Edward Stanwood House // 1880

The Edward Stanwood House at 76 High Street in Brookline, Massachusetts, is one of the finest and exuberant examples of the English Victorian Queen Anne style, notable for its varied wall textures and materials, unique form, and applied ornament. The house was built in 1879-1880 for Edward Stanwood, who was for many years the editor of the Boston Daily Advertiser, and a children’s magazine, The Youth’s Companion. The ornate residence was designed by Clarence Sumner Luce, with interiors by Thomas Dewing. The Stanwood House features a well-preserved exterior and period-appropriate paint scheme, highlighting the bas-relief sunflower ornament and gargoyles. Of particular note is the use of hung tile siding, overlaid to give the appearance of fish scales and the roof cresting.

Charles Storrow House // 1884

Facade

This shingle and brick Queen Anne style house at 112 High Street in Brookline, Massachusetts, was built in 1884 for Charles Storrow and his wife, Martha Cabot Storrow from plans by architect, Edward C. Cabot, Martha’s father. The lot here is said to have been gifted to Charles from his father, Charles Storer Storrow, a prominent civil engineer and industrialist, who is known for designing and building the dam and textile mill complex in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Besides the Victorian main house, the property included a historic stable and a detached house on an adjacent lot, which appears to have been rented by Mr. and Mrs. Storrow. The property was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted’s firm, with rustic rock walls, natural topography, and large, mature plantings. The Storrow House originally had stained glass windows designed by John LaFarge, which were sold in the 1970s. 

Side elevation.

Charles Torrey House // 1889

The Charles Torrey House at 36 Edgehill Road in Brookline, Massachusetts, is a great example of a Queen Anne style residence in the Boston suburbs. The stately home was constructed in 1889 for Charles Torrey, an artist who specialized in nautical scenes. The house is unique for its brick first floor, shingled second and stucco with half-timbering in the gable, a feature that suggests the renewed interest in English medieval motifs. The architect for the Queen Anne style home could not be located, but it appears to be from a more prominent Boston-area firm of the late-19th century. The house is currently (2025) undergoing a renovation.

Samuel Cabot Jr. House // c.1886

This altered Queen Anne/Shingle style residence on Edgehill Road in Brookline, Massachusetts, was built around 1886 as a suburban retreat for Samuel Cabot Jr. (1850-1906) and his wife, Helen (Nichols) Cabot. Samuel Cabot, a member of the affluent and well-connected Cabot family of Boston, was a chemist who worked alongside his uncle, Godfrey Lowell Cabot, to produce household disinfectant, sheep dipwood preservatives, and shingle stain using coal tar that was a by-product of the gas works in Boston. Their companies would split, with Samuel’s part of the company continuing as Samuel Cabot Incorporated, and Godfrey’s became Cabot Corporation. To showcase his company’s amazing wood stains, Samuel Cabot had this house built in Brookline, from plans by his uncle, Edward Clarke Cabot, of the firm Cabot & Chandler. In the 20th century, the house was somewhat streamlined with some dormers removed and the main entry relocated to the present location.

Low-Rock House // 1888

This handsome shingled Queen Anne style home on Allerton Street in Brookline, Massachusetts, is part of the reason why the “Pill Hill” neighborhood gets its name. The residence was built in 1888 for Mr. Sumner Flagg, likely as an investment property as the neighborhood developed into one of the finest in the Boston area. An early resident here was Judith Motley Low (1841-1933), founder of the Lowthorpe School of Landscape Architecture, which was the first school intended solely to prepare women as landscape professionals in a field dominated by men. In 1945, the Lowthorpe School merged into the Rhode Island School of Design and became the basis of RISD’s Landscape Architecture Department. Another prominent resident of the house in the 20th century was Dr. John Rock (1890-1984), a physician and scientist who worked nearby at the Massachusetts Hospital for Women. As a Catholic doctor, John Rock is best-known for two groundbreaking medical discoveries in women’s health: the birth control pill and in-vitro fertilization. Dr. John Rock and his lab technician, Miriam Menkin, were the first researchers to fertilize a human egg outside of a human body in February of 1944, this research was compounded and later led to in-vitro fertilization as we know it today. Additionally, while running his clinic, Dr. Rock encountered a number of women bearing unwanted children that they could neither afford financially nor handle physically. Rock observed numerous women who, after giving birth to multiple children, had prolapsed uteri, malfunctioning kidneys, and were prematurely aging. In 1952, Rock was recruited to investigate the clinical use of progesterone to prevent ovulation. Enovid, the brand name of the first pill, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and put on the market in 1957 as a menstrual regulator. In 1960, Enovid gained approval from the FDA for contraceptive use.

