Charlestown home includes exquisite details

When Charlestown carpenter Uriel Adams of 48 Mt. Vernon St. applied to the city building department to construct a house at 51 Monument Ave. on May 23, 1881, he also applied to build an adjacent house at 53 Monument Ave.

The permits for both homes were granted two days later.

Usher P. Pease owned both the houses, and Adams was listed as both the architect and builder. The houses are mirror images of each other.

Pease was born Jan. 29, 1820, in South Parsonsfield, Maine. He married Juliette Williams there Jan. 12, 1845. Their oldest child was born in Maine in 1846.

The family moved to Watertown and then, in 1851, to Charlestown where Pease worked for the Boston Ice Company, according to the Boston Landmarks Commission. He was also a deacon at the First Free Baptist Church of Boston for more than 40 years.

When the house was built in 1881, the five Pease children ranged in age from 20 to 23, and several were married. The oldest Pease son, Albion, joined the army and served in the Civil War.

In 1882 he was appointed U.S. Marshal. During his two-year term, Albion arrested Jesse James’ brother Frank in Missouri and took him to Alabama to be tried for robbery of a paymaster. 

By 1892 Usher Pease had sold 51 Monument Ave. but was still listed as owner of 53 Monument Ave. in 1901.

Between the living room and dining room are columns with Ionic and Corinthian elements.

The location of the lovely home is superb, between Warren Avenue and the Bunker Hill Monument. Frank Celeste of Gibson Sotheby’s International Realty has listed this single-family home at $1.149 million. 

It was completely rehabbed in 1993 with new electrical wiring, bathroom fixtures, a heating system and plumbing while the elegant original features were saved. 

The home is an Italianate row house with three stories that culminate in a deep bracketed and dentilated cornice just beneath the flat roof. Heavy brackets support an oriel window on the second floor. 

The three-bay facade of the home is brick with granite trim. The granite foundation includes a basement door several steps down from the sidewalk, a window and the main entrance. 

The recessed entry is five granite steps up from the sidewalk and is paneled in deep, rich wood. Double front doors are paned in opaque glass etched with stylized flowers.

The dining room features deep crown molding, an original ceiling medallion with an antique chandelier and a marble mantelpiece.

Inside, the entry hall runs from front to back. A handsome staircase is on the left, and a doorway to the living room on the right.

The hanging lights in the entry hall, the living room and the dining room originally were gaslights that since have been converted to electricity. Their etched glass globes are original. The center medallions from which the living room and dining room lights hang are also original.

Exquisite, extremely wide crown molding circles the ceilings of the living room and the dining room. Quarter-high walls that flank a wide doorway separate the two rooms. Atop each short wall is a Composite order column combining the elements of Ionic and Corinthian. 

The floors in the rooms are hardwood. The living room gas fireplace has a mantelpiece of carved white marble.

The dining room fireplace is carved white marble with a fitted decorative metal insert in the arched opening. 

The two-over -two front windows look out at the charming street scene of Monument Avenue.

The eat-in country kitchen has wide pine flooring, stainless steel appliances, including a gas range and butcher block counters.

The two dining room windows give views of the beautiful back garden and patio.

The lower level of the home features a large eat-in country kitchen with wide pine flooring. Recessed lighting illuminates the room. The custom wall cabinets are paneled in clear glass. 

The stainless steel appliances include a KitchenAid gas range with gas burners, an LG microwave, a Samsung dishwasher, and a General Electric Profile refrigerator with French doors and a bottom freezer drawer. The countertops are butcher block and the backsplash is squares of tile. 

At the dining end of the kitchen, two large windows and a back door open to the back garden.

The back patio is paved in flagstone and brick and is surrounded by a privacy fence with raised garden beds at its base.

The soothing sounds of the corner fountain fill the space.

Plants include sedum, ivy, myrtle, broom and two types of Japanese maple.

The family room with the oriel is stunning and could serve as a library with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and a working fireplace.

At the front of the home on the kitchen level there is a large utility room that provides space for storage and a workshop. The clothes washer and dryer are also located there.

The stunning family room is on the second level of the home. The white marble mantelpiece carved with rectangles and squares has a curved opening for the working fireplace. 

Crown molding circles the ceiling. The oriel window provides a perfect spot for a desk. 

A bedroom with a walk-in closet and crown molding is at the back of the second floor. The marble mantelpiece in the room is fitted with a decorative metal cover over the arched opening.

Off the hallway between the two rooms are a full bath and another walk-in closet. 

A skylight is above the staircase. The third floor has a bedroom at the front and the master bedroom at the back. 

The master walk-in closet is huge, and within the closet are pull-down stairs that lead to more storage.

The master bedroom is on the third floor and includes a huge walk-in closet and a master bath with a skylight.

The en suite master bath has a skylight, and the lavatory is set into a piece of Queen Anne-style furniture. 

DETAILS

Address: 53 Monument Ave., Charlestown 

BR/BA: Three to four bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths

Size: 2,570 +/- square feet

Age: 1881; 1993

Price: $1.149 million

Taxes: $7,968 (FY 2011 with residential exemption)

Features of the home: Lovely Italianate single-family townhome rehabbed with sensitivity, preserving wonderful original features; formal living room with gas fireplace, formal dining room, large country kitchen, family room with wood-burning fireplace; two other decorative fireplaces, all with beautiful, carved marble mantelpieces; exquisite crown molding and columns, some interior shutters; master bedroom with en suite bath; back patio room with gardens and fountain, much storage.

Close by: Bunker Hill Monument, Warren Tavern, Charlestown Navy Yard, marinas, shops and restaurants of Charlestown and the North End; easy access to Routes 93 and 90, airport tunnels and MBTA water taxis, buses and trains.  

Contact: Frank Celeste, Gibson Sotheby’s International Realty, One Thompson Square, Charlestown, MA 02129. Phones: 617-242-4222 (office) or 617-872-3227 (cell).

Website: www.gibsonsothebysrealty.com

This property may be seen by appointment.