Real estate - The Cambridge Historical Commission Blog

Real Estate Revelations Part 4: Oh, Those College Kids!

Posted on December 17, 2022December 17, 2022 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

We thought it would be fun to report on something on the lighter side as we enter the holiday season. With the close of the first semester and Christmas vacation looming, it’s noticeable that college students have decamped for home. Apropos of students, we found this letter in the Ellis/Andrews files in 1903, dated September 10:

Dear Sir:

Last spring the authorities of Harvard University caused to be removed from all their buildings occupied by students the signs, notices, and other objects which had obviously been taken from the streets, shops, cars, or other grounds or buildings not belonging to the students who displayed these objects in their rooms, and gave notice to all the occupants of College rooms that no such objects Could hereafter be displayed in buildings belonging to the University. I hereby request you to enforce a similar regulation in the buildings which are under your management, and are occupied by students of the University. Will you kindly acknowledge the receipt of this request? It is desirable that notice of this measure should be given to students who occupy rooms under your control, and their co-operation procured in the abandonment of a practice which is not creditable to the intelligence and good feeling of University students.

Very Truly Yours,

Charles W. Eliot

President Harvard University

Why was President Eliot writing to Ellis & Melledge? Because the firm was in the business of renting rooms to students. William R. Ellis had been advertising his “Registry of Student’s Rooms” from the start—as seen in this advertisement:

In 1893, Robert J. Melledge had joined the firm, which now became “Ellis & Melledge.” Melledge owned a piece of property with a house at the corner of Prescott St and Broadway. In 1893, Ellis was renting the house—listed variously over the years in maps and directories as #22 Prescott Street or #472 Broadway—even up until 1927. Ellis and Melledge planned to erect a new apartment building facing the Broadway side of the property in front of the house, aimed solely at the Harvard student population. By the time the apartments opened in 1896, the building was referred to as “the latest new college dormitory,” even though it was not (yet) owned by Harvard. This was “Prescott Hall” at 472-474 Broadway, corner of Prescott St, which was named for Prescott William Hickling (1798-1859)[i], an historian who specialized in the history of Spain and its empire.

Exterior view of Prescott Hall at 472-474 Broadway in Mid-Cambridge, photographed on August 16, 1987

On May 4, 1896, the Cambridge Chronicle ran two separate columns on the building, designed by architect Arthur H. Bowditch. One stated that “it will not be gorgeous, but architecturally it will be the most attractive dormitory in Cambridge.” The article went on to describe the rooms:

“…all the suites will be precisely alike, a large study and two bed rooms, but the building is to be modern and with modern comforts. The studies fact south and west and will be sunny all day; the bed rooms face north and east; each suite has its private hall with coat closet; each room has a closet. The studies…all have bay windows the entire width of the room, with the deep-armed window seats so popular with students. The rooms are heated by steam, and in the studies are large open fireplaces for wood fires. Each suite is to have a perfectly appointed bathroom with the best of modern open plumbing…every bathroom has an outside sunny window. The building will be piped for gas and wired for electric light….”

Talk about having all the “mod/cons!” Not only that, but:

“…There will be a large room [in the basement] …for the storage of bicycles, also storage for trunks; telephone room, boot blacking stand, ample rooms for janitor and wife, and for the “goodies” who take care of the rooms: also a large room…with open -fireplace; this room for the use of the tenants for boxing, fencing or light exercise; some simple gymnastic apparatus will be supplied, also lockers and adjoining will be dressing room and shower bath.”

Rents for a three-room suite were described as “moderate” with most suites renting for around $450.

The second article emphasized the quality of students expected to rent. The rental agents (Ellis & Melledge) “are instructed, in leasing suites, to endeavor to avoid discordant elements, and the location and arrangements will no doubt attract students of a studious turn of mind.” Harrumph.

Atlas of the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts by G.W. Bromley and Co. (1894)

Atlas of the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts by G.W. Bromley and Co. (1903)

It wasn’t unusual to have private dormitories for students built by private investors[ii] rather than the university itself. At the turn of the century, Harvard provided housing only for seniors in Harvard Yard. Hence the housing needs for students (and faculty and staff) were drivers in the real estate market. As stated in Building Old Cambridge, “Investors…constructed about twenty-five private dormitories around the Square between 1876 and 1904.”[iii] Undergrads had to fend for themselves finding housing. It wasn’t until Harvard required undergrads to live on campus (in 1914) that the private dormitories were either converted to apartment houses, as was the case with Prescott Hall, or bought outright by the University.

