Luxurious Boston condo has designer's influence
Before the nine-story brick and limestone building at 90 Commonwealth Ave. in the Back Bay was constructed as one of the very fashionable apartment hotels, two elegant townhouses stood on the site. No. 88 was built in 1881, and No. 90 was constructed in 1879.
But on Oct. 22, 1923, application was made to take down the buildings, and on May 6, 1925, approval was given to build the present-day building.
The final report on the finished building is dated Feb. 17, 1928, but with such a wonderful location, renovations have continued through the years. Today it is an association of 25 condominiums, all owner-occupied.
Two of those units on the seventh floor have been combined to create an elegant, warm, single-level home with 3,091 square feet of living space, enjoyable for a couple or for an entire family.
Andrew Friedland of Gibson Sotheby’s International Real Estate has listed Unit 18/19 at $2.75 million.
The building is on the southeast corner of Commonwealth Avenue and Clarendon Street, opposite the beautiful stone First Baptist Church.
The Clarendon Street Playground is on the northwest corner of Clarendon and Commonwealth, diagonally across the Commonwealth Avenue Mall.
Off the living room is a music room for the baby grand piano.
Unit 18/19 has a formal living room, a large family room, a family kitchen, a catering kitchen, a formal dining room, a large reception room, three full baths, two half baths, and five rooms that could be used as bedrooms, although now they are a guest room, a dressing/exercise room, an office, a library and a master bedroom.
The front door of the unit opens into the reception room. The flooring in the unit is of cork, which produces a quiet, comfortable base.
In this home the cork has been covered with plush carpeting. In fact, the carpet company received permission to photograph their carpets in the home, and now that beautiful high-end carpet in a gorgeous home that you see in an ad could actually have been taken here.
In the reception room, the door to the right of the entry leads to a charming, small, round room.
Shelves line an entire wall of the library, a room that could be used as an additional bedroom.
The walls are curved, and even the door to a storage closet there is curved to produce the circle. Other doors in the room open to a half bath, the family kitchen and the living room.
The living room is spectacular and includes surround sound. On the near side is a music room.
Mahogany built-in cabinets are on the wall to the right, and the two windows to the left give views of the beautiful rose window in the church across the street.
Fluted mahogany columns mark the division between the music section of the room and the even larger conversation grouping.
That end has more mahogany cabinets built into the interior wall, a wide bay window across from them and a beautiful fireplace with white pierced surround.
The main kitchen is spacious and features state-of-the-art appliances and custom cabinetry.
From the bay window there are views to the south of the activity on Newbury Street, the mirrored John Hancock building, and a slice of Trinity Church. To the west is the stained glass rose window and to the north is the Commonwealth Avenue Mall.
A door to the right of the fireplace opens to the guest hallway. On the right side is the back door of the home.
The first door on the left is to the library with built-in bookcases; two large windows and a closet and a half bath are in the right wall.
At the end of the hallway is the guest bedroom with a double closet and an en suite full bath.
Two storage closets are also off the hallway.
The eat-in family kitchen is an excellent size. The flooring here is hardwood. The white cabinets are paneled, and the appliances are either white porcelain or paneled to match the cabinets.
A caterer's kitchen off the dining room has lots of room. Beyond this area is the laundry.
They include Bosch, GE Profile, KitchenAid, and Sub-Zero brands. The range and cooktop are gas.
The popular Internet cooking classes available at www.StartCooking.com were all filmed in this room, and the voiceover was done in the almost soundproof guest bedroom.
The next room off the reception room is the large family room. It has a double window facing west and two double windows facing south.
The decorative fireplace of rose marble grained with white has a white paneled mantelpiece. As in most of the rooms, there is wide crown molding.
A hallway is next. The first door opens into the office, which has a double closet, a single closet, a double south-facing window, and built-in shelving. The second door is to the exercise/dressing room.
Closets line each side of the room, and there are a built-in vanity or desk and a double south-facing window.
The fully carpeted master bedroom suite has an en suite bath with glass blocks and a luxurious shower.
Next is a full bath on the left and the master bedroom with an en suite full bath on the right.
The last door off the reception room is the formal dining room, which has a chandelier and a built-in china cabinet. Within the dining room is a door that leads to a fully functional catering kitchen/laundry room with a tile floor and space for a large group to work.
DETAILS
Address: 90 Commonwealth Ave., Unit 18/19, Back Bay
BR/BA: Five bedrooms, three full baths, two half baths
Size: 3,091 +/- square feet
Age: 1926; 1974; 1991; 2003
Price: $2.75 million
Taxes: $23,293 (with residential exemption)
Condo fee: $2,285 per month (includes heat and hot water)
Features of the building: Professionally managed 25-unit owner-occupied building with wrought iron fence and evergreen shrubs surrounding stone patios on each side of walkway; pleasant lobby with two elevators and door to storage rooms, laundry room and rear door; bicycle storage room, common exercise room, resident superintendent.
Features of the unit: Exquisitely designed sun-filled home that received Boston Design Center Luxury Living Award; wall covering and window treatments by Schumacher, Robert Allen, Pierre Frey; family kitchen cabinets by Rutt, appliances by Sub-Zero, KitchenAid, Bosch, InstaHot water; catering kitchen by Dalia with cabinets by Alno and appliances by Whirlpool, Maytag, Bosch and Magic Chef; granite counters, Maytag laundry equipment, two large private storage rooms on first floor of building,
Close by: Commonwealth Avenue Mall, Clarendon Playground, the Public Garden, shopping and restaurants on Newbury, Arlington and Boylston streets; Copley Place and Prudential Center Mall; easy access to MBTA Green Line at Copley Square, Route 90.
Contact: Andrew Friedland, Gibson Sotheby’s International Realty, 277 Dartmouth St., Boston, MA 02116. Phones: 617-375-6900 (office) or 617-515-0610 (cell).
Websites: www.gibsonsothebysreatly.com, http://andrewfriedland,com or http://90comm.com.
This property may be seen by appointment.
