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 FORTY OF 
 BOSTON'S 
 HISTORIC 
 HOUSES 
 
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FORTY OF BOSTON'S 
 HISTORIC HOUSES 
 
 A BRIEF 
 
 ILLUSTRATED DESCRIPTION 
 
 OF THE RESIDENCES OF HISTORIC CHARACTERS OF BOSTON 
 
 WHO HAVE LIVED IN OR NEAR THE 
 
 BUSINESS SECTION 
 
 PRINTED FOR THE 
 
 STATE STREET TRUST COMPANY 
 
 BOSTON MASSACHUSETTS 
 
COPYRIGHTED 
 igi2 BY THE 
 STATE STREET 
 TRUST COMPANY 
 
 COMPILED ARRANGED 
 AND PRINTED UNDER 
 THE DIRECTION OF THE 
 WALTON ADVERTISING 
 AND PRINTING COMPANY 
 BOSTON MASSACHUSETTS 
 
P 73.7 
 
 „ S 77 
 
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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2011 with funding from 
 
 Boston Library Consortium Member Libraries 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/fortyofbostonshi1912stat 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 IT gives the State Street Trust Company pleasure to 
 present to you the sixth of the historical monographs 
 relating to Boston that have been issued by the Com- 
 pany. The brochure presents illustrations and brief 
 sketches of the homes, in or near the business section, of 
 those who have been the leaders of Boston in art, science, 
 business, and politics. It does not aim to be a complete list 
 of such houses, but to present only forty of the most inter- 
 esting ones. 
 
 The State Street Trust Company desires to acknowledge 
 the courtesy of Dr. Samuel A. Green, of the Massachusetts 
 Historical Society, and Mr. Charles F. Read, of the Bos- 
 tonian Society. It also desires to acknowledge the courtesy 
 of Messrs. Little, Brown and Company, Houghton Mifflin 
 Company, and Mr. Charles H. Stark in permitting the use 
 of illustrations from some of their publications. 
 
 We hope that this small book may be of sufficient interest 
 to find a place in your library. 
 
fe, 
 
 
 THE OLD TRAVELLER BUILDING 
 
 AFTER THE ALTERATIONS OF THE ROGERS BUILDINGS 
 
 It is now the site of the Worthington Building, the new home of the State Street 
 Trust Company. On this site stood in 1650 the homestead of Elder Thomas 
 Leverett, who settled in Boston in 1633, and was with John Cotton one of the first 
 elders of the First Church. In 1709 the property was owned by Thomas MacCarty, 
 and was known as MacCarty's Corner. Here Benjamin Russell in 1784 began the 
 publication of the Columbian Sentinel. The Rogers Buildings, erected about 1800, 
 was one of the first brick blocks in Boston. It was sold in 1811 to James Harrison, 
 who in turn sold it to Daniel Dennison Rogers, when the block was known as Rogers 
 Buildings. In 1833 Henry B. Rogers, son of the former, sold it to Israel Thorndike, 
 and it became known as Thorndike's Buildings. In 1838 Israel Thorndike sold it to 
 the National Insurance Company, but it continued to be known as Thorndike's 
 Buildings until the Evening Traveller took up its quarters here in 185 1. It was known 
 as the Old Traveller Building from December, 185 1, to 1894, when it was torn down 
 to make way for the present Worthington Building, which was built in 1895. The 
 property from 1856 to 1884 was owned by Peter Chardon Brooks, or his estate. 
 Mr. Roland Worthington purchased it in April, 1884. 
 

 PROVINCE HOUSE 
 
 Washington Street 
 
 The house which later became the Province House was erected in 1679 by 
 Peter Sergeant, a leading Boston merchant of his time. In 1716, after Sergeant's 
 death, the estate was bought for twenty-three hundred pounds by the Province of 
 Massachusetts Bay as the official residence of the Royal Governors, all of whom 
 lived there. After the Revolution the residence, then the property of the State 
 of Massachusetts, was called the Government House for some years, and it later 
 became a tavern, and still later was the home of minstrelsy, a theatre having been 
 built within its walls. What remains of the Province House is now incorporated 
 into a business building, and a portion of the northern wall, probably the oldest 
 brickwork in the city, can be seen at the present time in the rear of 323 to 331 
 Washington Street, in that portion of the street known as Marlborough Street in 
 Provincial days. 
 
HANCOCK HOUSE 
 Beacon Street 
 
 The Hancock house was built in 1737 by Thomas Hancock, an eminent Boston 
 merchant of his day, who resided in it until his death in 1764. After the death of 
 his widow in 1776, it became the property and home of their distinguished nephew, 
 John Hancock, the patriot whose bold autograph was the first affixed to the Decla- 
 ration of Independence. He lived in the house until his death in 1795, which occurred 
 while he was filling the high office of Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachu- 
 setts. During the siege of Boston the Hancock house was a British military head- 
 quarters, and subsequently it was the scene of generous hospitality bestowed by its 
 wealthy owner on his distinguished friends. It was torn down in 1863, to the regret of 
 antiquarians, and its site is covered to-day by the estates 29 and 30 Beacon Street. 
 
