Nomination for Peabody, The

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service JUL 5 2001 National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NAT. REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES NATIONAL PARK SERVICE This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form (National Register Bulletin 16A). Complete each item by marking "x" in the appropriate box or by entering the information requested. If any item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions. Place additional entries and narrative items on continuation sheets (NPS Form 10-900a).

Use a typewriter, word processor, or computer, to complete all items. 1. Name of Property historic name THE PEABODY other names/site number 2. Location street & number_ 195-197 Ashmont Street -_ not for publication city or town Boston (Dorchester) _ vicinity state_ Massachusetts _ code_MA county Suffolk code 025 zip code 02124 3. State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1986, as amended, 1 hereby certify that this L nomination - nationally O statewide Tocally. (- See continuation sheet for additional comments.) Brona smon Signature of certifying official/Title Brona Simon Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer, Massachusetts Historical Commission fure 27, 2001 Date State or Federal agency and bureau In my opinion, the property meets does not meet the National Register criteria.

(OSee continuation sheet for additional Comments.) Signature of certifying official/Title Date State or Federal agency and bureau 4. National Park Service Certification 1, hereby certify that this property is: M entered in the National Register - See continuation sheet. - determined eligible for the National Register - See continuation sheet. - determined not eligible for the National Register - removed from the National Register O other (explain): beaha Beall Date of Action 8/8/01 The Peabody Apartments Name of Property 5.

Classification wnership of Propert Check as many boxes as apply xprivate _ public-local _ public-State _ public-Federal (Check only one box) x building(s) _ district _ site _ structure _object Suffolk, MA County and State Number of Resources within Property (Do not include previously listed resources in the count.) Noncontributing Contributing 1 _building sites _ structures objects Total Name of related multiple property listing (Enter "N/A" if property is not part of a multiple property listing.) n/a 6. Function or Use Historic Functions (Enter categories from instructions) DOMESTIC/multiple dwelling COMMERCE/business 1 Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register Current Functions (Enter categories from instructions) DOMESTIC: multiple dwelling COMMERCE: business 7.

Description Architectural Classification (Enter categories from instructions) Late 19' and 20" Century Revivals: Tudor Revival Materials (Enter categories from instructions) foundationstone/granite walls brick roof other stone/slate Narrative Description (Describe the historic and current condition of the property on one or more continuation sheets.) MPS Form 10-9004 OM1G Aaprodl Na 1021-0016 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet The Peabody Boston (Dorchester) (Suffolk), MA 7 1 Section number Page - NARRATIVE DESCRIPTION The Peabody, a 3 ½-story apartment building built in 1896-1897, is an early example of the open- courtyard, brick, Tudoresque apartment house which became pervasive in the early 20"-century/ Designed by prominent local architect, Edwin J.

Lewis, Jr., a resident of Ashmont, it is grandly xecuted in style and material to suggest the form of an English manor house organized around a small, raised, landscaped courtyard partially screen from Ashmont Street by a low brick wall. The building fronts Peabody Square, the intersection of Dorchester and Talbot Avenues with Ashmont Street in the south-central Ashmont section of Dorchester, a streetcar suburb of upscale, late 19'/early 20** century residences.

The square itself, centered by the small, triangular Peabody Park, boasts high-quality commercial, ecclesiastical, municipal and residential buildings, including the red-brick and shingle, Queen Anne O'Brien's Market building (1884, 1911-13 Dorchester Avenue), the complementary, brick and shingle Hotel Argyle with red brick stable (1888/92, 174 Ashmont Street), the Ashmont Block (1892, 164 Ashmont Street), the Renaissance Revival, yellow brick Ashmont Fire Station (1895, 1890 Dorchester Avenue) and the gray, ashlar granite, modern Gothic All Saints' Episcopal Church (1891/94, 211 Ashmont Street, NRIND 1990), an early masterpiece of Ralph Adams Cram and Bernard Grosvenor Goodhue. Form, design and finishes assimilate The Peabody to its setting in the high-style neighborhood.

The building provided an early acceptable solution to the intense demand for apartment housing, even among the upper middle class during the intense urbanization of the late 19t century. The Peabody was considered sufficiently elegant to be immediately included as an address in Clark's Boston Blue Book, a directory of Boston's social elite. Its accommodation of professional office space at street level address the commercial focus of Peabody Square. Located on the south side of Ashmont Street between Dorchester Avenue and Bushnell Street, the Peabody nearly covers its entire lot. The 3 ½-story apartment building rises from a cut-stone foundation to dark brick walls set in Flemish bond above grade.

A combination of variegated, deep-red stretchers and burnt-black headers moderates the contrast between the dark gay granite of All Saints' Church and the bright red-brick of the market building and the hotel on the other side of the square. The form of the Peabody consists of four adjoining but not interconnected sections separated by a fire wall. The sections, originally comprised of one apartment per floor, are combined at their narrow ends to form a U-shaped apartment building around a small, picturesque courtyard (see attached floor plan). This configuration allows maximum light and ventilation for each flat. Sections A and D which form the wings of the U are identical in elevation and originally had the same floor plan. Sections C and D differ in both elevation and floor plan.