“One of the more luxurious rooms” in Claverly Hall from *Scribner’s Magazine* 21, no. 5 (May 1897)

In 1898, The Cambridge Tribune ran an article about these private dormitories, citing one unnamed project in progress, and five others that existed between Mt. Auburn St and Mass Ave alone.

We find an interesting side fact in The Cambridge Tribune of August 24, 1901. A column extolling the virtues of an up and coming 26-year-old real estate and insurance whipper snapper named George Carrick. Apparently, an astonishing number of these private dormitories were managed by him. “He is the one real estateman [sic] in Cambridge today who stands in touch with the students of Harvard University and the business interests of the city, thus uniting the town and the gown. Mr. Carrick has under his charge some of the choicest suites in the choicest dormitories at Harvard, and he is the only man in town who makes a special business of that work…. the students were glad to find a man who could appreciate their needs and give them what they desired.” Wonder what Ellis and Melledge thought about that statement!

Other Housing and Dining Accommodations for Students

Ellis & Melledge received many requests from parents looking for houses positioned close by Harvard, suitable for the entire family, or for use as a student rooming houses. The dormitory-building boom in the late 1890s and early 1900s caused a financial squeeze on those families whose main source of income was renting rooms to Harvard students. Many of these were single or widowed women.

In 1894, an interested party wrote to Ellis & Melledge: “I desire to locate in Cambridge this Fall, to be located before the opening of college with the idea of conducting a first class house for the accommodation of students (with meals) also nice families…”

The 1900 City Directory listed 97 “Boarding and Lodging Houses”—approximately 79 of them run by women.

The Samuel Flagg Sawyer house at 24–26 Holyoke Street (built 1798–99; left section added 1867; top story added ca. 1887). The Sawyer house was remodeled several times to accommodate student rooms. The building was razed in 1927 for the Manter Hall School. Photo 1926. (Caption: *Building Old Cambridge*)

Lucretia W. Ball was another fell into this category. She already owned a rooming house on 26 Holyoke Street, (run by Mrs. E. G. Brandon) when she wrote in 1915 inquiring about taking over another house that “has a bad name on account of being used for a cheap boarding house but I have 30 or 40 boys that come for rooms at 26 Holyoke St. and not being able to accomodate [sic] them there thought I might take them over there. The house on Holyoke St is an awful old house but the boys seem to like the location.” Or this woman, also writing in 1915: “It is my intention, if I can find a suitable location, to open a tea-room…I intend to run a high grade place which will appeal to the better class of students, where they can entertain their friends in a sort of semi-privacy and more comfortably than in their rooms.”

From Dormitory to Apartment Building

After the 1910s, ownership of Prescott Hall changed hands several times and perhaps as early as 1923, had been converted to an apartment building.

It was sold again in 1928, and by 1930 the extensive renovations made the news:

Excerpt from the *Cambridge Chronicle* March 28, 1930

But let’s close this piece the way it started: on the subject of student pranks. President Eliot’s letter of 1903 was not the first time students’ antics had received attention. As we saw at the beginning of this installment, stolen street signs were a favorite choice for room décor as far back as 1883. And then there was the description of this epic episode from 1891 (this excerpt is long, but it’s so cheeky we couldn’t resist clipping out most of the article):

Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer Kathleen Fox.

SOURCES

Cambridge Historical Commission: Ellis/Andrews Collection

Cambridge Public Library digitized newspapers and atlases

Cambridge Buildings and Architects Database, compiled by Christopher Hale

Building Old Cambridge, Susan E. Maycock and Charles M. Sullivan

[i] Cambridge Buildings and Architects, by Christopher Haile, 2002

[ii] Building Old Cambridge, Susan E. Maycock and Charles M. Sullivan (2016), pg.129

[iii] Building Old Cambridge, pg. 130

Real Estate Revelations | Introduction

Posted on October 20, 2022October 17, 2022 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

“My previous experience in Cambridge is that it is somewhat like Egypt, in the way that it is subject to various pests, particularly rats. These rats of course, cause a great deal of damage in the house, and the only way to get rid of them is to hire a rat exterminator; if this becomes necessary, through no fault of our own, I expect to deduct the cost of this sort of thing from the rent…”

That was written in 1919, in reference to #225 Brattle St. This account gives a slightly humorous sense of the many demands and expectations of those looking for housing in Cambridge.