FANEUIL-PHILLIPS HOUSE 
 
 Tremont Street 
 
 The Faneuil-Phillips house was built 1709 by Andrew Faneuil, a rich Boston 
 merchant, who was a French Huguenot by birth. At his death in 1738 the estate, 
 seven acres in extent, became by his will the property of his nephew, Peter Faneuil, 
 who continued to conduct the business and dispense the hospitality of the family. 
 As he was unmarried, he was assisted in the latter by his sister Mary Ann Faneuil, 
 who shared the family mansion with him. Peter Faneuil gave to the town of Boston 
 in 1742 the hall which bears his name and which has always been known as "The 
 Cradle of Liberty." After his death in 1743 the Faneuil house had several owners. 
 At the time of the Revolution one of the Vassall family owned it, and, they being 
 Tories, it was confiscated and sold in 1783 by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to 
 Isaiah Doane. It was the home of William Phillips, Lieutenant-Governor of the State 
 from 1812 until his death in 1827. In 1835, at the time of extensive operations on 
 Tremont Street, Tremont Row, and Pemberton Square, on the easterly slope of Pem- 
 berton Hill, the mansion was taken down and the acres covered with business build- 
 ings and residences. The site of the house is covered to-day by the Carney Building, 
 opposite King's Chapel Burying-ground. 
 
VASSALL HOUSE 
 
 Summer Street 
 
 The Vassall house was built on Seven Star Lane, now Summer Street, about 
 1727 by Leonard Vassall, a rich West Indian planter. At his death in 1737 the 
 estate, which measured sixty-eight by two hundred and sixty-eight feet, was sold 
 to Thomas Hubbard for six hundred pounds. It was the home for nearly forty years 
 of Thomas Hubbard, who was a distinguished Bostonian of his day and who was 
 treasurer of Harvard College for twenty-one years. It was next the property of 
 Frederick William Guyer, and, as he was a Loyalist, it was confiscated by the Com- 
 monwealth. It was, however, placed in Mr. Guyer's possession again in 1789, when 
 he returned to Boston and was restored to citizenship. In 1803, the year before he 
 died, Mr. Guyer sold the estate to Samuel P. Gardner, ancestor of the late John L. 
 Gardner, of Boston, and it is still in possession of that family. About 1843 this relic 
 of Provincial Boston was demolished, and the granite business building (now occu- 
 pied by the firm of C. F. Hovey & Co.) was erected on the site. 
 
FOSTER-HUTCHINSON HOUSE 
 Garden Court 
 
 The Foster-Hutchinson house was probably built by John Foster about the 
 year 1686, as in that year he bought the land, which became his estate, from Richard 
 Wharton. John Foster was a wealthy Boston merchant who was prominent in 
 official and military life. He died, intestate, in 1711, and his wife, surviving him 
 but two months, bequeathed the bulk of the family estate, including the "dwelling 
 or brick mansion," to her nephew, Captain Thomas Hutchinson. He and his dis- 
 tinguished son of the same name, who was Governor of Massachusetts Bay from 
 1 771 to 1774, occupied it in turn until 1765, when it was sacked by a mob who thus 
 showed their disapproval of Hutchinson's action, while Lieutenant-Governor, in the 
 enforcement of the obnoxious Stamp Act. The estate was later confiscated and 
 sold to William Little, merchant, and for many years appraiser at the Custom House, 
 who occupied it until his death in 1831. Another occupant at this time was Colonel 
 John P. Boyd, a brother of Mrs. Little, and Naval Officer of Boston in 1830. Like 
 its neighbor, the Clark-Frankland house, the Foster-Hutchinson mansion was demol- 
 ished in 1833, when Bell Alley was widened and made a continuation of Prince 
 Street. 
 
EBENEZER HANCOCK HOUSE 
 
 Marshall's Lane 
 
 There is to be seen at the present time in Marshall Street, opposite the "Boston 
 Stone," the ancient eighteenth-century building which was formerly the home of 
 Ebenezer Hancock, a younger brother of John Hancock, the patriot. Through the 
 latter's influence while President of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, 
 Ebenezer Hancock was appointed in 1776 Deputy Paymaster-General of the Con- 
 tinental Army. This appointment made his home an important place during the 
 Revolution for disbursement of money to the troops. Ebenezer Hancock, however, 
 left the house many years before his death in 1819, and by the year 1789 it had 
 become the property of Ebenezer Frothingham, a china and glass merchant, who 
 had his store in the first story. In 1798 Benjamin Fuller, a shoe dealer, also had 
 a shop in the building, and he in turn was followed about the year 182 1 by William 
 H. Learnard, who continued the shoe business until his death in 1886. The same 
 trade is carried on to-day in one of the stores, the rest of the ancient house being 
 devoted to restaurant and tavern purposes. 
 
DALTON HOUSE 
 
 Congress Street 
 
 James Dalton, a sea-captain, bought in 1756 an estate situated between Milk 
 and Water Streets, and on this estate built a mansion in 1758. At about this same 
 time a new street was laid out by the town of Boston, on which the house fronted. 
 This thoroughfare was called Dalton Street, and became Congress Street in 1800. 
 After Captain Dalton's death in 1783, the house was occupied by his son, Peter Roe 
 Dalton, who was Deputy Commissary-General of Supplies of Issue in the Conti- 
 nental Army. He was afterwards cashier of the Massachusetts Bank, and still later 
 cashier of the United States Branch Bank. His death occurred in the house in 181 1. 
 When the Dalton estate was sold, the front portion on Congress Street was covered 
 by a row of brick dwelling-houses, which were later altered into stores, as the locality 
 became devoted to business. These were in turn replaced by a granite business 
 structure, which bore the name Dalton Block. The estate is now the site of the 
 United States Post-office Building. 
 