The raised courtyard is accessed by granite steps and is screened by a low stone wall surmounted by a wrought-iron fence. Originally twice as high, the brick wall formerly boasted taller sections at the stairway which supported a decorative arch holding a lantern. This decoration has been replaced by a simple bar suspended between the gable-roof porches to (continued) Msfam 10000a United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet OMG Approvel Na 1021-0018 7 Section number Page 2 The Peabody Boston (Dorchester) (Suffolk), MA support an arched metal sign identifying the property as "The Peabody." The courtyard itself is almost entirely paved with asphalt, but includes decoratively landscaped planting areas along the foundation. A low brick wall extends between the closed brick rails of the interior corner entry porches.

Extending as a retaining wall below grade, it creates a well for basement windows. Although all elevations are irregular, massing and composition present an image of symmetry. Wall detail on all building sections includes: 1- and 2-bay wide, gable-roofed, wall-dormered areas on each elevation; a 3-story, angled bay centered by a chimney on the west elevation of section C; wide string course above the first floor and variously between the second and third stories, and doubled corbelled arches over stair hall windows. The complex, slate-tiled roof combining hipped sections with cross gables is interrupted by gable-roofed, half-timbered dormers and massive, tall, corbelled, Jacobean chimney stacks with decorative brickwork. Gables have shaped parapets with limestone caps, while projecting eaves present exposed rafters.

Garden entries of heavy, paneled wooden doors with multi-paned lights are located at the interior corners of the courtyard and a cross gables near the north end of the interior elevations of Sections A and D. Corner entries (accessing Sections B and C) are sheltered by the hip-roofed, half-timbered porches with closed, brick rails. Other courtyard entries (admission to Sections A and D) have gable-roofed porches. Recessed office entrances front Ashmont Street. Fenestration on all elevations principally consists of 4/1, double-hung sash grouped in paired and tripart formation; some 1/1, 6/1 double-hung sash as well as casement windows also exist. Most windows are surmounted by flat arches with radiating voussoirs and are trimmed with limestone sills. Casement windows illuminate stair halls and some closet areas.

Originally fitted with leaded glass, many have now been replaced with single-paned lights. Except for the northernmost bay near Ashmont Street, courtyard windows of Sections A and D are shortened. Identical Sections A and D form the sides of the U-shaped plan. Their north (Ashmont Street) elevations have 2 bays: tripart windows occupy each level of the projecting, 3 ½-story, gable- roofed bays. The interior bay on the main plane incorporates 1-story, shed-roofed sections that house office entries recessed behind segmental-arched openings as well as small, double-leafed casement windows for the waiting room. Second and third levels in the interior bay respectively have paired and single windows. The asymmetrical, 8-bay, east (Bushnell Street) elevation of the Peabody consists of the east longitudinal side of Section A and the east short side of Section B.

paired windows occupy each bay except for the single window in the first floor, northernmost bay (office), tiny casement windows in the fourth bay from the south corner (closets), and tripart windows in the first bay (parlors Section B) and third bay (dining rooms section A) from the south end and on the first floor in the second bay (parlor) from the northeast corner. The six northern bays on the west (Dorchester Avenue) elevation of Section D are identical to the corresponding bays on the east (continued) OMa Approvel Na. 1021-0016 VPS Form 10-8001 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet The Peabody Boston (Dorchester) (Suffolk), MA Section number. Page elevation (Bushnell Street) of Section A.

A projecting section at the south end of the Dorchester Avenue elevation represents the west elevation of Section C. It includes an angled bay centered by a chimney (parlor Section C) and flat bays with single windows (bedroom Section C) in both the west and north walls. The 8-bay, rear (south) elevation (Sections B and C) is also irregular with small, single windows illuminating the central, gabled section (adjacent rear stair halls for each section separated by a fire wall). Shortened, tripart windows (kitchens Sections B and C) occupy the bays on ether side of the gabled section. Full-size tripart windows define the second bay from the west end (dining rooms Section C). Shortened single windows are located in the third bay from the east end (bathrooms Section B).

The identical, 8-bay, side elevations of the courtyard represent the west and east elevations of Sections A and D respectively. In the gabled stair hall bays above the porches, small, double- leafed casement windows on the second floor are surmounted by blind, Gothic arches; small four- part casement windows on the third floor are set beneath flat arches. Shortened windows stand in single (first, third, and fifth bays from the interior corner), paired (fourth bay from the north end), and tripart formation (second bay from the interior corner). The 3-bay wall fronting the south end of the courtyard is comprised of sections of the north elevations of Sections B and C. The left (east) bay is occupied by double-leafed casement windows (the front stair hall Section B). Tripart windows define the center bay (dining rooms Section B).

