Houses – Page 64 – Historic Buildings of Massachusetts

87 Mount Vernon Street, Boston (1805)

by Dan/March 27, 2009/Boston, Federal, Houses

No.87 Mount Vernon St. (right); No. 89 (left)

In 1805, Charles Bulfinch began building twin houses on the adjoining lots at nos. 87-89 Mount Vernon Street in Boston, which he had purchased from Harrison Gray Otis. There is an unverified story that he had intended one to be his own home, but facing financial difficulties, he sold them: no. 87 to Stephen Higginson, Jr., the father of Thomas Wentworth Higginson, and no. 89 to David Humphreys. The two buildings were set back from the street in order to line up with the adjacent Second Harrison Gray Otis House, also designed by Bulfinch. No. 89 was later replaced by a new building, which was later remodeled in the Colonial Revival style. No. 87 was, for a time, the residence of Gen. Charles J. Paine, a Civil War general and yachtsman. Since 1955, it has been the home of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts.

86 Pinckney Street, Boston (1840)

by Dan/March 26, 2009March 26, 2009/Boston, Federal, Houses

John J. Smith was born a free black in Richmond, VA and later moved to Boston, where he became a barber. His shop, on the corner of Howard and Bulfinch Streets, was a center of abolitionist activity and abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner could frequently be found there. Smith’s wife, Georgiana, was active in the effort to integrate Boston’s public schools. During the Civil War, Smith recruited for the Fifth Cavalry, an all black unit. After the War, Smith served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Smith, who died in 1906, lived at 86 Pinckney Street in Boston (built in 1840) from 1878 to 1893. The house is a stop on the Black Heritage Trail.

8 Walnut Street, Boston (1811)

by Dan/March 26, 2009/Boston, Federal, Houses

The initial construction of the Federal-style house at no. 8 Walnut Street in Boston was completed by 1811. The building was enlarged later (possibly around 1850) and has since been converted into condominiums. In the early nineteenth century, it was the home of Dr. George Parkman, a pioneer in the field of mental health and member of a prominent Boston family. In 1849, Dr. Parkman disappeared after a visit to collect debts owed to him by Dr. John Webster, a professor of chemistry and mineralogy at Harvard Medical College. After parts of Dr. Parkman’s body were found in Dr. Webster’s laboratory, Webster was arrested for murder. The 1850 trial was a sensational event which prompted much media attention and public interest. Webster was convicted and hanged for the famous murder. In the twentieth century, interest in the case and debates about Webster’s guilt have continued.

59 Mount Vernon Street (1837)

by Dan/March 25, 2009March 27, 2009/Boston, Greek Revival, Houses

An earlier entry on this blog featured no. 59 Mt. Vernon Street in Boston together with nos. 55-57, but this house is architecturally and historically significant and deserves it’s own seperate entry. Considered to be the great example of Greek Revival architecture on Beacon Hill, the 1837 house was designed by Edward Shaw, an architect and author of such works as Civil Architecture (1831), Operative Masonry (1832), and The Modern Architect (1854). The house was home to Thomas Bailey Aldrich, who replaced William Dean Howells as editor of the Atlantic Monthly in 1881. Aldrich was also an author and poet. Images of the house’s great Greek Revival doorway appear in two books about Aldrich: The Life of Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1908) by Ferris Greenslet and Crowding Memories (1920) by Lilian Woodman Aldrich.

Middleton-Glapion House (1790)

by Dan/March 24, 2009September 17, 2016/Boston, Federal, Houses

The oldest surviving house built by African-Americans on Boston’s Beacon Hill is the Middleton-Glapion House at 5-7 Pinckney Street. It is also the oldest standing private residence on Beacon Hill. The house has two street numbers because it was originally home to two bachelor friends: George Middleton was a black liveryman and a veteran of the Revolutionary War, who had led the all black company called the Bucks of America; Louis Glapion was a French mulatto barber, who used his half of the house for his work. The property was purchased by the two men in 1786 and a house was first assessed in 1791. The original house was one story. Today it has two stories, but the first floor matches the earliest descriptions. The house is on the Black Heritage Trail.

8 Chestnut Street, Boston (1804)

by Dan/March 24, 2009/Boston, Federal, Houses

The double house at nos. 6-8 Chestnut Street in Boston was originally a freestanding building, each half having its own side garden and stables. Built in 1804 for Charles Paine (son of Robert Treat Paine, a signer of the Declaration of Independence) and attributed to Charles Bulfinch, they were purchased in the 1830s by the merchant and architect Cornelius Coolidge. He built houses on the two side lots, making nos. 6-8 part of a row. No. 8 was later the home of George Parsons Lathrop, an editor of the Atlantic Monthly and author of A Study of Hawthorne (1876), and of his wife, Hawthorne’s daughter, Rose Hawthorne Lathrop, who later became a Catholic nun and wrote Memories of Hawthorne (1897). The two seperate homes at nos. 6-8 were later joined inside and, since 1957, the building has been used by the Society of Friends.

40-42 Mount Vernon Street, Boston (1850)

by Dan/March 23, 2009March 23, 2009/Boston, Houses, Italianate

The pair of brownstone houses at nos. 40-42 Mount Vernon Street on Beacon Hill were built by the Boston merchant Augustus Hemenway on the site of an earlier 1822 mansion he had demolished. By that time, advances in structural technology allowed the construction of these large and very fashionable buildings. The World Peace Foundation owned the buildings for many years in twentieth century, but they have since been converted into condominiums.