Exterior of 225 Brattle St as it appeared in The American Architect, vol. 105, no. 2006 (June 3, 1914)

This post will serve as an introduction to a new series on the many aspects of late 19^th and early 20^th century Cambridge life revealed in the correspondence of William R. Ellis (1846-1903), real estate broker—expectations being one of them. Ellis founded his real estate firm in 1888. He dealt in sales, rentals, mortgages, and insurance. As you see below, he was also a Justice of the Peace.

Dealing primarily with properties in “Old Cambridge” west of Central Square, Ellis’s offices were always in the Harvard Square area: 910 Main Street, (the building that now houses the Hong Kong Restaurant at 1236 Mass. Ave), 440 Harvard Street, and, by 1893, the “Lyceum Building” (demolished in 1924, now the location of the Harvard Coop.) He also kept an office in Boston.

By 1890, Ellis had added “Auctioneer and Notary Public” to his resume. Note that he also maintained a registry of “Student’s Rooms and Boarding Places”:

In 1893, fellow realtor Robert J. Melledge (1855-1917) joined the firm, now called “Ellis & Melledge.” The firm dropped “Mortgages” from their advertising to focus on real estate and Insurance.

*Cambridge Chronicle* September 23, 1893

Above: Exterior of Lyceum Hall in Harvard Square (March 22, 1907). Boston Elevated Railway Collection. Below: detail of Robert J. Melledge and Benjamin P. Ellis advertisements in upper windows.

After the deaths of principals Ellis and Melledge, the firm went through several name changes as its management was taken over by the sons of both men in conjunction with other partners. But the name “Ellis” was always part of the company’s name. Under each of these iterations, the firm was active in Cambridge for over 100 years. In 1994, the Cambridge Historical Commission received a collection of the firm’s business correspondence covering the years primarily between 1893-1936. The collection provides extraordinary insight into the development of Cambridge, and the changing social, cultural, and economic forces at work in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries.

Here’s a portion of another letter from a prospective renter (June 8, 1907):

“Allow me to ask if you have a small house for Sale at a Bargain cheaply on a hill even if it is out aways. I own a large library of about 2000 books & I must move them this Summer. …I wish to rent a small place that I buy & put all my Books in the attic, or one small Room…. I can pay down $250.00 or so & may be $490.00 to $500.00 & the Balance in payments. I own a farm in Oklahoma & whenever my share of Rent falls due I can pay that on my house – if I can get something for $1000 or $1200 – I don’t want anything where negroes live…I prefer Cambridge on account of Harvard University…”

Apart from the eccentricity of the request, this letter also reveals one aspect of the prejudices all too common during this era. Intolerances abounded against othered groups such as Jews, Italians, Catholics, and large families. We’ll revisit such biases in a later post.

Other topics revealed in the correspondence include: expectations for renting houses fully furnished, often counting china, linens and a stable; owners stipulations about to whom they will rent; rental unit complaints (“the tank in the Water Closet has bursted and we are without water…”); the effects of WWI on housing and the post war recession; housing arrangements for Harvard students (boarding houses, tea rooms); health concerns (renting a unit after an occupant suffered from scarlet fever); and the cost of insuring pigeons or Cadillacs. The list goes on!

Let’s close this edition of Real Estate Revelations with a reassuring excerpt from a letter written in 1910 by Harvard physics professor Harry W. Morse. Professor Morse worked at the Jefferson Physical Laboratory, and planned to rent property at #42 Church Street, where he expected to do work in “…experimental electro-chemistry. There will be no work on a large scale and no explosives will be used nor will our stock of chemicals be any more dangerous than that of a drug store…” Whew! Quelle relief.

30-42 Church Street (demolished ca. 1927) was originally built as a stable and was later used as a gymnasium. Photo: detail of 1921 Harvard Square aerial with 32-40 Church St circled. U.S. Army Air Service photo, Harvard University Archives.

Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer Kathleen Fox

Focus On: CHC Volunteers

Posted on October 24, 2018May 14, 2020 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

October might be almost over, but it’s still American Archives Month — and in celebration of all things archive-y, we will be highlighting some of our fabulous archives volunteers. This week we would like you to meet Kathleen Fox.