The right (west) bay is delineated by a single 6/1, double-hung sash window (bedroom, Section C). On the interior, public vestibules and stair halls illuminated by either paired or four-part, casement windows are enhanced with bright oak woodwork including stairs, balustrades, and wainscoting. Rear stairways are more modestly detailed with painted, period trim, dumbwaiters and wainscoting. Wood-burning fireplaces with period mantels remain in each suite. Unit layout varies with location. Apartments in Sections A and D were subdivided in the 1930s. Some were returned to single units in a recent, certified rehabilitation, but original floor plans remain compromised is some areas. Standing trim, however, remains substantially intact. Bathroom and kitchens have been upgraded with modern casework and appliances. (end) : The Peabody Apartments Name of Property 8. Statement of Significance

Statement of significance

Applicable National Register Criteria (Mark "x" in one or more boxes for the criteria qualifying the property for National Register listing.) x A Property is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history. _ B Property is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past. x C Property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values, or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components lack individual distinction. _ D Property has yielded, or is likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history. Criteria Considerations (Mark "x" in all the boxes that apply.) Property is: _A owned by religious institution or used for religious purposes. _B removed from its original location.

_ C a birthplace or grave. _ D a cemetery. _E a reconstructed building, object, or structure. _ F a commemorative property. _G less than 50 years of age or achieved significance within the past 50 years. Narrative Statement of Significance (Explain the significance of the property on one or more continuation sheets.) Suffolk, MA County and State Areas of Significance (Enter categories from instructions) ARCHITECTURE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT Period of Significance 1896-1951 Significant Dates 1896/1897 Significant Person (Complete if Criterion B is marked above) Cultural Affiliation N/a Architect/Builder Edwin J. Lewis, Jr.

The rest of the file

Bibliography, boundary description, and the people who prepared and reviewed the nomination.

Major Bibliographical References (Cite the books, articles, and other sources used in preparing this form on one or more continuation sheets.) Previous documentation on file (NPS): Primary location of additional data: - preliminary determination of individual listing (36 x State Historic Preservation Office CFR 67) has been requested _ previously listed in the National Register _ previously determined eligible by the National Register _ designated a National Historic Landmark _ recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey Name of repository: # _ recorded by Historic American Engineering Record # OMo Approvel Na 1024-0016 psfom 109004 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet 8 1 The Peabody Boston (Dorchester) (Suffolk), MA Section number Page STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE The Peabody, erected in 1896/97 at 195-197 Ashmont Street in the Dorchester section of Boston, possesses integrity of location, design, materials, settings, and workmanship, and is significant as an early example of the popular, turn-of-the-century, suburban, brick, Tudoresque, open- courtyard apartment building.

The Peabody is also significant for its association with its owners and namesakes Col. Oliver W. Peabody and Mary Lothrop Peabody, and its architect Edwin J. Lewis, Jr., all of whom played important roles in the development of the vicinity known as Ashmont. For these reasons, the Peabody meets Criteria A and C at the local level of the National Register of Historic Places. The Peabody was constructed on land transferred to Col. Peabody in 1895 from the neighboring Parish of All Saints' Church. After the death of his widow, Peabody's estate transferred it, along with all the property the couple had owned in Ashmont, to the Protestant Episcopal Church for benefit of the interests of the parish, which retained control until 1961.

According to published vestry minutes, design of the Peabody was intended to compliment the new All Saints' Church (1892-4, NR 1980) at 211 Ashmont Street of which Oliver and his wife, Mary Lothrop Peabody were principal benefactors! All Saints' Ashmont was the first church designed by America's foremost ecclesiastic architect, Ralph Adams Cram, and his partner, Bernard Grosvenor Goodhue. The Peabody's continued to secure the church's immediate vicinity by also sponsoring construction on its other sides: the parish house to the east (1906, also designed by Cram), and the rectory across Ashmont Street to the north (1912, designed by Lewis). PEABODY SQUARE Vantage of the church from the major intersection of Talbot and Dorchester Avenues with Ashmont Street was safeguarded by the Peabodys with the creation of Peabody Square (1891, originally Ashmont Square).

Described as one of Boston's finest plazas, Peabody Square functions as the focal point and commercial center of Ashmont. The square was formally planned in 1891 when Talbot Avenue was laid out. Col. Peabody purchased the center lot to prevent construction which could block the view of All Saints' Church. He donated the property to the city in 1893 with the expectation that it would become a circular park centered by a fountain. In the end, an oblong, granite basin was donated to the site in the colonel's memory by his brother, Francis Peabody. The Boston City Council renamed the square in 1893 in honor of its patron. In 1911 a Howard clock was added by the city, largely at the behest of Mayor John F. Fitzgerald, also an Ashmont resident. Designed by Dorchester architect William D.

