This house was built by Benjamin Franklin Sturtevant, the industrialist and inventor in 1890. You can tell he was quite successful just by looking at the size of this building. Sturtevant was a leading industrialist in nineteenth century Massachusetts. He was born in Maine and arrived in Boston in 1856 with 20 cents in his pocket – or so the story goes. He invented a rotary exhaust fan that revolutionized the shoe industry and led to a huge industrial boom in New England. The fans removed debris from the air in the workplace, enhancing worker’s efficiency and output -- and secondarily to factory owners, their health.
His factory was here in Jamaica Plain (just down in the valley on Amory Street extension). He had branches worldwide (New York, Chicago, Portland, Oregon, London and Hamburg). Later he moved the main factory to larger quarters in Hyde Park and the factory in Jamaica Plain became the Sturtevant Aeroplane Company. Eventually, Sturtevant was bought out by Westinghouse who maintained a Sturtevant Division until the 1980s.
One of the Sturtevant daughters (Lilla) married the factory manager, Eugene Noble Foss and they lived at 8 Everett Street. But moved up the hill into this house in 1905 (after her father’s death). By that point, Eugene had taken over the running of the company. Eugene Foss was Governor of Massachusetts from 1911 to 1914. He actually ran for President in 1912. During his political career he changed party affiliation many times. But he did push through bills providing for a presidential primary in Massachusetts, the popular election of US Senators, limitations on campaign financing, minimum wage laws, workmen’s compensation laws and created pension funds for municipal and state employees.
The curlicues on the roof are a type of snow guard – called “pig tails” in the industry.