REVERE HOUSE 
 
 North Square 
 
 The house in North Square which was for years the home of Paul Revere, the 
 Revolutionary patriot, was probably built about 1676, and was therefore almost 
 a century old when he bought it in 1770 for two hundred and thirteen pounds, six 
 shillings, eight pence. In this house his first wife, Sarah (Orne), died in 1773, and 
 to it he brought, in less than six months, his second helpmate, Rachel (Walker). 
 Here, also, were born the majority of his sixteen children. It was while living in 
 North Square that he did his patriotic service as the Messenger of the Revolution, 
 and he lived in the house until about 1788, when he removed to another house in 
 Charter Street. He bought, twelve years later, on the same street, the brick man- 
 sion in which he lived until his death. Revere was an engraver, a gold and silver 
 smith, and a bell and cannon founder, and specimens of his handicraft are now much 
 prized as heirlooms of an heroic past. He is said at one time to have acted as a 
 dentist. The patriot's home in North Square has been restored by the Paul Revere 
 House Association, and is a notable example of a humble home of the older time. 
 It is now one of the foremost attractions of the Old North End of Boston. 
 
■:■■-.-.. .-,. . 
 
 CAPEN HOUSE 
 
 Union Street 
 
 The Capen house, which still stands at Nos. 41 to 45 Union Street, bears evi- 
 dence, in its solid belted front wall and ancient roof, that it was built about the 
 beginning of the eighteenth century, although the northerly portion was apparently 
 built at a later period. It is one of the oldest buildings in that locality. Hopestill 
 Capen was a shopkeeper in this building for many years before his death in 1807, 
 and also a town official in Boston and a sergeant in the Ancient and Honorable 
 Artillery Company. He was "the master" to whom was apprenticed in 1763 
 Benjamin Thompson, of Woburn, Mass., who later became a distinguished scientist, 
 and was known as Count Rumford. Thomas Capen, a son of Hopestill Capen, suc- 
 ceeded his father as a shopkeeper in the old house, and owned the property at the 
 time of his death in 1819. It was then appraised at five thousand dollars, and it 
 is still assessed to the heirs of Thomas Capen. The oyster business has been con- 
 ducted in the Capen Building by tradesmen bearing the name of Atwood from the 
 year 1826 to the present time. It is also worthy of note that the Massachusetts 
 Spy was published in the building by Isaiah Thomas from 1771 to the beginning of 
 the Revolution, when it was removed to Worcester. 
 
BULFINCH HOUSE 
 
 Bowdoin Square 
 
 About 1724 John Coleman, a Boston merchant, gave adjoining lots of land in 
 that portion of Cambridge Street, West Boston, which is now known as Bowdoin 
 Square, to Dr. Thomas Bulfinch and Peter Chardon, who had married, respectively, 
 his daughters Judith and Sarah, and a house was soon built on each estate. Dr. 
 Bulfinch, who was a physician, lived with his family in the house that he built until 
 his death in 1757. His only son, Thomas Bulfinch, was likewise a physician, and 
 married in 1759 Susan, daughter of John Apthorp and grand-daughter of Stephen 
 Greenleaf, last Royal High Sheriff of Suffolk County. Dr. Bulfinch, the younger, 
 lived in the house until his death in 1802, and about then the estate was bought by 
 Joseph Coolidge, a Boston merchant, as a home for his son Joseph Coolidge, who had 
 married a daughter of Dr. Bulfinch. A son of Dr. Bulfinch was Charles Bulfinch, 
 who was born in the house in 1763. He was the distinguished architect who designed 
 the State House and many other notable buildings still standing in Boston and else- 
 where in New England. He was prominent in the civic affairs of the town of Boston, 
 serving as Chairman of the Board of Selectmen. Charles Bulfinch passed his latter 
 days in the old family home when it was in the possession of the Coolidge family. 
 The site of the Bulfinch house is now covered by a granite block which bears the 
 name Coolidge Building. 
 
ROWE HOUSE 
 
 Bedford Street 
 
 John Rowe, who was born in Exeter, England, in 1715, came to Boston about 
 1736, having then bought a warehouse on Long Wharf, and became one of its richest 
 merchants. He married in 1743 Hannah Speakman, but had no children. He 
 purchased in 1764 an estate on the northerly side of Pond Lane, now Bedford 
 Street, and built the house in which he lived until his death in 1787. In his pub- 
 lished diary he records as follows his removal into his new house: "Oct. 16, 1766, 
 Slept this night for the first time in our new house which is a Very Good, Hand- 
 some and Convenient house." John Rowe also owned a large tract of land opposite 
 his house, which extended from Bedford to Essex Street. Rowe Street, now a part 
 of Chauncy Street, was named for him. His diary shows us that he was intimate 
 with the wealthy and influential families of Boston, and his home was the scene 
 of many splendid entertainments. He was a warden of Trinity Church, a proprietor 
 of Long Wharf, a selectman, and served on various town committees. He was also 
 Grand Master of Masons of North America, receiving his commission in 1768 from 
 the Duke of Beaufort. The Rowe estate was sold in 181 7 by the heirs, Mrs. Rowe 
 having died in 1805, to Judge William Prescott, and he lived there until his death 
 in 1844, as did also his son, William Hickling Prescott, the historian. The house 
 was taken down in 1845, an d the site is now covered by the Bedford Street store of 
 the Jordan Marsh Company. 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS HOUSE 
 Corner of Boylston and Tremont Streets 
 
 In 1806 and 1807 John Quincy Adams, then a practising lawyer in Boston, and 
 son of John Adams, second President of the United States, bought two adjoining 
 estates at the corner of Frog Lane and Nassau Street, now Boylston and Tremont 
 Streets. In the home which Mr. Adams made for himself here his distinguished son, 
 Charles Francis Adams, was born, August 18, 1807. Mr. Adams, however, lived 
 here but a short time, for in 1809 he went with his family to Russia, having been 
 appointed by President Madison the first United States minister to that country. 
 John Quincy Adams never returned to Boston to live, for he was continuously in 
 public life in Washington and abroad, and served as the sixth President of the United 
 States from 1825 to 1829. The estate, however, remained in the possession of the 
 Adams family until recently. It was covered for some years by the Hotel Boylston, 
 and is now the site of the Hotel Touraine. The house is shown back of the lamp- 
 post. 
 
