Old Curtis Farm

I remember this old house beside the Curley school as a funeral home. Many such large old houses had been turned into funeral homes, nursing homes and fraternity houses by the 1960s, and most have now been recycled again into condos. The Curtis family was one of the first to settle Jamaica Plain, and the original homestead, located near today's Stony Brook T stop, survived to the 1880s. The story is that the first Curtis settled on the Centre street land in the 1720s with a horse and a slave. Later, one of his descendants would be one of the first tenants to sell produce at Quincy Market.

Boston Globe September 13, 1970

Old Curtis farm

Jamaica Plain mansion has 18th century flavor

Most of the inhabitants of Jamaica Plain wold be astounded by the changes made during the past 100 years in their pleasant community. In the Civil War period, this area was a part of West Roxbury. The city of Boston later separated the portion near Jamaica Pond to make the present-day suburb with its imposing mansions, built on ample, landscaped grounds.

Once Farm

All of this land, 100 acres or more, was the Curtis farm 250 years ago. It was owned by Joseph and Charles Curtis, brothers, who built the original house at 509 Center(sic) St, in 1721. This house is still standing by is swallowed up by the huge mid-Victorian structure that Charles E.Curtis added at the front several generations later, in 1862 [This is wrong. The JP Historical Society cites an 1882 date, which would make it an early shingle design].

To the casual passerby it's a typical three-story house of the period that was marked by grotesque architecture. It has all the gingerbread found in such houses and some features all its own. Shingles on two upper floors are cut in fanciful designs, each floor in a different pattern. A large dormer has an elaborate hand carving in a floral design. The tallest pinnacle of the roof is adorned with a bronze or copper griffin, covered with the green patina of age.

The exterior is substantially the same as the day it was built, but the interior has modern improvements, including hot water heat in the 14 rooms, to take over the function of the 10 fireplaces that were in use a century or so ago.

And inspection of the house shows some unusual features. The large rooms on the first floor have lofty ceilings and appear to have no doors, but each room can be shut off from the others by simply pressing a button in a partition. A handsome 1-2 paneled double door then slides out to close the opening into the next room.

Fireplaces

Each of the fireplaces has a mantel of different design in natural-grained hardwood.

The front entrance hall is probably unique in New England. It has a pipe organ on the stairway, whose console is 20 feet or more away in another room. Across the hall is the music room and the broad landing is lighted by two stained glass windows. A long maple settee is set against some fine oak paneling. The newel post is of hand-carved maple, as are the ornate balusters that support the rail of the winding stair.

A handsome antique crystal chandelier hangs from the ceiling. Bernard Gateley long a custodian of the house says it was rescued in 1862 from an old Boston dwelling that was being demolished.

When you step into the rear rooms you get the full early 18th century flavor. The ceilings are so low that a six-footer can lay the palm of his hand up against them. Summer beams, now encased, support the upper floors. The gunstock corner posts hold up long exposed timbers, all part and parcel of Early American post-and-plank construction. The rafters of the original attic are held together by wooden pegs. The smoking lounge in this section is paneled in wormy ash, no doubt an 1862 improvement.

The front yard of the half acre surrounding the Curtis house has the oldest beech tree in New England and also a large elm at least 300 years old.

The original Curtis farm extended north to Jamaica Pond and the Brookline town line; west to Beaufort rd. and east to Halifax st.

Early in the 1900s it was cut into house lots and the Jamaicaway was built through the backyard. Four other new streets were laid out - Lochstead av., Pershing rd., Moraine st. and Pond View av.

The residence of former Mayor James M. Curley is nearby, now a home of the Oblate Fathers, and the Mary E. Curley school, with its 20 new rooms, is virtually in the Gormley's backyard.

Mystery House

New York Public Library - Digital Gallery. (click on photo to enlarge).



This house looked familiar, but I have to confess that I had to put some concentrated brain power to work to figure out where I had seen it. . It's still around, so where is it? No cheating if you know already.

Mansard Roof Houses in Jamaica Plain

I just added another slide show to the site. It makes things a little busy, and perhaps too slow to load, so I'll think about rotating the three of them through one at a time. I tried to choose houses that gave the variety of house styles found under Mansard roofs. The Mansard style of roof came from France. It had a long history in France, but became popular in Paris during the Second Empire of Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III). The story is that in Paris, buildings were taxed on the basis of floors (storys) "under the roof." Since the Mansard style had one full floor within, and not under (below) the eaves of the sharply sloping roof, that top floor was not taxed. One would think that the French tax collectors would have seen through the ruse, but that is the story as it comes down to us.

The style moved to England in the 1850s, and to the United States a decade later. The classic exemplar of the style would be the Second Empire building. Generally designed by trained architects, a Second Empire house consists of a suite of stylistic elements - many shared with the Italianate style - topped off by a Mansard roof. To be clear, while all Second Empire houses have Mansard roofs, not all houses with Mansard roofs are Second Empire. Once builders learned to construct Mansard roofs, they began putting them on top of houses without the rest of the elaborate Second Empire stylistic elements. The houses in the slide show run the gamut from High Second Empire to worker's cottage. For a while during the early 1870s, it seems as if no newly constructed house in Jamaica Plain was safe from having a Mansard roof dropped on to it. Some older houses actually had Mansard roofs added to them, to keep them in the latest style. When we see a house dated from the early 1800s with a Mansard hat sitting on its head, we know the house has had some major reconstruction done.

