Welcome back to our Torn Down Tuesday series! Today, we are featuring the house that once stood at 329 Harvard Street in Mid-Cambridge.
In December 1848, George Washington Whittemore (1812-1870) purchased a lot from the Francis Dana estate. The lot was situated on the north side of Harvard Street between Cotton (now Hancock) and Dana Streets and backed on Hastings (now Chatham) street. The Whittemore family was prominent in the business and cultural life of Boston and Cambridge: George W. had many business ventures and was most notably a Boston hotel proprietor. After the home was finished, George W. moved in with his wife, Synia H. (Richardson), on July 8, 1850.
Originally richly ornamented, this suburban house blended Italianate, Greek Revival, and Gothic details in an eclectic but picturesque and singularly harmonious manner. The house typified a trend away from the strict neo-classicism of around 1850. The house was originally remarkable for extensive use of exterior papier mâché ornament. The front and side eaves of the main block, and the cupola (measuring 8′ in diameter) were trimmed with molded papier mâché “gingerbread” mounted on wooden barge boards, until they were destroyed in an accidental fire from painter’s blow-torch in 1931. The cupola retained its trim at least as late as 1951. In its eclectic design, the house was typical of suburban residences built on Dana Hill c. 1850, when formal Greek Revival tradition was yielding to freer Italianate forms and more picturesque massing.
To enter the home from Harvard Street, one would approach the front steps: five granite risers flanked by granite plinths led to a granite stoop recessed within an open rectangular front entrance. A round-arched front doorway was deeply recessed within the stoop and sheltered by a balcony.
Inside, single-paneled pilasters with 1′-high plinths and gessoed papier mâché Greek Corinthian capitals flanked all drawing room openings and “supported” plaster entabulature.
The original interior of the home was highly lavish and Victorian. Red flocked drawing room wallpaper with cream and gilt ground dated from 1850 and remained to the end of the Whittemore occupancy. The drawing room also had original richly-colored imported carpet, red velvet lambrequins with gilded cornices, and a set of very elaborate neo-rococo furniture inspired by Louis XV forms.
The set included two white marble-topped tables, a mirrored étagère with a low marble-topped console, and chairs, sofa and footstool upholstered in original red velvet. According to family records, the curtain cornices and furniture were made by a group of travelling Swiss artisans skilled in comp work and frame making.
Marble busts of Hiram Powers’ Persephone and the Apollo Belvedere, a plaster bust of Washington, two oval family portraits of young girls ca. 1850, an oil copy of Guido Reni’s Aurora, alabaster vases, parian ware figurines, and a multitude of bibelots (a small, decorative ornament or trinket) completed the lavish drawing room ensemble, which remained intact until 1949.
A significant modernization of the house was undertaken in 1922-23 where a coal-fired hot air heating replaced the oil-fired steam system, the flooring was updated, electric lights and a laundry room were installed, among many other amenities. The home continued to be passed down to successive Whittemores until is was sold out of family in June 1951. The house changed hands several times from 1962-1964, by which time the structure had badly deteriorated. Finally, the house was demolished in 1965 to clear site for the Dana Hill Apartments. To learn more about this building, check out yesterday’s Modern Monday Instagram post!
Source: Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) report by Dr. Bainbridge Bunting (1964)