This house was built for the Boston milliner Joseph Hardon in 1880. He employed the pre-eminent Queen Anne architect in Boston, William Ralph Emerson to design his house. This house is a wonderful example of Emerson’s work. It is such a good example of the Queen Anne style that it was featured in an 1885 French magazine L’Architecture Americaine. William Ralph Emerson was a great nephew of the Concord philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson and was well known for his house designs (in both Queen Anne and Shingle style). He often put his signature motif, a stylized pine tree on a gable of his houses. There are several to be seen in Sumner Hill. (15 Greenough, 9 Greenough, 18 Greenough)
Queen Anne houses are asymmetrical and therefore quirky. Note how this house has a porch that projects out on the first floor but a recessed porch on the second floor. There are varying shingle styles (clapboard at first story, the squared off “fish scale” shape on the second story, and a rounded shingle on the third story gable) and the wonderful staircase window with leaded glass panes, stepping up the stairwell. Queen Anne architecture was a reaction to the Industrial Revolution and its practitioners advocated a return to handcrafted elements. Queen Anne houses bring in all sorts of elements and combine them in unusual ways, making them very eclectic. This house remains imposing with its circular drive and big setback from the street. The white paint color is not original – 9 Greenough, 18 Greenough and houses of Story Place have more historically accurate paint jobs. The “painted lady” moniker is really more a San Francisco concept. Victorian houses in Boston had paint that emphasized their details but colors that were complementary and somewhat subdued.
Image by JP Photographer, Charlie Rosenberg