GARDINER GREENE HOUSE 
 Tremont Row 
 
 The house which bore the above name during the first third of the nineteenth 
 century was probably in its best days the most elegant residence in Boston, being 
 surrounded by spacious gardens and occupying the crest and eastern slope of Pem- 
 berton Hill, or, as it was first known, Cotton Hill. It was built about 1758 by 
 William Vassall, and in 1790 the estate became the property of Patrick Jeffry, who 
 was known as the second husband of the wronged but eccentric Madame Haley. 
 Jonathan Mason became the owner of the property in 1802, and in the following 
 year sold it to Gardiner Greene, who occupied it until his death in 1832. During 
 Greene's occupancy it was the scene of lavish hospitality. At the time of his death 
 the estate measured three hundred feet on Tremont Row, and was appraised at one 
 hundred and forty-two thousand dollars. Gardiner Greene's widow was a daughter 
 of John Singleton Copley, the eminent painter, and sister of Lord Lyndhurst, once 
 Lord Chancellor of England. She survived her husband more than thirty years. 
 When the great improvement of Tremont Street, Tremont Row, and Pemberton 
 Square was made in 1835, the Gardiner Greene estate was covered with buildings. 
 
PERKINS HOUSE 
 Pearl Street 
 
 James Perkins and his brother and business partner, Thomas Handasyd Perkins, 
 wealthy Boston merchants, purchased of Daniel McNeill in 1792 land on Pearl Street, 
 formerly Hutchinson Street, after the destruction by fire of the rope-walks on that 
 thoroughfare, and built thereon two homes. Colonel Thomas H. Perkins, a dis- 
 tinguished Bostonian of his time, occupied his house until about the year 1834, when 
 he removed to the new house which he had built in Temple Place, and which is now, 
 in an altered condition, the banking-room of the Provident Institution for Savings. 
 James Perkins, a short time before his death in 1822, gave his mansion to the Boston 
 Athenaeum, the institution acquiring additional land by purchase, and it was the home 
 of the Athenaeum from 1822 to 1849, when it removed to its present home on Beacon 
 Street. Soon after this last date the neighborhood of Pearl and High Streets be- 
 came a business locality, and the former hospitable mansion was swept away before 
 the march of improvement. James Perkins died at his summer estate "Pine Bank" 
 on Jamaica Pond, which is familiar to frequenters of the beautiful pleasure-ground, 
 Jamaica Park. 
 
JOHN PHILLIPS HOUSE 
 Beacon Street 
 
 The house which John Phillips, afterwards first mayor of Boston, built in 1804 
 at the corner of Beacon and Walnut Streets, was the first one built on Beacon Street 
 under the Copley title, Mr. Phillips having acquired his land from Jeremiah Mason. 
 Mason was one of the Mt. Vernon Proprietors, and had improved a large portion of 
 Beacon Hill at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Mr. Phillips occupied the 
 house until his death in 1823, and it was here that his distinguished son, Wendell 
 Phillips, was born in 181 1. After Mr. Phillips's death the estate was sold in 1825 
 by his heirs to Thomas Lindall Winthrop, Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts 
 from 1826 to 1832. Mr. Winthrop, having a large family, increased the size of the 
 house materially, and changed the location of the front door from Beacon to Walnut 
 Street. Mr. Winthrop died in 1841, and the estate was sold to Thomas Dixon, mer- 
 chant and Dutch consul at Boston. He lived there until his death in 1849. About 
 1861 the Phillips mansion was purchased by Robert M. Mason, who occupied it 
 until his death in 1879. It is now in the possession of his family. 
 
HARRIS HOUSE 
 Corner of Pearl and High Streets 
 
 About the year 1800 Jonathan Harris, a Boston merchant, built a large house 
 on the estate which he purchased at the corner of what is now Pearl and High Streets. 
 These streets were formerly Hutchinson Street and Cow Lane. Its great cost, how- 
 ever, ruined Harris, and he lived in it but a few years and died insolvent. The house 
 was therefore called Harris' Folly. Henderson Inches, a well-known merchant, was 
 a later occupant of the house or a portion of it, until his removal to Beacon Street 
 about 185 1, and we are told that it was then used for an asylum. When business 
 invaded the locality the house was taken down, and its former site was covered by 
 mercantile structures. These were consumed in the Great Fire of 1872, and others 
 which still stand took their place. The illustration shows "Harris' Folly" looming 
 in the background above the residence of Jeffrey Richardson, who was in his day 
 a well-known merchant of Boston. 
 
