Queen Anne home has lovely details
A spectacular Queen Anne Victorian in the Sumner Hill Historic District in Jamaica Plain is on the market, and Ralph Smith Jr. and Julie Harrison of Gibson Sotheby’s International Realty have listed it for $1.445 million.
It is “an exceptional example of the [Queen Anne] style. This handsome house has an unusual roofline, vertical and horizontal boarding, turned porch posts and a lively mix of shingles and clapboards,” according to information about the historic district.
The main living unit includes a formal living room, a formal dining room, a huge kitchen, four fireplaces, a room, a studio, a parlor, four bedrooms, three full baths, a front porch and a secluded deck.
In addition, there are two rental units with their own entrances. The home, listed as a three-family in city records, was approved for one apartment in 1945 and for the second apartment in 1991.
The formal living room features triple-hung windows on either side of a fireplace and wide doorways with pocket doors that lead to the dining room and the reception hall.
William Ware and Henry Van Brunt, who also designed Harvard’s Memorial Hall between 1870 and 1874 and the Episcopal Divinity School in 1868, designed this home for Thomas Sherwin in 1880. Benjamin Brann was the builder. Similarities between the Sanders Theater and the Sherwin home include Japanese-influenced geometric stained glass windows and chestnut paneled walls, stairs and fireplace mantel in the formal entry hall.
The permit to build the home was applied for and approved in June of 1880. Architects After graduating from Harvard, Ware and Van Brunt studied architecture with Richard Morris Hunt in New York and French architectural education practices in Europe.
In 1867 MIT asked Ware to start a school of architecture. That model, the first of its kind in the United States, was subsequently used for other schools of architecture across the country.
The beautiful stone St. John’s Episcopal Church next door, built in 1882, compliments the Sherwin home.
Ten Revere St. is set on the crest of Sumner Hill in the very heart of the historic district and is surrounded by other large beautiful homes. A stone retaining wall is at the sidewalk level on its side of the street. Facing the house, the driveway, large enough for two to four cars, is to the right.
The stairs to the front yard are at the right center. The grassy front lawn ends at the stairs to the front porch. There a short stone wall parallels the house and holds a garden and a goldfish pond that can be enjoyed from the porch that is large enough for sitting areas.
The front door of the home opens into a large entry foyer with stained glass windows and expands to an even larger formal entry hall that has chestnut paneling, staircase and an inviting fireplace.
The large double doors off the entry hall open to the front parlor that has been used as a music room. A wide doorway in the music room can be closed with pocket doors or left open to the living room on the other side.
The living room has a fireplace in the bay on the left. Floor-to-ceiling windows fill the angled walls on either side of the fireplace.
The reception hall with the chestnut paneling, curved arch and staircase and fireplace makes a grand statement.
Another double doorway opens to the dining room. That doorway, too, has pocket doors.
The left wall of the dining room has French doors that open to a private, ground level deck. At the back of the room are three large windows above a window seat that has storage cabinets and drawers. Another door opens to a full bath, adding the possibility of using this room as a first floor master bedroom.
The large kitchen is on the other side and at the back of the home. It also has French doors that open to the yard. A center peninsula bar separates the working kitchen from the eat-in section of the room. White wooden cabinets and shelving and large windows give the room a feeling of charm.
Through another door in the kitchen is a foyer that holds the washer and dryer and an exterior side door used by the tenants as well. A hallway between the kitchen and the dining room leads to the back stairway and then returns to the front entry hall.
The second floor of the home has a large master bedroom with a fireplace and three other bedrooms. One is being used as a studio and has a door to a small deck and the back exterior stairway. The second floor also contains an exquisite sitting room.
The sitting room fireplace is at the center of a wall with corner windows in that wall and the walls on either side of it. Two full baths with black and white ceramic floor tiles are also on this level.
The third floor contains a den with skylights and a window that provides winter views of Boston’s Back Bay.
The home has good storage, including several walk-in closets. The electric system has been updated to circuit breakers. The rental units cannot be accessed within the house, but doorways could be added if there is a need to add the space to the main house.
The home has blown in insulation and storm windows. The heating system and the cooking are by gas. The floors are lovely hardwoods. The tasteful design and the many large windows throughout result in a bright, beautiful and desirable home.
DETAILS
Address: 10 Revere St., Jamaica Plain
BR/BA: Four-plus bedrooms, three baths in main house plus two separate one-bedroom apartments
Age: 1880-1881
Price: $1.445 million
Size: 4,000 +/- square feet
Lot size: 6,892 square feet
Taxes: $7,460 (FY 2008)
Features of the home: Exquisitely designed Queen Anne Victorian that has been meticulously maintained; beautiful wood floors; four fireplaces; lovely paneling and arches and mantelpieces. Landscaped grounds large enough for gardens and privacy, but small enough to comfortably care for. Two separate apartments that provide extra income.
Close by: Shops and restaurants of downtown Jamaica Plain; Arnold Arboretum; historic Loring-Greenough House; Jamaica Pond, MBTA trains and buses; easy access to Route 203.
Contact: Ralph Smith Jr. or Julie Harrison, Gibson Sotheby’s International Realty, 556 Tremont St., Boston, MA 02118. Phones: 617-426-6900 (office) or 617-834-8985 (Smith cell) or 617-413-6332 (Harrison cell). Web site: www.gibsonsothebysrealty.com.
