Baylies-Gamble Mansion to become private residence

The grand Edwardian mansion at 5 Commonwealth Ave. in the Back Bay, home to the Boston Center for Adult Education for 67 years, once again will become a single-family residence.

The $18 million sale of the Baylies-Gamble Mansion was officially recorded March 6 at the Suffolk County Registry of Deeds to Joseph R. Jenkins, trustee of 5 Commonwealth Realty Trust.

Under a separate trust, Jenkins secured a $40 million mortgage. Jenkins, an attorney in Shrewsbury, declined to comment about the purchase.

The property is assessed for nearly $7 million.

The purchase-and-sale agreement for the building, set on a 9,906-square-foot lot on the sunny side of Commonwealth Avenue, was executed in late 2007.

Subsequently, some work has been done at the site, such as inspecting the foundations and wood pilings.

Last summer, the Back Bay Architectural Commission reviewed a proposal to make some exterior changes to the building, including adding a roof deck and a shallow bump-out at the rear that would correspond to an existing oriel.

Plans also call for constructing a seven-car garage below the ballroom that would be accessed from the public alley at the rear.

In February, the city issued a permit to remove some interior partitions and the garden wall, to underpin the foundations, repair wood pilings and add other pilings as determined by the structural engineer.

Earlier this month, the Boston Center for Adult Education said goodbye to the mansion and completed its move to 122 Arlington St., which has undergone major renovations during the past year.

The ballroom is just as elegant today as it was in 1912.

The BCAE purchased the mansion in 1941 for $23,500. At the time, it was assessed at $100,000, but it had been vacant for several years.

Dorothy Hewitt founded the BCAE in 1933 as an opportunity for men and women to exchange ideas in living room settings and continue to develop their creative and intellectual abilities.

Housed first at 79 Mount Vernon St. on Beacon Hill, it quickly outgrew its space, and after eight years, an executive committee launched a $40,000 campaign to raise funds not only to buy the Baylies mansion but also to install fire escapes and dressing rooms, purchase needed equipment and retire some debt.

Since 1982, the building has been called the Gamble Mansion, so named in recognition of many years of financial support by Sarah Merry Bradley Gamble and her husband, Clarence James Gamble.

In 1979 the BCAE secured a second location for its programming needs. The two-story brick building at 122 Arlington St. had been a parking garage and previously a film and television studio. The non-profit bought the building for $265,000.

The parlor features a marble fireplace with a large overmantel mirror. 

During the past year, the BCAE upgraded its Bay Village quarters with state-of-the-art technology, constructing a culinary center and 14 classrooms. 

The BCAE’s former home possesses an even more intriguing history.

In 1904 Walter Cabot Baylies, a prominent businessman, engaged architect William York Peters of Peters and Rice to build a grand home at 5 Commonwealth Ave. 

It would replace a brick townhouse that was constructed in 1861 for Abbott Lawrence, which was identical to the one next door at 3 Commonwealth Ave.

Baylies' four-story limestone building surpassed others on the street.

The 52-foot-wide facade features bowfronts that rise three stories on either side of the recessed entry.

The top floor, set slightly back from the rest of the building, has a row of small square windows separated with garlands.

Baylies made his fortune in textiles and became a director of Amory, Browne & Company.

He was on many boards of the city’s financial institutions and was a director of the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of Boston for many years.

The staircase in the reception hall is grand.

A philanthropist, he served as a director of the Permanent Charity Fund and was a trustee of the Perkins School for the Blind and Children’s Hospital, where he helped oversee its new construction in 1911.

In 1912, Baylies built the adjoining one-story ballroom. Previously, a stable had been on the site.

Two years ago, when neighbors and preservationists learned of the BCAE’s plans to sell the property, they sought assurances that the building would not be carved into luxury condominiums and asked the Boston Landmarks Commission to designate the first floor interior space as an individual landmark.

However, because it would be a private residence, the commission could take no action. The group had submitted a report to the commission, describing the building as representative of the “restrained characteristics of mid-18th century Parisian mansions” and “a revival of mid-18th century French Classical style.”

The interior spaces are glorious. At the left of the entry is a beautiful wood-paneled library with a fireplace; at the right is a living room.

A large reception hall and the grand staircase occupy a good portion of the first floor, which also includes a large dining room and a study.

Accessed through the dining room on the westerly side of the house is the opulent ballroom, which is set farther back from the street and has its own private entrance.

Floor-to-ceiling windows topped with fanlights flank either side of the exterior glass door.

Inside, the ballroom has a soaring coffered ceiling with a skylight, gilded crown moldings and ornate crystal chandeliers, reminiscent of the style of Louis XV.

At the back of this room is a musicians’ balcony, and behind the ballroom is a grotto with a fountain and a statue of Mercury.

Indeed, the ballroom provided an ideal setting for Baylies to present his debutante daughter Charlotte, the oldest of his six children, to society.

One wonders what refined renovations will transform this landmark to an exquisite home again in the coming years.