IMG_4870 (1) — Kathleen organizing correspondence from the Ellis and Andrews Real Estate Collection

Kathleen began volunteering at the Historical Commission in October 2017, and says she is “driven by curiosity.” We asked Kathleen a few questions to learn more about her volunteer work, and her life outside of the Historical Commission.

What collections have you worked on at the Commission? Tell us about them.

I began with processing a very large collection of maps and plans in the E.F. Bowker Collection, creating a spreadsheet listing each map or plan, the streets it pertained to, the owner, the surveyor, the date, etc. Bowker was a mainstream and very successful civil engineer/surveyor in Cambridge. This was interesting work because of the light it shed on real estate development in the city, and because it was the first collection I had processed.

Plan of St. Mary’s Parochial School, E.F. Bowker Collection

Bow and Arrow Streets, E.F. Bowker Collection

What is your academic and career background?

I received my B.F.A. in 1967, and went to work as a secretary in the Mabel Brady Garvan Collection of American Art at the Yale University Art Gallery. After two years in New Haven I moved to Boston where I worked briefly for an architecture firm, and then as an administrative assistant in the Department of Humanities at MIT. Following that, after two years at a private research commission I spent the remainder of my working life at the Harvard School of Government (1980-2009), ending up as Assistant Dean for Teaching Support.

At the same time as I was working in academe I was a practicing artist, and taught watercolor painting at Brookline Adult Education. In about 1970 I was co-founder of an art studio in Boston next to Symphony Hall – – the Kaji Aso Studio. The studio gave classes in watercolor and oil painting, calligraphy and ceramics. It also had a poetry program and a music program. The Studio continues to this day. I drifted away in the mid-80’s , but continued my work as an artist while I worked in academe to support myself.

Somewhere along the line in the late 1990s I drifted once again – this time away from making art as I got more and more interested in history.

Do you volunteer anywhere else?

I volunteer in the Historical Collections at the Mount Auburn Cemetery and also at the Massachusetts Historical Society. I do whatever needs doing – – mostly background research and elementary preservation work.

What do you like to do in your free time?

After researching the history of my own 1893 house I got interested in researching the history of equally old houses on my block in Arlington. This haphazardly expanded – – and now people commission me to research the history of their homes. I am now working on my 29^th history . Most have been in Arlington, but I have done two in Cambridge and a couple in surrounding suburbs. In the spring and summer I am also in the garden as much as possible.

What is the best (or your favorite) thing you’ve found in an archive?

At the CHC right now I am processing the papers from the real estate firm of Ellis and Andrews [old finding aid here; new one in progress]. The collection spans the period from c. 1893 to c. 1935. These real estate transactions provide a very interesting and enlightening view of the cultural and financial values of the time, not to mention the growth of the city of Cambridge in the late 19^th and early 20^th century . This and the Bowker collection together have completely changed the way I view the cityscape as I walk around Cambridge.

Correspondence to Mr. Melledge, Ellis and Andrews Collection

At the Massachusetts Historical Society there have been many memorable moments – – finding a flyer for a slave auction, listing the slaves by name; holding a book printed in 1504 (the oldest thing I have ever held); and a letter from a local Massachusetts businessman to President James Garfield offering to send him the water bed he had developed for good health – – in 1881!! At Mount Auburn there have been more interesting finds than I could possibly list.

Thank you, Kathleen!

Stayed tuned for another installment of our Focus On: CHC Volunteers series.

The Ellis & Andrews Real Estate Collection

Posted on April 24, 2017May 14, 2020 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

For the past several weeks, our Spring 2017 Simmons archives intern, Chun Yu Tsui, has been working on re-processing the Ellis & Andrews real estate collection. This collection was donated to the CHC in 1994 by Helen Moulton, owner and president of the Ellis & Andrews real estate firm from 1979-1994.

As part of the re-processing project, Chun Yu has reorganized the first two boxes from the collection; mainly, changing a box of real estate correspondence from chronological order to alphabetical order. Since so many of the letters received by Ellis & Melledge (the original company name) mentioned specific streets and addresses for sale, we thought reorganizing the correspondence alphabetically would be much easier for researchers.

In addition to finding out about the history of the oldest real estate firm in Cambridge, researchers might now be interested in finding information on the history of their home or building lots. The reorganization of the real estate correspondence will now allow researchers to search for their street or address by name.

Below, read about the collection and Chun Yu’s experience reprocessing a huge box of correspondence from 1893-1896.

