This brick Federal home was built in 1802 for John Callender (1772-1833). He attended Harvard and after graduation, was admitted to practice before the Suffolk County Court of Common Pleas. Callender would go on to serve as clerk of the Supreme Judicial Court from 1815 until his death in 1833. When he was just a Clerk working at the Supreme Judicial Court, he purchased a small parcel of land from for $2,000. Callender subsequently built “a small house finished for little money $5,000-$7,000.” Callender lived here until at least the early 1820s. In the 1820s, the grade of Walnut Street was lowered and a basement facade with heavy granite blocks was added to the home, with a new front door, shifted from Mount Vernon Street. It is then that the home was likely added onto with the 3 1/2-story look we see today. The house is constructed of wood with brick end walls and flushboard siding on the Mount Vernon facade to replicate masonry.The home was acquired by members of the illustrious Lyman Family of Boston, who resided there until the early 20th century.

The home was purchased by Ellery Sedgwick, the long-time editor of the Atlantic Monthly (now The Atlantic), and he enjoyed celebrity status during his tenure in the 1920s. His first wife, Mabel Cabot Sedgwick, was a well-known horticulturist, writing the The Garden Month by Month, which still graces gardeners’ bookshelves today. Not long after they moved into this mansion on Beacon Hill, the Sedgwicks built a summer home called Long Hill in Beverly, MA, which is now owned by the Trustees (and was featured on here previously). The home was renovated in recent years and is listed for sale for a cool $12.7 million!