Ronald Brown just celebrated a 100th birthday this week, but not his own ? he?s only 71, after all.
Understandably, there were no candles or no gift-wrapped presents for this birthday party; the bash was for not for a person.
Built in 1907, the Stoneholm ? an architecturally imposing-looking condo building sitting at 1514 Beacon St. ? became a centenarian this year.
Brown, who owns the building, said he wasn?t going to let the milestone slip by after restoring much of it, celebrating the anniversary and renovation Sept. 16.
?We recently spent a great deal of money on repainting the mansard ? whole top part of the building ? it is very elaborate. It looks like Baroque orientation,? said Brown, younger brother to Hamilton Company real estate mogul Harold Brown.
The building sits on the outbound side of Beacon Street, on a hill between Washington Square and Coolidge Corner.
Pedestrians can often be spotted gazing past the stone gates into the Stoneholm?s courtyard.
Architecture critics and historians have noted it as one of the more distinguished Baroque-style buildings in greater Boston, according to a history Brown wrote.
Developer John P. Webber commissioned early 20th-century architect Arthur Hunnewell Bowditch to design the Stoneholm, set to be built next to Webber?s large brick home and stable on the corner of Lancaster and Beacon streets, according to the history.
The construction followed the trend of apartment buildings made stylish in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston and Harvard Square in Cambridge between 1890 and 1920, Brown wrote.
?The Stoneholm was one of Brookline?s more prestigious addresses,? Brown wrote. ?Among the earliest residents were judges, brokers, leather goods manufacturers and mining engineers, as well as industrialists and merchants.?
The building was converted to condominiums in 1997. Brown said as the building?s metalwork deteriorates and rusts with age, he and the building?s trustees have worked to restore its historical character.
