Today's blog is courtesy of a facebook group called "Lost New England" and highlights a pair of rowhouses built in the early 1860s in Boston. Since we're close enough to Boston, and we've been through it quite a few times, I thought I would share as a "local blog." One of these houses still stands, so you can see it if you visit "Beantown." I've also added some info about the father of the owners because he played a big role in New England textiles and there's a city in Massachusetts named for him!
A pair of rowhouses at 3-5 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, Massachusetts around the 1870s and 2017. The houses were built in 1861, and they were among the first of the homes to be constructed in the newly-developed Back Bay neighborhood. The homes were originally owned by two siblings: Abbott Lawrence, who lived in the house on the left, and his sister Annie who lived in the house on the right. They were the children of Abbott Lawrence Sr., a textile manufacturer who served as the US minister to the United Kingdom from 1849 to 1852.
WHO WAS ABBOTT LAWRENCE SR.? - Abbott Lawrence (1792-1855) was a wealthy American industrialist and politician who played a key role in the development of the New England textile industry. He was a businessman, philanthropist, and founder of the town of Lawrence, Massachusetts. The founder and namesake of the town of Lawrence, Massachusetts, Lawrence was co-owner of the A & A Lawrence Company, which managed the Lawrence Textile Manufacturing Company, and president of both Atlantic Cotton Mills and Pacific Mills, two major textile factories.
FATE OF THE HOUSES - In 1905, the house on the left was demolished and rebuilt in the Classical Revival style, which was fashionable in the early 20th century. However, the original house on the right still stands, and together they demonstrate some of the architectural changes that occurred here in the Back Bay during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Historic image courtesy of the Boston Public Library.
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