AMORY-TICKNOR HOUSE 
 Corner of Park and Beacon Streets 
 
 The house which, although much altered, still stands at the corner of Beacon and 
 Park Streets, was built about 1804 by Thomas Amory, a Boston merchant, but busi- 
 ness reverses prevented him from occupying it, and he removed to Roxbury. It 
 was later, with an extension, converted into several dwellings, and was for some 
 years occupied as a fashionable boarding-house. Several distinguished men were 
 occupants during the early part of the nineteeenth century, notably Christopher 
 Gore while Governor of Massachusetts, Samuel Dexter, an eminent lawyer and 
 cabinet officer under President Adams, and Fisher Ames, member of Congress. In 
 1825 the city of Boston rented a portion of the house on Park Street as a temporary 
 residence for General Lafayette, when he was a guest of the municipality. In 1830 
 George Ticknor, the historian, became an occupant of the easterly portion of the 
 Park Street side, and resided there until his death in 187 1. Here was his large library 
 of eighteen thousand volumes, and here his widow resided until her death. In 1885 
 the entire structure was given over to trade, and to-day it is the abode of many firms 
 in various lines of business. 
 
OTIS-AUSTIN HOUSE 
 
 Beacon Street 
 
 It still stands at 45 Beacon Street, retains practically its original outward ap- 
 pearance, and was built by Harrison Gray Otis, one of the Mt. Vernon Proprietors, 
 and mayor of Boston from 1829 to 1832. It is interesting to note that a city govern- 
 ment was once organized in this house by the mayor, owing to his indisposition at 
 the time. Mr. Otis first occupied the house in 1807, he having sold the large house 
 still standing on Mt. Vernon Street, which he had built previously. When the Beacon 
 Street mansion was built, the lot of land on which it stood measured one hundred 
 and twenty feet on Beacon Street, and it had a depth of one hundred and sixty-five 
 feet. Moreover, there was a garden on the easterly half of the lot. Mr. Otis, how- 
 ever, sold to David Sears a portion of his garden, on which he built his house. Mr. 
 Otis also built, between his house and Mr. Sears's, another house which he sold. After 
 Mr. Otis's death in 1848 the house was sold to Edward Austin, who occupied it until 
 his death in 1898. The estate is still in the possession of his relatives. 
 
LAWRENCE HOUSE 
 
 Tremont Street 
 
 In 1810 Charles Bulfinch, the eminent Boston architect, who was doing so much 
 at that time to beautify his native town, designed Colonnade Row, which embraced 
 the stately dwelling-houses on Tremont Street from West to Mason Street. It is 
 interesting to note that, after General Lafayette's visit to Boston in 1825, this por- 
 tion of Tremont Street was called Lafayette Place for several years, and that to-day 
 Lafayette Mall stretches southward on the Common from Park Street. In the year 
 1 82 1 Amos Lawrence, who became later one of Boston's eminent merchants and who 
 was associated with his equally distinguished brother, Abbott Lawrence, in the great 
 firm of A. & A. Lawrence & Co., bought of David Greenough for twenty thousand 
 dollars the easterly house of the Row, at the corner of West Street, and resided there 
 until his death in 1852. The estate is still in the possession of the Lawrence family, 
 and some years ago the attractive dwelling-house was replaced by a business struct- 
 ure bearing the name of the Lawrence Building. At the present time a more lofty 
 and ornate Lawrence Building is taking its place among the mercantile houses of 
 Boston. The house is shown on the left-hand side of the picture. 
 
HINKLEY HOUSE 
 
 Beacon Street 
 
 The double granite mansion which formerly stood at the corner of Beacon and 
 Somerset Streets was built after the War of 1812 by David Hinkley, a rich merchant, 
 who bought the land in 1810 of Jeremiah Allen, High Sheriff of Suffolk County. After 
 Mr. Hinkley's occupancy, for a few years before his death in 1825, it became the home 
 of Benjamin W. Crowninshield, who died in 1851. In 1852 the house became the 
 home of the newly formed Somerset Club, and was so used for twenty years, when 
 the club acquired by purchase the mansion house of David Sears on Beacon Street. 
 The easterly house on Beacon Street was occupied by Benjamin Wiggin, merchant, 
 whose death occurred about the year 1825. In 1825 the house was sold to Joseph 
 Peabody, of Salem, whose daughter, Catherine Peabody, had recently married John 
 L. Gardner of Boston, and the Gardners resided in the house for about forty years. 
 In 1872 the combined houses came into the possession of the Congregational Society, 
 which constructed stores on the first floor and used the upper part for society pur- 
 poses. In 1904 the Hinkley houses were taken down and a new building erected 
 on the site. It is now a portion of the store of the Houghton-Dutton Company. 
 
QUINCY HOUSE 
 Park Street 
 
 The house which stands at No. 5 Park Street, and is the third house in the fore- 
 ground, was built early in the nineteenth century, and was the home in which Josiah 
 Quincy passed the evening of his life. It has since been converted into offices. Quincy 
 bought the house in 1857 of William Gray, who had recently inherited it from his 
 uncle, Francis C. Gray, who resided there until his death. Josiah Quincy is best 
 remembered as the "Great Mayor" of Boston and as a great president of Harvard 
 University. His fellow-citizens placed him as well in other positions of trust and 
 honor. After resigning the presidency of Harvard University, he resided for several 
 years in Beacon Hill Place. From there he removed to Park Street, which was then 
 a beautiful residential street, facing the Common. He died in Quincy in the summer 
 of 1864. 
 
