Back Bay home is steps from Public Garden
Back Bay’s most prestigious addresses are in the first block from the Public Garden, the country’s first botanical garden.
Established in 1837 with plantings in the former salt marsh, it was formally laid out in 1858, essentially as it is today, with its lagoon, flowerbeds and trees. The swan boats arrived in 1877.
As the Back Bay was developed, grand mansions were constructed incrementally. Along Marlborough Street, Charles Freeland built several houses, including the two townhouses at 21 and 23 Marlborough St.
These Victorian brownstones with expansive bays, built in 1866 in the French Academic style, mirror each other and feature a beautiful limestone portico and Corinthian columns that span both entries.
In 1936, these two homes became dormitories and classrooms for the Katharine Gibbs School, and when the school sold the property 20 years ago, their expansive interiors were converted to four magnificent condominiums.
Tracy Campion of Campion and Company Real Estate is marketing one of these fabulous residences, No. 3 at 21-23 Marlborough St. for $4.2 million.
It is a four-bedroom home with direct-key elevator access.
The main entrance to the complex is at 23 Marlborough, which has tall mahogany double doors with glass insets.
The lobby is exquisite with its high ceiling and marble-tiled floor. The elevator too is elegant – mahogany paneling and a marble floor – and ascends to No. 3.
The door opens into a beautiful domed foyer with a multi-colored marble floor. Archways lead to the various parts of the home.
To the right is the enfilade, an expansive row of grand rooms – the living room, the billiard room and the family room – arranged at the front of the residence in such a way that creates a perfect setting for entertaining.
The flooring throughout is white oak.
The domed entry foyer with its marble floor and subtle lighting reflects a grandeur that pervades the entire residence.
The living room boasts paneled wainscoting, egg-and-dart crown molding and a large fireplace with a carved wood mantel and a marble surround.
Next to the living room is a mahogany-paneled library with floor-to-ceiling built-in bookcases and a wet bar with a brass sink and a small refrigerator.
Two Doric columns separate the living room from the billiard room, which continues into a family room.
A pair of folding French doors can close off this room which features more paneled wainscoting and built-in shelving that flanks a large fireplace with a carved wooden mantel and blue-gray granite hearth.
Like the living room, the family room has a wide three-window bay and is bathed in sunlight.
A mahogany-paneled library boast built-in bookcases and a wet bar.
The newly renovated kitchen is open to the family room and has been designed to meet every imaginable need.
A large granite center island, topped with a long glass shelf, doubles as a breakfast bar. It also holds a prep sink and tucked underneath is a Miele dishwasher.
Poggenpohl cabinetry lines three walls, and the Kitchen-Aid refrigerator is paneled with the same chestnut facing. Against one wall is a deep rectangular sink next to a built-in espresso machine and, above, a KitchenAid microwave.
On the opposite wall are two wall ovens above a warming drawer and a pantry concealed by the cabinetry. The third plane holds a six-burner Miele gas range and a Gaggenau stainless steel hood. Plexiglas behind the range and above the counters serves as the backsplash.
The kitchen flows into a spacious dining room that is a delightful formal space.
The gourmet kitchen, furnished with custom cabinetry, high-end appliances and granite counters, is open to the family room.
Cove lighting adds a romantic essence to this room, which has a picture molding, wainscoting, a raised fireplace with a marble surround and a pair of glass doors that open onto a private deck.
The three bedchambers, each with an en suite bath, are at the back of the home. The master bedroom is huge, and along an interior wall is a row of closets, separated by columned storage. This room has windows on two exposures, a sitting area and another fireplace.
The master bath is sumptuous. The soaking tub is set into a marble deck; shelves are at either end, and in the middle is a window with a view of the deck. The steam shower and floor are tiled with marble that also matches the double vanity.
The second bedroom currently is used as a home office and is nearly as spacious, and the third bedroom, a guest suite, has glass doors that open onto a second deck. Outside this room is the laundry with shelving and a side-by-side GE washer and dryer.
The family room with a wide bay has custom-built cabinetry on either side of the elegant fireplace accented with blue-gray granite.
This residence also has deeded parking for two cars, one inside the garage and one outside, plus two guest parking spaces.
In years past many prominent citizens resided in these homes, among them Benjamin Robbins Curtis. He was one of the two dissenting Supreme Court justices in the Dred Scott decision, which perpetuated slavery.
Embittered, Curtis resigned and returned to Boston to practice law and was a defense counsel in the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson.
Curtis also was the first Supreme Court justice to have graduated from law school.
DETAILS
Address: 21-23 Marlborough St., Unit 3, Back Bay
BR/BA: Four bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths
Size: 3,636 square feet
Age: 1866; 1936; 1993; 2005
Price: $4.2 million
Taxes: $31,077 (with residential exemption)
Condo fee: $1,288 per month
Features of building: Beautiful four-story, French Academic double house with four condominiums; elegant marble foyer with wainscoting and paneled elevator with marble floor; professionally managed.
Features of home: Recently updated gourmet kitchen with Poggenpohl cabinetry, large granite center island with raised glass shelf; gas range and two wall ovens with warming drawer; built-in espresso machine and microwave; two private decks; two deeded parking spaces – one in garage and one outdoors.
Close by: The Public Garden, the Esplanade and Hatch Shell, Back Bay restaurants, shops and galleries on Newbury and Boylston streets and Beacon Hill’s Charles Street; Park Square, Boston Public Library and Copley Square; within walking distance of MBTA Green Line at Arlington Street or Red and Green Lines at Park Street, Orange Line, commuter rail and Amtrak at Back Bay station; easy access to Storrow Drive and connecting highways.
Contact: Tracy Campion, Campion and Company Real Estate, 172 Newbury St., Boston, MA 02116. Phone: 617-236-0711. Web site: www.campionre.com
This property may be seen by appointment.
