, and the large full-height rounded bays. The apartment hotel was designed by architect Samuel D. Kelley, who designed many apartment houses and tenements in the Boston area. Sadly, the conical roof atop the corner oriel was removed sometime in the 20th century, somewhat minimizing its architectural integrity. The apartment hotel is now home to 30 condominium units.