PRESCOTT HOUSE 
 Beacon Street 
 
 At No. 55 Beacon Street there stands a stately dwelling-house which was built 
 early in the nineteenth century. It was the home of the distinguished historian, 
 William Hickling Prescott, for the last fourteen years of his life, and in it he died in 
 1859. Mr. Prescott had lived with his family and parents in the Rowe mansion on 
 Bedford Street, formerly Pond Street, but in 1845, the y ear after the death of Judge 
 William Prescott, the estate was sold and the old house taken down. It was then 
 that the historian, who was at the height of his fame, bought the Beacon Street dwell- 
 ing from Augustus Thorndike, of Newport, R.I. It faced Boston Common, and was 
 an ideal home for a man of letters, containing Prescott's large library and a study in 
 which he did his literary work. 
 
PARKMAN HOUSE 
 
 Bowdoin Square 
 
 The large granite double house which stood for years at the western end of Bow- 
 doin Square was built about 1816 by Hon. Samuel Parkman, a rich merchant. He was 
 father of Dr. George Parkman, who was murdered in 1849 by John White Webster. 
 Samuel Parkman was the grandfather of Francis Parkman, the historian. Samuel 
 Parkman lived in the house at the corner of Green Street until his death in 1824. The 
 house at the corner of Cambridge Street was occupied by his son-in-law and daughter, 
 Mr. and Mrs. Edward Blake, Jr. Mr. Blake, however, died in 181 7, and his widow 
 lived in the house until her death in 1847, sharing it with her mother from 1824 until 
 her death in 1834. After Samuel Parkman's death his former home was occupied by 
 his son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Robert G. Shaw, and they lived there 
 until about the year 1840, when they removed to the corner of Beacon and Joy Streets. 
 Mr. Shaw was an eminent merchant, and was grandfather of Colonel Robert G. Shaw 
 who, at the head of his colored troops in the Civil War, gave his life for his country. 
 The Parkman houses, both falling into the possession of the Shaw family, remained 
 standing until a few years ago; and the site is now covered by a business structure 
 which bears the name Parkman Building. 
 
SEARS HOUSE 
 
 Beacon Street 
 
 There stands at No. 42 Beacon Street, facing Boston Common, the large and 
 elegant granite mansion which was built by David Sears, who inherited great wealth 
 from his father, David Sears, merchant. The western half of the house, two stories 
 in height and containing one circular bay, was built in 182 1. The entrance then was 
 on a court-yard on the easterly side of the house. In 1831 Mr. Sears doubled the size 
 of the house and made it three stories in height. This made the house the most 
 costly one of the day in Boston, and its owner lived in it until his death in 1871. 
 It became the property of the Somerset Club in 1872, and, even in these days of lux- 
 urious club-houses, makes an ideal home for Boston's representative club on Boston's 
 representative street. Hon. David Sears was in his day a leading citizen of Boston. 
 Born in 1787 on the same street on which he died eighty-three years later, his social 
 position was always high in his native town and city. He was also prominent in 
 political life, and served the Commonwealth in both branches of the legislature. His 
 charitable endowments were numerous and large, and endure to this day. 
 
WEBSTER HOUSE 
 
 Junction of Summer and High Streets 
 
 At the corner of Summer and High Streets stood for years the house which was 
 for ten years the home of Daniel Webster, whom Boston delighted to honor as the 
 first citizen of the city, and whose memory still lingers in the place of his adoption. 
 Mr. Webster first occupied the house about 1828, he having bought the estate in 
 1825, and he lived there until 1839, selling it in that year to Hon. Peter C. Brooks 
 for thirty-two thousand dollars. It was in 1830, during his residence in this house, 
 that Webster, then a leader in the United States Senate, made his celebrated 
 reply to Senator Hayne of South Carolina, in which he defended with his matchless 
 eloquence the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which had, in his own words, "kept 
 him in the councils of the nation for so many years." Peter C. Brooks, who lived 
 in the house until his death in 1849, was a distinguished Bostonian, and was reputed 
 to be one of the richest men of his day. He was the father-in-law of three eminent 
 citizens of Boston, — Hon. Edward Everett, Hon. Charles Francis Adams, and Rev. 
 Nathaniel L. Frothingham, D.D. When advancing trade swept away the man- 
 sions of Summer and High Streets, the house was taken down and a mercantile struct- 
 ure was erected in its place. After the Great Fire of 1872 a second building was 
 erected, which bears on its front wall the inscription "The Home of Daniel Webster." 
 The house appears in the center of the picture. 
 
EVERETT HOUSE 
 
 Summer Street 
 
 Hon. Edward Everett and his wife, Charlotte Gray, daughter of Hon. Peter C. 
 Brooks of Boston, became possessed of the estate 32 Summer Street by the divi- 
 sion of Mr. Brooks's property at the time of his death in 1849. Mr. Everett, who 
 had recently resigned the presidency of Harvard College, became the occupant of 
 the house in 1852, and resided there until his death in 1865. He was then by common 
 consent, the first citizen of Boston, and the announcement of his death called from 
 President Lincoln, only three months before his own death, a proclamation telling 
 the country that the sad event had taken place. Mr. Everett filled numerous offices 
 of trust and honor, the most important ones being those of Governor of Massachusetts, 
 Minister to England, and Secretary of State of the United States. He was an accom- 
 plished scholar, and also possessed great eloquence and charm of manner. These 
 combined to make his career one that will be long remembered. 
 
