Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 2000
In this third series of the Dorchester Illustration of the Day we have reached the number 2000. Thank you all for continuing to ready the daily messages.
The photo displayed today shows no. 10 Carruth Street, probably at the time it was built in 1888.
Photograph given to the Dorchester Historical Society in 1923 by architect Edwin J. Lewis Jr. Photograph taken by Wm F. Clark, 338 Washington St., Boston. House of Thomas F. Goodale.
The following is from:
Source:Codman SquareHouse Tour Booklet 2003
Year Built: 1888
Architect: Edwin J. Lewis, Jr.
Style: Shingle Style
This Shingle-style house, with its gambrel roof and wraparound porch, is the picture of informal domesticity. (Yet notice the virtuoso display of roof planes.) The porch was enclosed to make additional rooms when the house was converted to two apartments; on view today is an exemplary restoration carried out by the present owners, who carefully replicated Edwin J. Lewis’s signature porch railing with its closely spaced square balusters.
A full Classical entablature of quarter-sawn oak runs around the entry hall. The monumental fireplace is flanked by Doric columns; another Doric column stands at the foot of the stairs. In contrast, the staircase balusters are very delicate, with bamboo-like rings. The corner fireplace in the living room is surrounded by tiles glazed a subtle olive/brown color. A charming alcove has a built-in seat. A second corner fireplace in the dining room helps give this room its distinctive octagonal shape. Note the intricately molded profile of the mantel shelf; freestanding Doric colonnettes, infant-size offspring of the columns in the hall, flank the overmantel panel.
The original china pantry is largely intact, although a first-floor bath long ago replaced the second pantry. The bathroom features a generous open shower—perfect for giving the owners’ dog a bath. A refined simplicity reigns in the kitchen; a new soapstone counter is the bold stroke here. Paradoxically, this kitchen, where the only overtly nostalgic note is a small braided rug, succeeds in capturing the essence of the 1880s original. One secret of this success: the wonderful yellow ochre wall color; another, the unadorned pendant light fixtures.
Thanks to the grand scale of the stairway, the second floor hallway is unusually spacious in feeling. The stair continues to the third floor in an unusual “floating” form; structurally, this scheme was a bit too daring: the stair has sagged a bit. As part of the previous changes, an opening was created between two bedrooms, which now form a master suite, complete with an alcove and fireplace. The wall colors reappear in the stunning quilt on the bed. The second-floor rooms, like those below, are characterized by an airy simplicity that seems to suit both the owners and the house. This outstanding example of the shingle Style is indeed fortunate to be in such sympathetic hands.
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