{"id":250,"date":"2009-03-26T00:54:31","date_gmt":"2009-03-26T00:54:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mass.historicbuildingsct.com\/?p=250"},"modified":"2009-03-26T00:54:31","modified_gmt":"2009-03-26T00:54:31","slug":"8-walnut-street-boston-1811","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mass.historicbuildingsct.com\/?p=250","title":{"rendered":"8 Walnut Street, Boston (1811)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><center><img src='http:\/\/mass.historicbuildingsct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/8-walnut.jpg' alt='8-walnut.jpg' \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p>The initial construction of the Federal-style house at <a href=\"http:\/\/hdl.loc.gov\/loc.pnp\/hhh.ma1728\">no. 8 Walnut Street<\/a> in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.law.suffolk.edu\/about\/path\/page3.cfm\">Boston<\/a> was completed by 1811.  The building was enlarged later (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bosarchitecture.com\/beaconhill\/walnut\/8.html\">possibly around 1850<\/a>) and has since been <a href=\"http:\/\/www.residenceluxuryhomes.com\/viewAd.aspx?Ad_Seq=41160\">converted into condominiums<\/a>.  In the early nineteenth century, it was the home of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wgbh\/amex\/murder\/peopleevents\/p_parkman.html\">Dr. George Parkman<\/a>, a pioneer in the field of mental health and member of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wgbh\/amex\/murder\/peopleevents\/p_brahmins.html\">a prominent Boston family<\/a>.  In 1849, Dr. Parkman disappeared after a visit to collect debts owed to him by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wgbh\/amex\/murder\/peopleevents\/p_webster.html\">Dr. John Webster<\/a>, a professor of chemistry and mineralogy at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hms.harvard.edu\/about\/history.html\">Harvard Medical College<\/a>.  After parts of Dr. Parkman&#8217;s body were found in Dr. Webster&#8217;s laboratory, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wgbh\/amex\/murder\/peopleevents\/e_charge.html\">Webster was arrested<\/a> for <a href=\"http:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=-HIDAAAAQAAJ&#038;printsec=titlepage&#038;source=gbs_summary_r&#038;cad=0\">murder<\/a>.  The <a href=\"http:\/\/jimfisher.edinboro.edu\/forensics\/webster1.html\">1850 trial<\/a> was <a href=\"http:\/\/www.celebrateboston.com\/crimes\/murder\/georgeparkman.htm\">a sensational event<\/a> which prompted <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wgbh\/amex\/murder\/peopleevents\/e_media.html\">much media attention<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=Y_-G8myqb1cC&#038;printsec=titlepage&#038;source=gbs_summary_r&#038;cad=0\">public interest<\/a>.  Webster <a href=\"http:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=gpQ8AAAAIAAJ&#038;printsec=titlepage&#038;source=gbs_summary_r&#038;cad=0\">was convicted<\/a> and hanged for <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/George_Parkman\">the famous murder<\/a>.  In the twentieth century, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.trutv.com\/library\/crime\/notorious_murders\/classics\/george_parkman\/1.html\">interest<\/a> in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.spypondproductions.com\/parkman\/case_story.htm\">the case<\/a> and debates about Webster&#8217;s guilt <a href=\"http:\/\/www.geocities.com\/athens\/academy\/6422\/rev0968.html\">have continued<\/a>.             <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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&#8217;s body were found in Dr. Webster&#8217;s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,53,8],"tags":[41],"class_list":["post-250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boston","category-federal","category-houses","tag-beacon-hill"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mass.historicbuildingsct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mass.historicbuildingsct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mass.historicbuildingsct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mass.historicbuildingsct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mass.historicbuildingsct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mass.historicbuildingsct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mass.historicbuildingsct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mass.historicbuildingsct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mass.historicbuildingsct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}