228 Beacon Street

228-230 Beacon Street

228 Beacon Street was built ca. 1864 for merchant and cotton broker George Phineas Upham, one of two contiguous houses (226-228 Beacon).

By 1865, 228 Beacon was the home of Freeman Cobb and his wife, Annette (Cobb) Cobb.  In 1864, they had lived at 29 Mount Vernon Street.

Freeman Cobb is credited as one of the founders of the express/stagecoach business in Australia, where he had gone in the mid-1850s on behalf of the Adams Express Company.  He subsequently founded his own stagecoach line in Australia, but soon returned to the United States.  After an unsuccessful foray into banking, he re-joined Adams Express as manager of the Boston agency.  In 1864-1865, while he was living at 228 Beacon, he was a State Senator for Barnstable County.

By 1868, 228 Beacon was the home of Harriet (Dana) Turner, the widow of dry goods merchant John Newton Turner, and their two surviving children, Nathaniel Dana Turner and Helen Turner.  Nathaniel D. and Harriet D. Turner, Trustees, are shown as the owners on the 1874 Hopkins map.

Harriet Turner died in November of 1878.  Nathaniel Turner (and probably Helen Turner) continued to live at 228 Beacon.

Nathaniel Turner died in March of 1894.

By 1895, 228 Beacon was the home of boot and shoe manufacturer Charles Henry Colburn and his wife, Frances Eudora (Draper) Colburn.  They also maintained a home in Hopedale.  Charles Coburn died in July of 1896.  Frances Colburn continued to live at 228 Beacon until about 1899.

The house was not listed in the 1900 Blue Book.

By 1901, it was the home of John Irving Taylor and his wife, Helen (Burnap) Taylor.

At the time they lived at 228 Beacon, John Irving Taylor was affiliated with the Boston Globe, owned by his father.  Later, from 1903 to 1911, he owned the American League baseball team in Boston and is credited with choosing the name "Red Socks."  He built Fenway Park, which opened in April of 1912 (at which time the team's name changed to "Red Sox").

By 1902, 228 Beacon was the home of Richard Hathaway Morgan, a retired manufacturer from New Bedford, and his wife, Joanna White (Davis) Morgan.  They had lived at 237 Beacon in 1900.  They also maintained a home in Plymouth.

They continued to live at 228 Beacon in 1903.

By 1905, it was the home of Mrs. Ellen (Haven) Ross, widow of Waldo Ogden Ross, a thread and twine manufacturer.  She also maintained a summer home in Beverly Farms.  Ellen H. Ross et al, Trustees, are shown as the owners of 228 Beacon on the 1908, 1917, 1928, and 1938 Bromley maps.

From about 1917 until 1931, She was joined at 228 Beacon by her sister, Mary E. Haven.

Ellen Ross continued to live at 228 Beacon until her death in March of 1938.

By late 1938, 228 Beacon was owned by Bentley Wirt Warren and his wife, Ellen Hatch (Windom) Warren.  They also maintained a summer home in Williamstown, Massachusetts.

Bentley Warren was an attorney in Boston.  From 1925 to 1927, he served as president of the "Sentinals of the Republic," an ultra-conservative organization formed to protect states' rights, oppose government regulation of business, and fight international communism.

In December of 1938, he applied for (and subsequently received) permission to remodel the house, including lowering the front entrance to street level.  The Warrens made it their home after the work was completed.  They previously had lived at 185 Beacon.

Ellen Warren died in November of 1941.  Bentley Warren continued to live at 228 Beacon until his death in February of 1947. After his death, the house remained in the Warren family, the home of Bentley Warren, Jr., and his aunt, Florence Bronson Windom.

They continued to live there in 1957, but by 1959 it was shown as vacant in the City Directory.  In October of 1959, Bentley Warren, Jr., applied for (and subsequently received) permission to remodel the house and change the occupancy from single-family dwelling to five unit dwelling and medical office.  In January of 1960, he amended the application to increase number of units to six.

By 1964, 228 Beacon was owned by Edward L. Britt, who also owned 230 Beacon.  In April of 1964, he filed for (and subsequently received) permission to combine the two properties, cutting through openings in the party wall on the ground level and fourth floors.  He also increased the number of units at 228 Beacon from six to seven, and increased the occupancy of 230 Beacon from two units and a dental office to eight units and a dental office.

In November of 1969, the Beacon Street Improvement Company filed for permission to tear down 222-224-226-228-230-232-234 Beacon and replace it with a 32-story, steel framed and brick clad tower at the northeast corner of Beacon and Dartmouth.  The building would have had 96 units and a 100 car garage.  The project was not pursued.