Loring-Sherburne House // 1883

One of the many great Queen Anne/Shingle style homes in Brookline is this residence at 92 High Street built for Thacher Loring (1844-1928), president and treasurer of the National Dock and Warehouse Company, of Boston, founded by his father, Elisha Thacher Loring. For their Brookline home, Mr. Loring hired architect, William Ralph Emerson, one of the great architects who mastered the Shingle style of architecture. The Loring Family lived here until the early 1900s, when they sold the property and moved to the Back Bay in Boston. The property was purchased by John Henry Sherburne (1877-1959), who lived here with his family for over sixty years. John Sherburne was an attorney, politician, and military officer who served during the Pancho Villa ExpeditionWorld War I, and World War II and attained the rank of brigadier general receiving numerous military awards, including the Silver Star and Purple Heart. During WWI, he commanded the U.S. Army’s first “negro” artillery battalion in France. After the war he testified before Congress about orders that pointlessly sent hundreds of U.S. soldiers from other units “over the top” to their deaths on the morning of November 11, 1918, when the armistice hour was already known. Following his World War I service, Sherburne advocated for civil rights for African Americans, including support for anti-lynching laws and from 1926 to 1931, he served on the board of trustees for Howard University. The Loring-Sherburne House is significant for its residents and for its architecture, including the use of brick and shingle siding, and the show-stopping recessed panel-wood entry with bulging shingles above.

Ambrose Burnside House // 1866

What do this unique Victorian house and sideburns have in common? Well, you are about to find out!

The Ambrose Burnside House is sited on an oddly shaped, and sloping corner lot on Benefit Street in Providence’s East Side neighborhood, and is one of the most unique Second Empire style residences in New England. The house was built in 1866 for General Ambrose Burnside (1824-1881), a Union general in the American Civil War, who returned to Providence and was about to begin a term as governor, followed by two terms in the United States Senate. Ambrose Burnside hired local architect, Alfred Stone, to design his new city mansion, which upon completion, was deemed one of the most “modern residences” in Providence. Built of brick with Nova Scotia stone with a concave slate mansard roof and one-of-a-kind rounded corner bay, the Ambrose Burnside House does not disappoint! Ambrose Burnside died in 1881 and the property was occupied by his sister-in-law until the property was sold in 1884 and housed the Providence Children’s Friend Society House for Aged Women and the Providence Association for the Benefit of Colored Children, providing shelter and food for elderly women and children of color without parents or guardians. After WWII, the Burnside House was converted to apartments.

Now, to the sideburns… Ambrose Burnside was noted for his unusual beard, joining strips of hair in front of his ears to his mustache but with the chin clean-shaven; the word burnsides was coined to describe this style. The syllables were later reversed to give sideburns.

Hope Block // 1869

The Hope Block on North Main Street in Providence’s East Side neighborhood is an architecturally significant commercial block in the Second Empire style. The masonry building was constructed in 1869 and is probably designed by architect, Clifton A. Hall, who designed similar buildings in the city around that time. The block was developed by Edward M. Young and Ezra P. Lyon of the firm, Young & Lyon to house their fruit and grocery store, which they operated here from 1870 until 1889. By the latter half of the 20th century, the building was owned by the Rhode Island School of Design, and rehabilitated for classrooms in 1984, even retaining the cast iron storefronts, unique arched windows, and slate mansard roof. Today, the Hope Block houses the RISD Store.

John E. Colcord House // c.1870

While Portsmouth, New Hampshire, is arguably best-known for Georgian and Federal style houses of the 18th and early 19th centuries, there are some great examples of Victorian style residences built after the Civil War to be discovered. This brick Second Empire style residence on Pleasant Street was built around 1870 and originally owned by Ebenezer Lord (1788-1877), who lived elsewhere in Portsmouth, likely gifting this home to his daughter, Susan (Lord) Colcord, and her husband, Charles Colcord. Both Charles and Susan died one year apart in 1872 and 1873 respectively, and the property was inherited by their son, John. John Edward Colcord worked as the Clerk at the Portsmouth Navy Yard. The building has a Mansard roof with overhanging eaves, denticulated cornice, and three shed-roof dormers at the facade. Walls are brick and rest on a granite foundation, with a later, wood-frame side addition that employs similar design details of the main house. 

Horatio Adams Stable // c.1880

This oversized stable and carriage house is located at 3 Maple Street in Kingston, Massachusetts and it dates to about 1880. The stable was built for Horatio Adams (1845-1911), a wealthy resident who operated a successful slaughterhouse and stockyards nearby along with maintaining stores adjacent to the nearby the train tracks. After Horatio Adams died, the stable was eventually purchased by Edgar W. Loring and converted to a cranberry screen & warehouse for his cranberry farm. The significant Queen Anne/Stick style building suffered from deferred maintenance by the late 20th and early 21st centuries, but was purchased in recent years and undergoing a restoration of the exterior. Does anyone know what its use is today?