Background on Ellis & Andrews*

Established in 1888, the firm of Ellis & Andrews was Cambridge’s oldest real estate company. First located at 910 Main Street (now Massachusetts Ave.) in Quincy Square, it was founded by William Rogers Ellis as the Ellis Real Estate & Insurance Company. In 1893, Cambridge native Robert Melledge joined the firm, which was renamed Ellis & Melledge, it moved to the Lyceum Building (now the Harvard Cooperative Society). In 1903 William Ellis died and Melledge extended partnership to Ellis’s son, Benjamin Pierce Ellis. Two years later Benjamin left the company to work independently, and in 1913 Melledge moved his firm to its present location in the Brattle Building at 4 Brattle Street, Cambridge. In 1917 Robert Melledge died and Benjamin Ellis returned to succeed his father. In 1920 he joined Cambridge real estate veteran Edward A. Andrews in business and the firm became Ellis & Andrews. Seven years later Edward Bowditch joined the company as an agent; by 1928 he was a co-owner. Edward Andrews died in 1936, and the firm was subsequently renamed Ellis & Bowditch. His son, Dwight Andrews, continued to work as an agent until he was called to duty in World War II. After the war, Dwight Andrews returned and the firm was again called Ellis & Andrews. In 1955, Andrews became sole owner; in 1961 John Norris joined as a partner; and in 1979 Helen Moulton bought the agency and became the president. The agency lost its independent status when it merged with another firm in 1994.

ellisblog1 — This is an example of correspondence to Ellis & Melledge from a Cambridge resident, Mrs. Charles Goodhue. In the letter, Mrs. Goodhue writes, “I want a house with 8 or 9 sleeping rooms – including servant’s room.”

The Collection*

The Ellis & Andrews Collection contains both business and personal correspondence from c. 1889 to 1986, with the bulk of the material from 1890-1935. These materials are organized in several individual archival boxes, which are then stored in five larger boxes. The collection contains various forms of printed material, including correspondence (business and personal); interviews from local newspapers; real estate advertisements; sales ledgers; a daybook (business transactions); postcards; invoices; and notes on a history of the Ellis-Andrews Insurance Agency.

The files of a personal nature contain correspondence between Edward and Elizabeth Andrews, and information on the estate of Edward Andrews. Biographical information (including obituaries) can be found on William Rogers Ellis, Benjiman P. Ellis, Robert J. Melledge, and Edward A. Andrews. There are also two files on Dwight Andrews which contain a variety of materials, but most of the information is from the 1980s.

ellisblog2 — This is an example of correspondence to Ellis & Melledge from a Cambridge resident. The resident writes, “I wouldn’t advise being too stiff on prices for rooms. Don’t refuse a reasonable offer from good man.”

ellisblog5 — This example of correspondence to Ellis & Melledge from W.A. Mason & Son shows the scenario of three surveyors measuring distances for engineering work, indicating how the city of Cambridge was developed in the late 19^th century.

Reorganizing the Collection

The “Scope and Content” note in the original finding aid created by Matthew Hall in April 1995, and reformatted by Megan Schwenke in April 2012, only describes one of the small document boxes located in one of the collection’s five huge white storage boxes. Therefore, apart from double-checking the box that was already processed, five weeks ago I as an intern started sorting through another box of documentation and correspondence from the collection, marked “1893-1896”. Those materials were originally sorted by year, but this form of arrangement might not be very helpful for researchers to find the desired documentation, especially for this box containing materials only within such a short period. With the guidance given by my supervisor, I decided to alphabetize the correspondence by address in order to foster easy searching, and then to rearrange the series and update the finding aid accordingly. Unfortunately, I could not finish processing everything in that box before the end of my internship, since that box contains too much documentation, many of it written in illegible or complex handwriting. Yet, this valuable experience really opens my eyes to approaching archival materials in the late 19^th century.

ellisblog3

ellisblog4 — This business postcard shows notes from W.A. Mason & Son, located in Central Square, Cambridge, a civil engineering and surveying company which Ellis & Melledge partnered with in the late 19th-century.

Click the following text to open the Ellis & Andrews Collection finding aid. Please note: this collection is currently being reprocessed, and the finding aid linked here may not be the most recent version. The collection is still open for research, however, so please contact the Archivist for more information.

*The background and collection notes are taken from the collection finding aid.