131 Commonwealth Avenue

131 Commonwealth Avenue

131 Commonwealth was designed by architect Carl Fehmer and built in 1880 by H. & H. M. Harmon, builders, as the home of insurance broker Gideon Scull and his wife, Anna Marie (Seiler) Scull.  In 1879, they had lived at 13 Mount Vernon on Beacon Hill.

He is shown as the owner of 131 Commonwealth on the original building permit application, dated January 16, 1880, and on the 1883 and 1888 Bromley maps.

Gideon Scull died in June of 1899.

Anna Scull continued to live at 131 Commonwealth.  She also maintained a summer home in Northeast Harbor, Maine.

Anna Scull died in January of 1923.

The house was not listed in the 1924 Blue Book.

By 1925, 131 Commonwealth had become the Wellesley College Club of Boston.  In that year, Mrs. George P. Furber was the director and lived on the premises.  Wellesley College is shown as the owner on the 1928 Bromley map.

The Club remained there until about 1934.

By 1935, 131 Commonwealth was owned by 131 Commonwealth Avenue Inc., which  probably had acquired it from Wellesley College.

On September 10, 1935, the Boston University Trustees purchased the house from 131 Commonwealth Avenue Inc., and operated it as the Pan-Hellenic House, a residence for female students at the University.  Boston University is shown as the owner on the 1938 Bromley map.

Life in the house was described in a 2003 article in Bostonia, the alumni quarterly of Boston University: "The women bunked two to four to a room and shared the kitchen.  Rules about hours were as strictly enforced as they were at the women's dorms. 'Our housemother was a little tartar,' [Pam King] Hacket recalls. 'She kept the lights on the front steps and any of us who were sitting out there with our boyfriends were called in at curfew time.'"

On September 21, 1972, Frank S. and Yola N. Ganak purchased 131 Commonwealth, operating it as a set of ten apartments (possibly still as a dormitory for Boston University).
 
In 1972, 131 Commonwealth suffered a fire that damaged the central area of the first and second floors.  It suffered a second fire in early 1980, causing damage to the center portion of the top floor and the roof.

In February of 1981, Frank Ganak sold the house. The new owners repaired the fire damage and converted the house from ten apartments into seven apartments.