Re: Hayward Place
^ I don't think that's true...look at the vast majority of the great American neighborhoods...back bay, south end, brooklyn heights, lincoln park, rowhouse manhattan...these were all built in a thirty to forty year window between 1870 and 1910. They remain remarkably coherent/preserved. The quality of construction and materials was superior because labor was cheaper and both quality and aesthetics were demanded by the market/consumer. Part of the reason we don't have quality today is we do not demand it...as a result there is a lack of skilled masons and other tradesmen and so they are paid a premium when a consumer does demand quality design and construction.
And in both home construction and commercial development (but especially home construction) the quality of materials used are vastly inferior to those used prior to the 1950s. For instance...most sheetrock is a very poor substitute for lath and plaster construction from a sound attenuation perspective. Solid core wooden doors are the exception rather than the rule...it goes on and on.
Sidewalk -- the reason you got Beacon Hill (Common Side down to Charles) is the same reason you got the best of the Back Bay -- most of these were single famaily town homes custom built under contract for the rollers and shakers of the time -- they were the 1% to use the misappropriated tem -- the people like the Gardners, the Ames, Henry Lee Higinson (founder of the BSO); Harrison Gray Otis -- Millionares and Billionares to quote the president
But even on the 2nd Empire Paris on the Charles -- Comm Ave there was a 1 % efect --- the best of the best (money-wise at least) wanted and vied-for the sunny side of Comm Ave. The next level settled for the otherside or the Charles side of Beacon then down hill to the lesser streets btween Beacon and Marlborough and so on until finally on Newbury near to Mass Ave you had stables and quarters for servents.
The best of the best (e.g. people who founded the MFA) bought the land, hired the architects and the contractors and wouldn't stand for anything but the best -- or example consider this house descried on the site
http://www.bosarchitecture.com/backbay/[pick your street and then an address]
"5-37 Commonwealth were built for ship owner, importer, and sugar refiner Elisha Atkins. He and his wife, Mary Ellen (Freeman) Atkins, lived at 37 Commonwealth.... By 1879, 35 Commonwealth was the home of Charles Marsh and his wife, Julia Maria (Barrett) Marsh -- Marsh was a partner in the wholesale and retail dry goods firm of Jordan, Marsh & Co...."
or 1 Commonwelath: " 1 Commonwealth Avenue was built ca. 1861 as the home of Samuel Gray Ward and his wife, Anna Hazard (Barker) Ward. In 1860, they had lived at 20 Louisburg Square on Beacon Hill.
He was a merchant and banker, and was the US agent for Baring Brothers Bank of London.
By 1870, it was the home of Mrs. Nicolas Reggio. In 1865, Mr. and Mrs. Reggio had lived at 57 Summer Street; he was a merchant and vice-consul of Italy.
By 1877, it was the home of David Snow.
By 1880, it was the home of cotton manufacturer James Sullivan Amory and his wife, Mary Copley (Greene) Amory. Living with them at the time of the 1880 US Census were their adult unmarried sons, Frederic Amory (a cotton manufacturer, probably in his father's firm), Augustine Amory (a clergyman), and Harcourt Amory.
After Mary (Greene) Amory's death, 1 Commonwealth was acquired by Joshua Montgomery Sears and his wife, Sarah Carlisle (Choate) Sears. They owned and lived at 12 Arlington Street, next door. After acquiring 1 Commonwealth they consolidated it with their home; the entrance to 1 Commonwealth was removed and the entire second story was remodeled into a music room.
Joshua M. Sears was a real estate investor, and Sarah Choate Sears was a well-known and respected watercolorist and pictorialist photographer.
They also maintained a summer home, “Wolf Pen Farm,” in Southborough.
J. Montgomery Sears died in June of 1905. Sarah Sears continued to live at 12 Arlington Street with her son, J. Montgomery (“Monty”) Sears, Jr., and daughter, Helen.
Monty Sears was killed in an automobile accident in August of 1908. Helen Sears was married in July of 1913 to James D. Cameron Bradley. After their marriage, James and Helen Bradley lived at 12 Hereford Street.
By 1920, the Bradleys had moved to 12 Arlington Street to live with Sarah Sears. James Bradley probably died in about 1929, and Helen Bradley continued to live at 12 Arlington Street with her mother.
Sarah Sears died in September of 1935. Helen Bradley continued to live at 12 Arlington Street in 1937. John L. Hall, et al, Trustees are shown as the owners of 12 Arlington Street on the 1938 Bromley map.
12 Arlington Street and 1 Commonwealth remained combined as a single property, with the address of 12 Arlington.
By late 1937, the property appears to have been owned by Edward Wyner, owner of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. On December 10, 1937, he filed a permit to build a 17-story apartment house on the site, presumably demolishing both houses. The permit application apparently never was pursued. "
As an aside these house biographies make for interesting reading and a new game -- you pick a house and then follow links to other houses owned by the initial or subsequent owners -- try to get back to something you've already seen without directly unwinding -- fascinating -- this is the network of the 1% circa 1880-1920
Several steps down the uppper middle class settled in the equally new English Victorian style Souh End
Then many steps down at the same halcyon time -- you had the imigrant communities in the West End and the North End. In the North End -- Paul Revere's House -- somewhat old (200 years old) and decrepit by now (1890) -- had been creatively reused after Revere sold the home in 1800 -- as a tenement with the ground floor used for shops, including at various times a candy store, cigar factory, bank and vegetable and fruit business.