Austin, it consists of a four-dial case, adorned with scrolls and animal heads and surmounted by a pineapple, symbol of hospitality, set atop a fluted, square pillar. (continued) MPS Forme 10-300- OMo Aapraval Na 1021-0016 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet - 8 2 The Peabody Boston (Dorchester) (Suffolk), MA Section number Page - ASHMONT The area of Ashmont, centered on Dorchester Avenue, remained largely unsettled from the 1630 founding of Dorchester (later incorporated into the city of Boston in 1870) until the early 1800s. It grew in the 1870s as a small, upper-middle class village on the hills to either side of Peabody Square. Development first advanced as a result of construction in the square of Ashmont Station (1871) on the Old Colony Railroad.

The western hill, now known as Ashmont Hill (Welles Hill in the 19" century), was formerly the site of the 100-cre Welles estate, occupied at the end of the American Revolution by Gen. John Knox. The holding subsequently became the home of John Welles, a 1782 graduate of Harvard. Welles' varied career included stints as an associate of Welles and Co., the first prominent American banking house in Paris; a prominent local politician, president of the Boston Common Council, state senator; pioneer horticulturalist and President of the Massachusetts Agricultural Society. The town of Wellesley and Wellesley College both derive from the family name. Senator Welles moved his family to the Natick MA estate of his wife's branch f the Welles family. The Ashmont property was then leased to a number of notable individuals including Daniel Webster.

The eastern hill, now known as Carruth's Hill (Ashmont Hill in the 19" century), was the site of two estates. The area north of Ashmont Street was occupied by the Newhall Estate, summer home between 1824 and 1878 of the Chester Newhall family. A prosperous boot and shoe manufacturer, he was also a founder of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and participated in establishment of Cambridge's Mt. Auburn Cemetery. After 1845 the southern portion of the hill was held by the Carruth Estate (named either Ashmont of Beaumont), the home of Nathan Carruth. Born in North Brookfield, MA, in 1810, Carruth came to Boston at age 15, earned his fortune through the West Indian trade, became an anti-slavery activist, and a benefactor of many western mission colleges. Such country seats were fashionable among elite men of affairs.

Merchants, financiers, and manufacturers who transformer the Massachusetts economy from its origins in agriculture to one consecutively driven by commerce, then industry, identified ownership of a rural manor with a patrician lifestyle. Dorchester, Ashmont in particular, had a high concentration of such country manors, at the time sufficiently removed from Boston. These businessmen, although interested in preserving and enhancing the landscape, were also concerned with remuneration. Newhall's attention focused on design, otherwise expressed in his involvement with Mt. Auburn. Carruth's pursuit was development. As the first president of the Old colony Railroad, he built the line through Dorchester in 1845, the same time that he established his estate in Ashmont. Ashmont Street was laid out four years later.

In 1870, the year of Dorchester's annexation to Boston, Carruth was involved in routing a branch rail line through Ashmont to Milton. (continued) AsFom 102004 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet OMG Aaprovel Na 1021-0016 8 Section number Page 3 The Peabody Boston (Dorchester) (Suffolk), MA Annexation was popular in Ashmont and local landowners quickly moved to benefit. Carruth Street, named for Nathan, was laid out and subdivisions were devised between it and Dorchester Avenue: Most of the Welles estate was platted by 1871. Ashmont Station was sited the same year. In 1873, a trestle was added to carry trains above Ashmont Street allowed creation of the square which centers the village.

The financial depression of the 1870s inhibited development until 1884 when a brick and shingle market building, designed by Boston architect W. Whitney Lewis, was constructed on the square by Jacques & Griffin. The complementary-designed, Hotel Argyle (1882-92, possibly by Lewis) was built across Ashmont Street with an adjoining red-brick stable (remodeled to a car barn in 1910 by architects Guy and Proctor). Next door, the 1892 Ashmont Block (designed by local architect-builder H.M. Wallis) housed club rooms and a large, second-floor function hall. These buildings formed the nucleus of Ashmont's village center. In the early 1990s these three buildings were successfully rehabilitated into condominiums named Ashmont Commons one of which was designed by Edwin Lewis, Jr.

ALL SAINTS' CHURCH AND THE PEABODY CONNECTION All Saints' Episcopal Church, built at the corner of Ashmont and Bushnell Streets on a lot donated to the parish by Oliver Peabody, is one of only two parishes of the High Church tradition in the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. As such, it attracts a congregation from all over Greater Boston. Initiated in 1867 at Dorchester Lower Mills, All Saints' became a parish in 1874. Tradition holds that on their way from their Milton estate to attend services at King's Chapel in downtown Boston on Holy Innocents' Day, December 28, 1879, Col. Oliver and Mary Lothrop Peabody were faced with a snow squall. As an alternative, they stopped to worship at-the nearby Episcopalian chapel of All Saints' then located on Dorchester Avenue between Codman and Richmond Streets.

Having lost an infant daughter, the Peabodys were especially moved by the sermon on the Holy Innocents delivered by the rector who himself had recently lost a baby daughter. Although each was a life-long Unitarian and the child of a notable minister, the Peabodys became regular worshipers at All Saints'. Confirmed in the church in 1882, they remained earnest Episcopalians, generous promoters and benefactors of the parish. Oliver White Peabody (b. Springfield, May 9, 1834; d. Milton, October 23, 1896), a scion of one of the oldest and most distinguished families in Boston, was orphaned at age 13 and forced to make his own way. His mother, Amelia White Peabody, having died around the time of his birth. His father, Rev. William B. Peabody, minister of the Unitarian Church in Springfield, died in 1847.