CHOATE HOUSE 
 Winthrop Place 
 
 The neighborhood of Church Green was a favorite residential locality for Bos- 
 tonians in the first half of the nineteenth century. At 3 Winthrop Place, now at the 
 western end of Devonshire Street, shown back of its lamp-post, was the house which 
 was the home of Hon. Rufus Choate, one of Boston's eminent citizens, from 1851 
 until his death in 1859. Mr. Choate bought the estate of William Ward, a Boston 
 business man, and Ward acquired it in 1846 from Isaac McLellan, merchant, who had 
 built it some years previously. It is interesting to note that during Mr. McLellan 's 
 occupancy of the house a reception was given there to General Lafayette, when 
 he visited Boston in 1825, by General William Hull, whose daughter married Mr. 
 McLellan. Rufus Choate's death, however, did not occur in this house. Owing to 
 failing health, he sailed for England in company with his son, but soon became so ill 
 that the steamship docked at Halifax, N.S., to put him ashore. He died there, July 
 13, 1859. Mr. Choate's attainments as a lawyer, scholar, and orator gave him great 
 prominence in the professional, social, and political life of Boston. He served in the 
 national House of Representatives and as United States senator from Massachusetts. 
 
CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS HOUSE 
 Mt. Vernon Street 
 
 The house at No. 57 Mt. Vernon Street has to-day the same outward appearance 
 as when it was built early in the nineteenth century. It was in 1842 the home of 
 Charles Francis Adams. He occupied it until his death. Mr. Adams, who married 
 in 1829 a daughter of Hon. Peter C. Brooks of Boston, was a prominent citizen for 
 many years, and had the distinction of being respectively grandson and son of the 
 second and sixth Presidents of the United States. He was elected in 1858 a mem- 
 ber of the national House of Representatives in the Thirty-sixth Congress, and at 
 the close of the session in 1861 was appointed United States minister to England 
 by President Lincoln. In this office, during the Civil War and for three years after- 
 wards, Mr. Adams served to the satisfaction of the nation. He returned to Europe 
 in 1 87 1 to represent the United States in the Alabama Claims Tribunal at Geneva, 
 Switzerland. The decision of the Tribunal, by which England paid to the United 
 States fifteen and a half millions of dollars, gave great satisfaction to Mr. Adams, and 
 he returned to his native land considering this to be the crowning achievement of 
 his life. Mr. Adams died in 1886 in the eightieth year of his age, and his widow 
 survived him less than three years. 
 
WENDELL PHILLIPS HOUSE 
 
 Essex Street 
 
 The modest dwelling No. 26, and later No. 50, Essex Street, was the home of 
 Wendell Phillips, the anti-slavery leader, from 1841 until the year 1882, when it was 
 taken down for the extension of Harrison Avenue from Essex to Bedford Streets. 
 While living in this house, Mr. Phillips accomplished his great work in the anti- 
 slavery cause, and he was aided in it by his wife, who, although a confirmed invalid 
 for more than forty years, was always deeply and actively interested in her husband's 
 labors for the African race. After leaving their old home in Essex Street in 1882, 
 Wendell and Ann Phillips removed to Common Street, a distance of half a mile. 
 There they found an old house on an old street, and in it they passed the evening 
 of their lives. He died in 1884, and she followed him in a little more than two years. 
 The illustration shows Mr. Phillips standing on the steps of his Essex Street home, 
 the front door of which is preserved in the Collections of the Bostonian Society. 
 
ANDREW HOUSE 
 
 Charles Street 
 
 A walk through Charles Street, which skirts the river from which the street de- 
 rives its name, shows us the house which was the home, during the closing years of 
 his life, of John Albion Andrew, who will ever be remembered as War Governor of 
 Massachusetts. In 1855 Mr. Andrew, who was then a practising lawyer in Boston, 
 removed his home from Hingham to Boston, and became the occupant of 71, now 
 no, Charles Street. He resided there, having purchased the estate in 1862, until 
 his death in 1867. He had been active for some years in the anti-slavery movement, 
 and, as a result, was elected Governor of Massachusetts in i860, at the opening of the 
 Civil War, and held that office until the close of the year 1865. His service to the 
 Commonwealth and the Nation during the Civil War makes a record of which Massa- 
 chusetts is justly proud. The tax upon Governor Andrew's strength during his term 
 of office as governor resulted in his death before he had attained the age of fifty years. 
 
TRINITY CHURCH RECTORY 
 
 Clarendon Street 
 
 The house, No. 233 Clarendon Street, at the corner of Newbury Street, is note- 
 worthy as having been the home of Phillips Brooks from the fall of 1880 until January 
 23, 1893, when he died within its walls, lamented by the entire nation. The house 
 is the rectory of Trinity Church, and as such was built conformably to the taste of 
 Dr. Brooks, then rector of the church. He was therefore its first occupant, and 
 he continued to reside in it after his election to the bishopric of Massachusetts in 
 1891. After Bishop Brooks's death, another story was added to the house, and it 
 was then occupied, until his death, by Rev. E. Winchester Donald, D.D., who suc- 
 ceeded Phillips Brooks as rector of Trinity Church, and it is now the home of Rev. 
 Alexander Mann, D.D., the present rector. Phillips Brooks was a favorite son of 
 Boston. Born within its walls in 1835, he was educated at Harvard College, and 
 afterwards for the ministry in Virginia. Returning to his native city in 1869, after 
 a rectorate in Philadelphia, he devoted the remainder of his life to the moral and 
 religious uplift of his fellow-citizens. It is no exaggeration to say that Phillips 
 Brooks was the best-known and best-beloved preacher who ever occupied the pulpit 
 in this country. 
 
