Historic Buildings of Massachusetts

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.

13 Chestnut Street, Boston (1806)

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

The three houses at nos. 13, 15 & 17 Chestnut Street, on Beacon Hill in Boston, were built in 1806 and designed by Charles Bulfinch. These three adjoining houses are known as the Swan Houses, after the heiress, Hepzibah Swan, who had them built as wedding gifts for her three daughters, who were married in 1806, 1807 and 1817. The houses are regarded as among the most architecturally significant on Chestnut Street. They feature recessed arches on the ground floor above stone string courses, while above are tall windows featuring wrought-iron balconies, which emphasize the importance of the second floor, which has double living rooms. Stairs lead to the houses’ basements from street level. The house at no. 13 was occupied by Swan’s daughter, Mrs. John Turner Sargent. From 1863 to 1866, the house was rented to the humanitarian and abolitionist couple, Samuel Gridley Howe and his wife, Julia Ward Howe, author of The Battle Hymn of the Republic. Starting in 1867, Julia Ward Howe held meetings of the Radical Club in the house.

Durant-Kenrick House (1732)

by Dan/March 22, 2009September 17, 2016/Colonial, Houses, Newton

One of Newton’s few surviving pre-Revolutionary War houses is the Durant-Kenrick House on Waverly Avenue. Built in 1732 by Capt. Edward Durant, the house was constructed on land which had once been the Praying Indian Village of Nonantum, established in 1646 by Rev. John Eliot of Roxbury as the first Christian Indian community in British North America. In 1790, the Durant House and farm were acquired by John Kenrick, an abolitionist and noted horticulturist who started a commercial nursery in the 1790s. After his death, one son, William Kenrick, inherited the nursery, while another, John A. Kenrick, inherited the family homestead. William Kenrick, a founding member of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, was even more influential than his father, authoring two important works: The New American Orchadist (1833) and The American Silk Grower’s Guide (1835). The Newton Historical Society and the Newton History Museum are seeking to acquire a the Homestead and the remaining open space on the property.

Jackson Homestead (1809)

by Dan/March 22, 2009September 17, 2016/Federal, Houses, Newton

In about 1670, Edward Jackson built a saltbox house on his farmland in a section of Cambridge south of the Charles River in what is today the City of Newton. Edward was involved in the movement to seperate Newton from Cambridge. His son, Sebas Jackson also lived in the house, followed by his son Joseph and then his son, Lt. Timothy Jackson, who died in 1774. Over these years, the original property was subdivided. Lt. Timothy Jackson’s widow, Sarah Smith Jackson, was left to look after the farm, while her son, Maj. Timothy Jackson, fought in the Revolutionary War. In 1809, Timothy replaced the old homestead with a new mansion house in the Federal style. After his death in 1814, with his sons having moved to Boston, the house was rented to a farmer, but eventually Timothy’s son, William Jackson, who, like his father had a notable public career, moved into and the house in 1820 and enlarged it. William started a soap and candle factory and a was a general agent for the Boston and Worcester Railroad and ensured that the line would be routed through Newton.

William Jackson’s house is well documented to have been a station on the Underground Railroad. William’s brother, Francis Jackson, was also an abolitionist and a colleague of William Lloyd Garrison. Francis was the author of A History of the Early Settlement of Newton (1854). After William’s death in 1855, his widow, Mary Bennett Jackson, and three unmarried daughters occupied the house. One of these daughters. Ellen Jackson, wrote a memoir of growing up in the home called Annals from the Old Homestead (1895). William’s decedents lived in the homestead until 1932, when it was rented. The Jackson Homestead was later owned by Frances Middendorf, who left it to the City in 1949. It became the Netwon History Museum in 1950. There is a pdf document with further details about the Homestead and the Jackson family.

48 Mount Vernon Street, Boston (1825)

by Dan/March 21, 2009March 23, 2009/Boston, Federal, Houses

Nos. 44, 46 and 48 Mount Vernon Street in Boston were built in the 1820s and are typical examples of the smaller houses found on the south slope of Beacon Hill. Frances Weston Carruth, in Fictional Rambles in & about Boston (1902) identified No. 48 (c. 1825) as William Dean Howells‘s inspiration for the home of the Coreys in The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885). Victorian Boston Today (2004), on the other hand, notes that Carruth’s photograph and the description in the novel do not fit no. 48 and that therefore no. 45 is the correct address.

66 Mt. Vernon Street, Boston (1809)

by Dan/March 20, 2009/Boston, Federal, Houses

Jeremiah Gardner was a noted house builder in Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood. Builders and housewrights would often construct a row of houses, taking one of them as their fee. Gardner built the 1809 house at 66 Mt. Vernon Street for himself. In the early twentieth century, the house was the residence of Arthur A. Shurtleff, a landscape architect. Shurtleff (who later changed his name to Shurcliff) designed such gardens as the Japanese Garden at Bellarmine Hall at Fairfield University and was also involved in urban planning.