234 Beacon Street

232-234 Beacon Street

234 Beacon Street was built ca. 1863 as the home of George Bigelow Chase and his wife, Anne (Lowndes) Chase.  He is shown as the owner on the 1874 Hopkins map and the 1883 Bromley map, and as the owner of both 232 and 234 Beacon on the 1888 Bromley map.

George Chase was a ship owner and shipping merchant until 1868.  From 1868 to 1876, he was director and transfer agent of the Rutland Railroad.  He remained active in railroad and other business matters.

The Chases continued to live at 234 Beacon until 1892, when he retired from business and they went to Europe for four years.

By 1893, it was the home of Charles Arthur Sinclair and his wife, Emma Isabelle (Jones) Sinclair.  Their primary residence was in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where he was a partner in his father-in-law's brewery and a member of the State Senate.  He also was a major investor in railroads and in button and shoe manufacturing, and was owner of the Portsmouth Daily Times and the Quincy House hotel in Boston.

By 1894, 234 Beacon was the home of architect Arthur Rotch and his wife, Lisette de Wolf (Colt) Rotch.  They had lived at 82 Commonwealth Avenue in 1893.  Arthur Rotch died in August of 1894.

By 1895, 234 Beacon was the home of Anna Smith (Miller) Bigelow, the widow of Massachusetts Chief Justice George Tyler Bigelow, and her daughter, Caroline Miller (Bigelow) Amory, the widow of George Washington Amory.  In 1893, Mrs. Bigelow had lived at 351 Beacon.  Anna Bigelow's husband had been the uncle of George Bigelow Chase, who built 234 Beacon.

By 1897, Mrs. Bigelow and Mrs. Amory had moved to 8 Gloucester Street.

By 1897, 234 Beacon was the home of Katharine (Lowell) Roosevelt, the widow of Alfred Roosevelt.  He had been a banker in New York City and was killed in a railroad accident in July of 1891.  By 1898, she had moved to 282 Beacon.

234 Beacon was not listed in the 1898 Blue Book.

By 1899, it was the home of attorney and banker Moses Williams and his wife, Martha C. (Fininley) Williams.  They also maintained a home in Brookline.  They continued to live at 234 Beacon in 1902.

The  house was not listed in the 1903-1905 Blue Books.

By 1906, 234 Beacon was the home of Charles Augustus Stone and his wife, Mary Adams (Leonard) Stone.  In 1905, they had lived at 349 Commonwealth Avenue.  Mary L. Stone is shown as the owner of 234 Beacon on the 1908 and 1917 Bromley maps.

Charles Stone and his MIT classmate, Edwin Webster, founded the firm of Stone & Webster in 1889.  Under their leadership, it became a major international construction, engineering, and consulting firm.

In December of 1912, Mary Stone filed for permission to construct a 13-foot by 17-foot roof-top sunroom on the roof of 234 Beacon.  The permit was denied by the Building Department on the grounds that it would constitute a sixth story.  Mrs. Stone appealed the decision and it was reversed by the Board of Appeal in January of 1913.

The Stones continued to live at 234 Beacon in 1916.  They also maintained a home in Plymouth.  By 1917, they had moved to New York City.

By 1917, 234 Beacon was the home of Edward Pierson Beebe and Franklin Huntington Beebe, unmarried brothers.  Their unmarried sister, Emily, probably lived with them.  They also maintained a summer home, Highfield Hall, in Falmouth.  The Beebes were children of of dry goods merchant James Madison Beebe.

They continued to live at 234 Beacon in 1920.

By 1921, it was the home of contractor William Samuel Patten and his wife, Anna Morton (Thayer) Patten.  They continued to live there in 1925, but had moved to 294 Beacon by 1926.

By 1927, 234 Beacon had become The School of Fine Arts and Crafts.  In July of 1927, it filed for (and subsequently received) permission to remodel the house from a single-family dwelling into a school.  The school is shown as the owner on the 1928 and 1938 Bromley map.

The school remained there until about 1939.  From about 1931, it was called the School of Fine Arts, and from about 1937 it had become the Child Walker School of Design (the owner of the building remained shown as the School of Fine Arts and Crafts, Inc., on the 1938 Bromley map).

By 1940, 234 Beacon appears to have been owned by Ray C. Johnson and managed by Maurice E. Goldberg.

It was shown as vacant in the 1940 City Directory and in May of 1940, James F. O'Brien of Maurice Goldberg’s office applied for (and subsequently received) permission to remodel the house and convert it into twelve apartments.  As part of the remodeling, the application indicated that a rear ell and wood bays on the first and second floors would be removed.  It was probably at this time that the front entrance was lowered to street level and the front facade was otherwise "modernized" (the entrance had been relocated by 1942).

In July of 1941, a building inspector noted that the rear ell was being remodeled (not removed, as had been approved), and a violation was subsequently issued.  In August of 1941, Ray Johnson amended the previous application, seeking (and subsequently received) permission to remodel the storage building into a three-car garage.

By 1959, 234 Beacon was owned by Walter S. Gainey.  In March of 1959, it was acquired by the Maurice E. Goldberg Charitable and Educational Trust.

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.

Maurice Goldberg died in July of 1972.  After the probate of his estate, the trust assets were distributed and in July of 1976, the trustees sold 234 Beacon to one of the trustees, Barbara G. Weingarden (of St. Louis Park, Minnesota). At the same time, they also sold her 29 Fairfield Street.