HOLMES HOUSE 
 
 Beacon Street 
 
 The house No. 296 Beacon Street, with the bay window, is of interest to Boston- 
 ians as having been the home of Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, professor and poet, from 
 the year 187 1 until his death in 1894. The house is on the water side of Beacon Street. 
 Dr. Holmes was professor of anatomy and physiology at the Harvard Medical School 
 for many years, and as such was the instructor of students who became distinguished 
 physicians and surgeons. He was even more widely known as one of the group of 
 men of letters who made Boston famous as a literary centre in the middle of the nine- 
 teenth century. He was a frequent contributor to literary as well as medical pub- 
 lications and periodicals. Besides his poems and his best-known novel, "Elsie 
 Venner," he wrote several books of essays, the best known being "The Autocrat of 
 the Breakfast Table." After the appearance of the last-named volume, Dr. Holmes 
 was always known as "The Genial Autocrat." 
 
MELVILLE HOUSE 
 Green Street 
 
 The home of Thomas Melville, the last of the " cocked hats" in Boston, stood for 
 many years on Green Street, formerly Green Lane, near Bowdoin Square. He bought 
 the estate, a part in 1788 and a part in 1800, and lived in the comfortable house 
 erected there for about forty years. He is recorded as a resident of Green Street 
 as early as 1796, and he died there in 1832. Major Melville — for such was his title — 
 was a well-known citizen of Boston for many years. He participated in the Boston 
 Tea Party in 1773, served in the Revolutionary War, and was Naval Officer and 
 Surveyor of the Port of Boston from 1789 to 1829. He was popularly known as the 
 last man in Boston to wear a cocked hat and knee-breeches, and as such was immor- 
 talized by the poet Oliver Wendell Holmes, who wrote of him in his poem "The 
 Last Leaf": — 
 
 "I know it is a sin 
 For me to sit and grin 
 
 At him here; 
 But the old three-cornered hat 
 And the breeches and all that 
 
 Are so queer." 
 
DEACON HOUSE 
 
 Washington Street 
 
 This mansion was built on Washington Street at the South End about 1848 by 
 Peter Parker, a wealthy Boston merchant, for his son-in-law and daughter, Mr. 
 and Mrs. Edward Preble Deacon. It was designed like a French chateau, and the 
 extensive grounds which surrounded it were enclosed by a high brick wall. The 
 entrance to the house was on Concord Street, through double gates, beside which was 
 a porter's lodge. The Deacon family lived, however, but a few years in the great 
 house, and went abroad, where Mr. Deacon died about the year 1851. Mrs. Deacon 
 and her children returned to America, and lived again in the house, but later returned 
 to Europe to live permanently. The house and its contents were sold at auction 
 on the first three days of February, 187 1, soon after the death of Peter Parker, and 
 the event was a noteworthy one, as thousands of Bostonians, admitted by ticket, 
 crowded the mansion before the sale to view the splendor of the house, furniture, 
 and works of art. The estate is now practically covered with buildings, but a portion 
 of the mansion still stands, and on it the passer-by on the elevated train reads the 
 words "Deacon Halls." 
 
GARRISON HOUSE 
 Highland Street, Roxbury 
 
 At 125 Highland Street, Roxbury, on an elevation thirty feet above that thor- 
 oughfare, stands "Rockledge," which was for the last fifteen years of his life the 
 home of William Lloyd Garrison, the anti-slavery leader. He died in the city of 
 New York in 1879, while there on a visit. Mr. Garrison removed to Roxbury in 1864, 
 after having lived in Dix Place, Boston, for eleven years. It was in Dix Place in 
 the years preceding the Civil War that he accomplished so much of his great work 
 in the cause of the abolition of slavery, but " Rockledge " was the suburban home in 
 which he passed the last part of his life. His former residence is now occupied as 
 the Saint Monica Home for Aged Colored People. William Lloyd Garrison's career 
 is a part of the history of Boston, and indeed of the country. It was said of him, when 
 he died, by a metropolitan newspaper which had reviled him when living, that his 
 life "was lived with a simplicity, singleness of purpose, and unflinching devotion to 
 a self-imposed task rare in the annals of any time or any land." 
 
HALE HOUSE 
 Highland Street, Roxbury 
 
 At 39 Highland Street, Roxbury, near Eliot Square, stands a house of generous 
 proportions, showing a two-storied Ionic portico in front. It was the home for forty 
 years of Rev. Edward Everett Hale, D.D., who was called at the time of his death 
 " Boston's Grand Old Man." In 1869 Dr. Hale bought the estate, which had been 
 the home of William Goddard, and he lived there until his death in 1909. Edward 
 Everett Hale, who was born in Boston in 1822, was a son of Hon. Nathan Hale, a 
 well-known Bostonian of his time, and he was named for his uncle, the distinguished 
 Edward Everett. He was a lineal descendant of Nathan Hale, the martyr spy of 
 the Revolution. He was educated at Harvard College, and became a clergyman, 
 but he was also widely known as an author. Countless productions of his pen have 
 been published, and some of his stories, notably "The Man without a Country," are 
 classics. Dr. Hale, for the greater part of his long life, was a leader in the religious, 
 philanthropic, and literary activities of his native city. He was known nation-wide 
 as the founder of the " Lend-a-Hand " movement. 
 
BOSTON 
 
 SPLLEGE 
 
 3 9031 028 25743 
 
 DOES 
 
 NOT CIRCULATE