Having graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy, but lacking the funds to enter Harvard, (continued) NAS Farme 10-8001 OMB Approvel Na. 1021-0016 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet 8 4 The Peabody Boston (Dorchester) (Suffolk), MA Section number Page. Oliver Peabody and his brother Francis joined the banking house, John E. Thayer & Bro. Oliver advance quickly. In 1859 he married Mary Lothrop, daughter of Boston clergyman S.K. Lothrop, but his career was interrupted by the Civil War. Peabody enlisted in the first company of cadets in September 1862 and helped recruit Company H of the 45*h Massachusetts volunteers. First appointed Captain, he became a Lieutenant Colonel, before being mustered out of service in July of 1863, where he reentered the employ of John Thayer.

In 1865, Colonel Peabody, his brother Francis, and Henry P. Kidder founded Kidder, Peabody and Company as the successor to the former firm. Kidder, Peabody became a leading investment bank of international importance. In contrast, Oliver Peabody's private life was not without tragedy. His brother Everett was killed during the Civil War, and his only child, a daughter Amelia White Peabody, died in 1866 at age two. In 1882 the Peabodys funded the relocation of the frame chapel of All Saints' from Lower Mills to Ashmont. Its new location was the current site of the subway station, immediately southwest of the Peabody. Upon erection of the new stone church designed by Cram, Oliver and Mary Peabody donated some $85,00o of the required $105,000.

The death of his twin brother William prompted Oliver to fund construction of the church's stone tower, completed in 1894 in memory of his deceased brothers. Four years later, Colonel Peabody himself died. Mary Peabody continued to fund improvements at All Saints', including the construction of the parish house and rectory. Upon her demise in 1910, Mary Peabody endowed the church with a substantial fortune. By the turn of the century All Saints' Ashmont had earned an international renown for its beauty. It became a paradigm for American parish church architecture in the first half of the 20" century. Its chancel is recognized as one of the world's finest Gothic Revival interiors. Cram's work launched the school of Boston Gothicists at the end of the contemporary Arts and Crafts movement. EDWIN J. LEWIS, JR.

AND THE PEABODY The English Village Gothic charm, high artistic standard and new aesthetic sensibility of All Saints' were welcomed in Ashmont and emulated by Edwin J. Lewis, Jr. at the Peabody. Colonel Peabody, as one of his last undertakings, commissioned Lewis to devise the Peabody in a manner to compliment as well as protect the church. Peabody's memorial in All Saints' vestry's minutes reported that, uncharacteristic of a businessman, he ignored the developer's primary concern for profitability and set as the first standard of design that the apartment house enhance rather than obscure the church. Given the Peabodys standing relationship with Ralph Adams Cram, the choice of Lewis for this commission as well as that of the church rectory is a testimonial to the respect that Lewis commanded.

(continued) OMB Approvel Na 1021-0018 NoS Fom United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet 8 5 The Peabody Boston (Dorchester) (Suffolk), MA Section number. Page - Designer of many of the finest houses in the area, Edwin James Lewis, Jr. (b. Roxbury, May 1, 1859; d. October 16, 1937) was an important architect in Ashmont. Approximately fifty properties in the neighborhood dating between 1887 and 1912 have been attributed to him. After graduating from M.I.T. School of Architecture in 1881, he apprenticed for nine years with Timothy Walsh at the firm of Peabody & Stearns. Lewis established his own immediately- successful practice in 1887. He was elected to the Boston Society of Architects the same year, and became a Fellow of the American Institute shortly thereafter.

Known for his distinguished plans for homes, mostly in Boston but also in surrounding communities, Lewis also won a national reputation as the designer of more than 35 churches throughout the United States and Canada. His first ecclesiastical commission may have been Christ Church in Dorchester built in 1894. Lewis' important works include the Fassett Estate House in Gloucester, Dearborn School in Roxbury (NR 2000), Danielson Library in Brimfield, the Dedham Historical Society, and All Souls' Church in Braintree. He contributed designs for Draper Corporation worker housing and the church in the company town of Hopedale, Massachusetts.

Lewis also served as president of the Dorchester Historical Society, sustained an active membership in the Unitarian Association, acted as a municipal reformer, maintained a lifelong membership in the Boston Society of Architects, and retained membership in the Boston Art Club. In 1907, an article by Frank Croteau Brown in the Architectural Record included Lewis among the leading architects of suburban Boston. Other Lewis properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places include: 748 Columbus Avenue, Boston; South Congregational Church, Brockton; Second Unitarian Church and Prescott Hall House, Brookline; and the Wollaston Unitarian Church, Quincy.

