164 Beacon Street

164 Beacon Street

164 Beacon Street was designed by Fehmer and Page, architects, and built in 1889 by James Smith, builder, as the home of Dr. John Homans, a physician and surgeon, and his wife, Helen Amory (Perkins) Homans.  They previously had lived at 161 Beacon.

John Homans is shown as the owner of 164 Beacon on the original building permit application, dated July 22, 1889.

Dr. Homans died in February of 1903.  Helen Homans continued to live there until her death in 1925.  She also maintained a summer home in Ponkapoag.  In his Memoirs, Coming to My Senses, sociologist George Caspar Homans describes visiting his grandmother "in her second floor parlor at 164 Beacon, looking out over the Charles River, trimmed in golden oak and dominated by a steel engraving of Rosa Bonheur's 'The Horse Fair.'"

By mid-1925, it was the home of Robert Frederick Herrick, Jr., and his wife, Thelma (Hall) Herrick.  In 1925, they had lived at 105 Beacon.

Robert Herrick, Jr., was an investment broker and served as a officer or director of a number of business firms, including treasurer of the Saco-Lowell Shops (in the 1920s. and possibly later), and later as vice president of the Essex Wire Corporation of Detroit, the Reed-Prentice Corporation of Worcester, and  Scott & Williams, Inc., of Lanconia, New Hampshire.

Robert and Thelma Herrick were divorced by late 1927, and he continued to live at 164 Beacon alone.  His uncle, Edward A. Taft, Trustee, is shown as the owner on the 1928 Bromley map.

Robert Herrick remarried in September of 1928 to Margaret (Clark) Pierce, the widow of Vinton Ulric Dahlberg Pierce.  After their marriage, they lived at 164 Beacon.  Margaret C. Herrick is shown as owner on the 1938 Bromley map.

They continued to live there until his death in May of 1941.  They also maintained a summer home in Prides Crossing, and a farm in Kensington, New Hampshire.

By 1942, 164 Beacon was owned by Hazel B. Hamilton.  In November of 1942, she filed for (and subsequently received) to convert the house from a single-family dwelling into a lodging house.

In April of 1957, she filed for permission to convert 164 Beacon from a lodging house into a commercial school and girl's dormitory, to be leased by Burdett College, located at 160 Beacon, next door.  The change in use was granted by the Board of Appeal in June of 1957.

By 1972, 164 Beacon had been converted into twelve apartments.