232 Beacon Street

232-234 Beacon Street

232 Beacon Street was built ca. 1863 as the home of Alfred Augustus Reed.

Alfred Reed was an East India merchant.  He and his wife, Caroline Susette (van Son) Reed, had met and married in Java in 1845 and had continued to live there until 1857.  They returned to live in West Roxbury, where she died in March of 1861.  After returning to the United States, Alfred Reed had entered the cotton manufacturing business, founding the Oriental Mills in Providence and Warwick, Rhode Island.

He continued to live at 232 Beacon in 1865, but had moved by 1868.  By 1870, he was living in Warwick.  He continued to be shown as the owner of 232 Beacon on the 1874 Hopkins map.

By 1870, it was the home of railroad executive and former China merchant George Tyson and his wife Sarah (Anthony) Tyson.  By 1872, they had moved to 314 Dartmouth Street.

By 1873, 232 Beacon was the home of broker Charles Willis Morris and his wife, Eliza (French) Morris.  They continued to live there in 1885, but by 1888 were living at the Parker House Hotel.

No owner is shown for 232 Beacon on the 1883 Bromley map; George B. Chase, who owned and lived at 234 Beacon, is shown as the owner of 232 Beacon on the 1888 map.

By 1888, 232 Beacon was the home of dry goods merchant and importer Joseph Swain Lovering and his wife, Mary (Taylor) Lovering.  They continued to live there until their deaths, he in October of 1894 and she in January of 1895.

By 1897, it was the home of Frank William Jones and his wife, Alice W. (Twombly) Jones.  They continued to live there in 1898.

During the 1898-1899 winter season, the Joneses were living elsewhere and it was the home of dry good merchant Francis Wright Fabyan and his wife, Edith (Westcott) Fabyan in 1899.  They had lived at 169 Commonwealth Avenue in 1898, and by 1900 they had moved to 217 Beacon.

During the 1899-1900 winter season, 232 Beacon was the home of Frederick Ayer and his wife, Ellen Barrows (Banning) Ayer.

Frederick Ayer began his business career as a manufacturer of patent medicines in partnership with his brother, Dr. James C. Ayer.  He subsequently entered the textile manufacturing business in Lowell and Lawrence, and (with his son-in-law, William Madison Wood) was founder of the American Woolen Company.

The Ayers lived at 232 Beacon and at their home in Lowell while they were having a new home built at 395 Commonwealth Avenue.

By late 1900, 232 Beacon was once again the home of Frank and Alice Jones.  He died in December of 1900, and Ellen Jones subsequently traveled abroad with their daughters.  By 1904, she was living at 401 Marlborough Street.

By 1902, 232 Beacon was the home of Richard Dudley Sears and his wife, Eleanor Mary (Cochrane) Sears.  The previous year they had lived at 245 Commonwealth Avenue.  They also maintained a summer home at Prides Crossing.  He is shown as the owner of 232 Beacon on the 1908 and 1917 Bromley maps, and Eleanor M. Sears is shown as the owner on the 1928 map.

Their son, Richard D. Sears, Jr., lived with them.  He was an investment broker and president of the New England Oil Refining Company and the Richdale Oil Corporation.  He married in March of 1926 to Frederica Fulton Leser and they moved to 9 Exeter Street.

Eleanor Sears continued to be shown as the owner on the 1938 Bromley map.

Richard Sears died in April of 1943.  Eleanor Sears continued to live at 232 Beacon until 1949.

By late 1949, 232 Beacon was owned by the Harold Realty Company.  In November of 1949, it applied for (and subsequently received) permission to remodel the house from a single-family dwelling into seven apartments.  In February of 1950, it amended the application to increase the number of units to eight.  It was probably at this point that the front entrance was lowered to street level (it had not been changed as of early 1940).

Harold Realty continued to own the building in 1958.

By 1965, it was owned by Edward L. Britt.

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.