Grandly rendered in style and material, the Peabody combines four sections to create a U-shaped plan suggesting the form of a Tudor manor house configured around a picturesque, if not imposing, landscaped courtyard open to the street. In connecting the sections at their narrow ends, Lewis gained maximum window exposure for light and ventilation. This organization, common in Europe where Lewis frequently visited, was more fully expressed a year later in Cram's significantly elaborated design of Richmond Court (NR) in Brookline, credited in being the first and often-emulated apartment house in the Boston area to be designed in the Jacobean or English manor style arranged around a central open courtyard. The actual nature of the relationship between Lewis, the Peabodys, and Cram is unclear, but the opportunity for interactive influence is apparent.

As an Ashmont resident, Lewis may have known both the Peabodys and Cram. The latter may have been approached regarding design of the apartment building. Both architects maintained offices in the same building during the early 1890s. Construction of the Peabody proceeded while Cram remained involved with development of All Saints' Church, completing ongoing commissions for Mary Lothrop Peabody over the remaining fourteen years of her life. Cram's Richmond Court was built for the Richmond Court Trust which included Francis Peabody as a trustee. (continued) NAS fomme 10-800e OMB Approvel Na. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet 6 The Peabody Boston (Dorchester) (Suffolk), MA Section number - Page.

Similarities between Richmond Court and the Peabody are found not only in the orientation of the buildings, but also in the location of entrances, including vestibules and stair halls, at the interior corners and in the middle of the forward wings. Floor plans have similarities in layout with kitchens and dining rooms in larger units separated from the parlor by the interposition of bedrooms and a bathroom. Amenities are also similar with well-lit stair halls finished with oak paneling and balustrades, dumbwaiters in rear stair halls and working fireplaces in each unit. Plans and a photograph of the Peabody were published in The Brickbuilder in 1900 (see illustration). The Peabody was considered sufficiently elegant to be immediately included in Clark's Blue Book.

Characteristic of early apartments, the Peabody catered to demographic extremes, colloquially described as "the newly wed and the nearly dead." Typically, these groups included those yet unable to afford a single-family home during this period of escalating prices in the rapidly-developing suburbs and those attracted to the easier lifestyle afforded by single-floor living available in a "flat." Early tenants included salesmen, a bank teller, small business owners, a civil an engineer, and a physician. Proximity to All Saints' drew clerics, while design accommodations catered to other professionals. Street-level plans had offices with entrances for waiting rooms fronting Ashmont Street, and separate, residential entrances accessed off the courtyard. A tradition of doctors as residents began with Dr.

Robert Miller, a dentist who moved in 1899 to the Peabody where he maintained an office for thirty years. George C. Phelps, music teacher and organist for All Saints' lived at the Peabody during the 1920s. Apartment units in sections A and D were subdivided ca. 1930. The Peabody passed from control of the parish of All Saints' to secular ownership in 1974, but has remained rental housing. It has recently undergone a certified rehabilitation in accordance with the standards of the Secretary of the Interior. (end) i Shand-Tucci, Douglass. All Saints' Ashmont Dorchester, Boston: A Centennial History of the Parish, 1975, p. 30. pesfom 10200s United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet OMB Approvel Na 1021-0016 9 1 The Peabody Boston (Dorchester) (Suffolk Co.), MA Section number.

Page - BIBLIOGRAPHY Boston City Directories: 1898, 1900, 1910, 1915, 1920, 1925, 1927, 1930, 1940. Boston Landmarks Commission. Report of the Ashmont Hill Study Committee, 1978 Boston Public Library. Architects File: Edwin J. Lewis, Jr. In Fine Arts Department. . Card Index of Architects. Fine Arts Department. The Brickbuilder, September, 1900. Brown, Frank Chouteau. "Boston Suburban Architecture." Architectural Record, XXI (April 1907), pp. 245-280. Building Department of the City of Boston. Building Plans and Permits: 1930 Renovations to the Peabody, 195-197 Ashmont Street, Dorchester. Burchard, John and Bush-Brown, Albert. Architecture of America. Boston: 1961. Clark's Boston Blue Book: the Elite Private Address, Carriage and Club Directory, Ladies Visiting List and Shopping Guide. Boston: Edward Clark, 1897-98, 1910, 1920, 1930. "Col. O.W.

Peabody Dead." Boston Globe, Sunday October 24, 1896, p. 12. "Col. O.W. Peabody No More." Boston Herald, October 21, 1896, p. 19. Cram, Ralph Adams. My Life in Architecture. Boston: 1936. Garner, John. The Model Company Town: Urban Design through Private Enterprise in 19*h Century New England. Amherst, 1984. Gordon, Edward W. Area Form: Carruth Street/Peabody Square. MHC Inventory of Historic Assets, May 1995. Jenkins, Candace. Richmond Court. National Register Nomination Form, April, 1985. Marquis Who's Who. Who Was Who in America. Vol. I: 1897-1942. Chicago, 1981. Mead, Edwin D. "Boston Memories of Fifty Years," in Fifty Years of Boston. Shand-Tucci, Paul Douglass. All Saints' Ashmont Dorchester, Boston: A Centennial History of the Parish. Boston: by the Parish, 1975. Ashmont, An Historical Guide to Peabody Square...and the Architecture of Edwin J. Lewis, Jr. and John A. Fox.

