2 Commonwealth Avenue
2 Commonwealth Avenue was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, architects, and completed in 1981, an 18-story combined condominium complex and annex to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.
Called The Carlton House of Boston, the original condominium master deed, dated October 6, 1981, indicates that it is comprised of 53 residential units on floors 8 through 18 (with floors 13 through 18 numbered 14 through 19), and one hotel condominium unit in the basement and on floors 1 through 7.
The building was built on the site of five original townhouses, all built ca. 1864:
2 Commonwealth
This house was built as the home of importer and dry goods merchant James Lovell Little and his wife, Julia Augusta (Cook) Little. It subsequently became medical offices and, from about 1914, was the Engineers’ Club of Boston.
The 1938 Bromley Atlas shows A. Lawrence Lowell, trustee, as the owner of this house.
4 Commonwealth
This house was built for retail druggist William Brown and his wife Lucy Howard (Church) Brown.
The 1938 Bromley Atlas shows A. Lawrence Lowell, trustee, as the owner of this house.
6 Commonwealth
This house was built for Dr. Alanson Abbe, a physician, and his wife, Margaret Livingston (Douw) Abbe. He died in April of 1864, before 6 Commonwealth was completed, and by 1865, it was the home of shipping merchant William Gordon Weld and his wife, Caroline L. (Goddard) Weld. In the late 1920s, it was the location of the Junior League prior to its moving to their newly-built building at 6 Arlington Street (0 Marlborough Street).
The 1938 Bromley Atlas shows A. Lawrence Lowell, trustee, as the owner of this house.
8 Commonwealth
This house was built for Erastus Brigham Bigelow and his wife, Eliza (Means) Bigelow. He was the inventor of the power loom for manufacturing carpets and, with his brother, Horatio, was founder of the Bigelow Carpet Company in Clinton, Massachusetts. He died in 1879 and she died in 1888.
The 1938 Bromley Atlas shows Marie Currier as the owner of this house.
10 Commonwealth
This house was built for Thomas Gold Appleton. A lawyer by training, he was a painter by vocation and a raconteur by avocation, credited with the characterization of Nahant as "cold roast Boston" and for assuring that "good Americans when they die go to Paris." He was unmarried and died in April of 1884.
The 1938 Bromley Atlas shows Marie Currier as the owner of this house. |