You'll find beautiful restored Mansard houses on Sumner Hill, Chestnut avenue and Burroughs street, and rows of simple worker's homes on Seaverns avenue and Jess street. Although brick wasn't often used in Jamaica Plain, there are brick row houses on Greenough avenue and a lonely singleton on Rockview street (all of the above appear in the slide show).

The Boston Weed

I've added a new slide show - three decker houses. Jamaica Plain didn't get the mass of similar three deckers that Dorchester did, and there is much variety represented in the Jamaica Plain buildings. Some are double three deckers - six unit buildings - and others have been ornamented with Italianate or Queen Anne elements. There are even brick versions. Three deckers - the "Boston Weed" - were the scourge of certain "reformers," the cause of fire and disease. Of course, those reformers didn't live in such buildings, and never thought to ask the residents their opinions. Truth be told, they were highly efficient in their use of available land, they allowed resident children a yard in which to play, served as an entry into the housing market for the working class, and their standard floor plans made for quick and inexpensive construction. The more elaborate "dandified" three unit houses could hardly be called tenements, and allowed builders and owners to set themselves off from the common three decker box. All in all, a design for Boston to be proud of.

One Hundred Years of Jamaica Plain Architecture

I did a photographic survey of the older houses in Jamaica Plain this year, and I've been looking for something to do with them. Here, I've decided to show the oldest houses with dates taken mostly from the Landmark Commission survey of Jamaica Plain buildings. This is not a comprehensive survey, but a "most information with the least effort" listing. The dates for many houses show a range; for example, "between 1858-1874." The dating was done with maps and directories, so in this case the house doesn't show up in an 1858 directory, but does in an 1874 map. Deeds tell when land was purchased, but not when houses were built, so getting exact dates is impossible in many, if not most cases. The dates come mostly from the Landmark Commission survey of Jamaica Plain buildings that was done in the 1980s - I'll post the reference soon. I've put them in approximate order, with a cutoff of about 1874. Why 1874? It includes all the oldest houses, and leaves the Queen Anne houses for another time. I will be adding houses as I find the time and the energy. The main intent is to allow you to scroll down the page and see how house styles changed over time. Enjoy.

Note: You can see these and many more pictures of pre-20th Century Jamaica Plain houses at the J.P. Historical Society web site here.




Loring-Greenough House - 1760




1085 Centre street - by 1796



526 Centre street - by 1806



812-814 Centre street - between 1802-1810



1090 Centre street - 1820s


48 Goldsmith street - probably pre-1830; moved from another location.


52 Eliot street - 1822-1843.


50 Eliot street - between 1822-1843.



991 Centre street - by 1832, possibly 18th century.




1011 Centre street - by 1832.



1 Dane street - 1833-1834.



800 Centre street - by 1847


45R Green street - around 1842.



33-35 Green street - 1840-41.



47 Eliot street - by 1843.


305 Chestnut avenue - 1844-48.




63 May street - 1840s.


5 Eliot place - between 1843-1854.


20 Seaverns avenue - 1845-1846.



18 Seaverns avenue - 1845-1846.



14 Seaverns avenue - 1840-1845.




28 Lakeville, between 1842-1845.


317 Lamartine street - between 1843-1858.



28 Cheshire street - between 1849-58.



242 Pond street - between 1849-1859.


85 May street - between 1848-1859.


27 Eliot street - around 1850.



146 Forest Hills street - 1852.


11 Harris avenue - 1850s.


83 Elm street - 1854-55.



9 Harris avenue - between 1850-1858.



16-18 Harris avenue - 1852-1859.



1-2 Greenough park - front, 1856; back, later addition.



793 Centre street - 1854-59




252 Chestnut avenue - probably by 1858.



6 Marlou terrace - by 1858.



11 Newsome park - by 1859.




195 Chestnut avenue - 1858-59.




268 Chestnut avenue - probably by 1858; by 1866.



253 Lamartine street - between 1858-1871.



17 St John street - between 1849-1856.



101 McBride street - around 1864.


7 Revere street - 1865-1866.



233 Chestnut avenue - possibly by 1867; by 1871




41 Clive street - between 1866-1877.


223 Chestnut avenue - by 1868.



244 Chestnut avenue - probably by 1865; by 1871.



61 Pond street - between 1859-1874.




9 Myrtle street - 1859-1863.



8 Myrtle street - 1859-1863.



22 Orchard street - between 1859-1874.



57 Orchard street - between 1859-1874.




45 Orchard street - betwen 1859-1874.





21 Myrtle street - 1859-1874.




18 Myrtle street - 1859-1874.




11 Myrtle street - 1859-1874.



180 Moss Hill road - 1855-1874.




85 McBride street - 1866-1874.


88 Seaverns avenue - around 1870


84 Seaverns avenue - around 1870.




90 Seaverns avenue - around 1870.





73 Elm street - around 1875.


5 Eliot street - between 1859-1874.



28 Eliot street - between 1874-1884.



7 Eliot place - by 1875.


15 Custer street - between 1859-1874



145 Chestnut avenue - by 1872.



803 Centre street - between 1871-74



271-273 Chestnut avenue - by 1874.