Dorchester Historical Society, 1991. Withey, Henry F. and Withey, L.C. Rathburn. Biographical Dictionary of American Architects Deceased. Los Angeles, 1970 reprint of the 1956 publicatior (end) : The Peabody Apartments Name of Property Suffolk,MA County, State 10. Geographical Data Acreage of Property less than one acre UTM References See continuation sheet. (Place additional UTM references on a continuation sheet) 1200 329760 4683300 Easting Northing "Zone Easting Northing 3. Zone Easting Northing 4. Zone Easting - See continuation sheet Northing Verbal Boundary Description (Describe the boundaries of the property on a continuation sheet.) Boundary Justification (Explain why the boundaries were selected on a continuation sheet.) 11.

Form Prepared By name/title_Dianne Siergiej, consultant with Betsy Friedberg, MHC organization_ Massachusetts Historical Commission _ date_June 2001 street & number 220 Morrissey Boulevard telephone_617-727-8470 city or town Boston state MA . zip code_02125 Additional Documentation Submit the following items with the completed form: Continuation Sheets Maps A USGS map (7.5 or 15 minute series) indicating the property's location. A sketch map for historic districts and properties having large acreage or numerous resources. Photographs Representative black and white photographs of the property.

Additional items (Check with the SHPO or FPO for any additional items) Property Owner (Complete this item at the request of the SHPO or FPO.) name Peabody Realty Trust street & number 195-197 Ashmont Street _ telephone 617-282-0700 city or town Boston state MA zip code 02124 Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This information is being collected for applications to the National Register of Historic Places to nominate Denetitin for isdingcerint thre Natonai Historieres to liton Apt, ais a, mendeae d s.i. 49 istings. Response to this request is required to obtain a Estimated Burden Statement: Public reporting burden for this form is estimated to average 18.1 hours per response including the time for reviewing nstructions, gathering and maintaining data, and completing and reviewing the form.

Direct comments regarding this burden estimate or any aspect o this form to the Chief, Administrative Services Division, National Park Service, P.0. Box 37127, Washington, DC 20013-7127; and the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reductions Project (1024-0018), Washington, DC 20503. MPS Famm 10-8001 OMa Approvel Na 1021-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet The Peabody Boston (Dorchester) (Suffolk Co.), MA Section number _10 Page _1 GEOGRAPHICAL DATA Verbal Boundary Description The nomination is confined to the parcel occupied by the Peabody as identified by the City of Boston's Assessing Department: Ward 16, Parcel No. 4753000. See attached assessor's map.

Boundary Justification The boundary is defined by the lot of land associated with the property as recorded in the Suffolk County Registry of Deeds Book No. 1132, page 30. (end) PHOTOGRAPHS Photographer: Dianne L. Siergiej Date: February 1999 / April 2001 Negatives: located at Massachusetts Historical Commission, 220 Morrissey Boulevard. 1. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. North elevation of the Peabody. West elevation of the Peabody. East and South Elevation of the Peabody. Peabody Square, showing granite basin, clock, North elevation of the Peabody Peabody Square, clock, North and West elevations of the Peabody. Center courtyard of the Peabody. West elevation of the East wing facing courtyard of the Peabody. . 5 {161 7 + 1892 1894 5135 5562 PEA BODY 5 SQUARE + 208 ASHMONT 2!!

1161 THE PEABODY DORCHETER- BOSTON SuFFo photo locatiires cotus + + BUSHNELL ASHMONT 9777 HEALTH UNIT 15 5453 13 5934 6212 WALL RAMP 6229 .nb WALL 19 23 ? 212 LOMB/ APARTMENT ALUNONTMNGC THE BRICKBUILDER SEPTEMBER, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE JATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACE. 'VALUATION/RETURN SHEE' REQUESTED ACTION: NOMINATION PROPERTY NAME: Peabody, The MULTIPLE NAME: STATE & COUNTY: MASSACHUSETTS, Suffolk DATE RECEIVED: DATE OF 16TH DAY: DATE OF WEEKLY LIST: 7/05/01 8/02/01 REFERENCE NUMBER: 01000872 DATE OF PENDING LIST: DATE OF 45TH DAY: 7/17/01 8/20/01 REASONS FOR REVIEW: APPEAL: DATA PROBLEM: N REQUEST: COMMENT WAIVER: VACCEPT N RETURN ABSTRACT/ SUMMARY COMMENTS: LANDSCAPE: N LESS THAN 50 YEARS: PROGRAM UNAPPROVED: SLR DRAFT: N NATIONAL: REJECT 8/8/01 ENTERED AUG 0 8 2001 RECOM.

/CRITERIA REVIEWER TELEPHONE DISCIPLINE DATE DOCUMENTATION see attached comments Y/N see attached SLR Y/N PHOTO NO. 1 THE PEABOSY 195-197 ASHMONT STHEET (JUACHESTEK BUSTON. MASSACHUSETTS Kodak PREMIUM Processing FEB 1999 PHITO NO.Z THE PEMBUDY 195-197 ASHMONT STREET (DOHCHESTER) BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS MAR99 P563 30 0122 N-4 N 32 4086 HE PHOTO NO. 3 THE PEADUDY 195-197 ASHMONT STREET (JURCHESTEA) BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS Kodak PREMIUM Processing FEB 1999 PHOrD ND.4 THE POABIDY 195-191 ASHMONT STHEET (DOKCHESTEN) BOSTON, MASSACHHUSETS Kodak PREMIUM Processing FEB 1999 PHOTO No. 5 THE PEADUOY 195-197 ASHMONT STREET (DDRCHESTER) BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS Kodak PREMIUM Processing FEB 1999 PHOTD NO.Le THE PEADOSY 195191 AsHMonT sthEET (DORCHESTER) BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS Kodak PREMIUM Processing FEB 1999 GROUP 1700 PHATD No.

7 THE PEHBOSY 195-197 ASHMONT STREET (DObCHESTER), BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS Kodak PREMIUM Processing FEB 1999 1I BAN 1895 TO8 464 3200 TALBOT 4089 5442 100 5437 4992 5201 00 10,500 10,500 9000 500 7500 12,000 9000 9000 4750 5125 5125 10,500 10,500 STREET 7000 13,500 10,500 15,000 21,000 8900 8250 0500 7888 124 126 ASHMONT 121 123 CITY OF BOSTON TOPOGRAPHIC AND PLANIMETRIC SURVEY 25 2902 3000 ARGYLE 3948 2970 6993 FDN. 4488 4284 TER. CHURCH LUTHERAN SWEDISH ARGYLE 3150 FDN. STREET 8269 17,554 3375 5677 1125 1233 502 2507 1595 504 2252 PL- TALBOT a62° S1O 2252 24319 Lo2 2507 4848 514 2504 12,000 2473 s0' 516 12,000 9061 32,297 11,966 10,925 4192 1807 1806 1808 10,500 10,500 9000 1329 5464 9490 085, 6570 WALL 12,000 12,000 PARKING 17,810 6000 WALL 6000 BANTON 22 207 8121 219 1e 2191 2191 ST. M.B.T.A.

F0021 5800 DLOZ 1815 1817 S18I 1819 9181 1S23 1825 7500 1799 1350 1350 1827 NORTHAM 8 1829 1831 2295 2640 2046 PK. 1902 1837 2893 1841 [2s8a 1843 2830 2970 1845 3996 1849 ST.

) + 60,193, 544953 1855 1857 2484 9409 17,009 5863 5106 1859 1859A 1861 1863 1867 4960 1871 2870 73 1875 1908 187g 1881/ 1840 1842 1844 3124 1854 4078 1752 /2 2100 2208 1960 2244 2266 1923 2244 TEMPLETON 5342 3510, WRENTHAM 3037 3031 2880 4102 5442270 554 AVENUE 12,000 22,000 1856 1860 <352 1868- 1870-5 18T2 6750 DRACUT 1876 1878 9470 188O 1882 3900 FIRE STATION 1862 888 1894 3800 15261 4219 9825 STREET 4429 4318 539 4000 5000 5000 9000 9000 PARKING 8154 498 PEABODY SQUARE + 5163 4884 5135 ASHMONT Dh 5937 10,062 153 39 3953 9713 5171 STREET 175 9900 1917 1919 1923 1925 9777 HEALTH UNIT BUSHNELL ASHMONT LOMB/ 9406 +++ RAMP 6229 The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Massachusetts Historical Commission June 27, 2001 Ms.

Carol Shull National Register of Historic Places Department of the Interior National Park Service Mail Stop 2280, Suite 400 1849 C Street, NW Washington, DC 20240 Dear Ms. Shull: Enclosed please find the following nomination form: Peabody Apartments, 195-197 Ashmont Street, Boston, (Suffolk), MA The nomination has been voted eligible by the State Review Board and has been signed by the State Historic Preservation Officer. State Historic Preservation Officer. The owners of the properties in the Certified Local Government community of Boston were notified of pending State Review Board consideration 60 to 90 days before the meeting and were afforded the opportunity to comment. Sincerely, petoy treelley National Register Director Massachusetts Historical Commission enclosure CC: John Bowman, Chair, Boston Landmarks Commission Dianne Siergiej, Preservation Consultant Hon.

Thomas Menino, Mayor, City of Boston Ellen Lipsey, Executive Director, Boston Landmarks Commission Peabody Realty Trust 220 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, Massachusetts 02125 (617) 727-8470 - Fax: (617) 727-5128 www.state.ma.us/sec/mhc