36 Commonwealth Avenue

20-36 Commonwealth Avenue

Bainbridge Bunting indicates that 36 Commonwealth Avenue was designed by Gridley Bryant and Arthur Gilman, architects, and built ca. 1861, one of nine contiguous houses (20-22-24-26-28-30-32-34-36 Commonwealth).  In his Houses of Boston’s Back Bay, Bunting calls the group “one of the most imposing compositions in the whole district.”

36 Commonwealth was built for Ezra Lincoln and his wife, Phebe Maria (Blake) Lincoln.  They had lived at 92 Pinckney Street in 1860.

Ezra Lincoln was a civil engineer and, from about 1862, served as Assistant United States Treasurer, headquartered at the Customs House in Boston.

Ezra Lincoln died in June of 1863.

By 1865, 36 Commonwealth was the home of Charles F. Manson.

By 1870, it was the home of Hannah Rogers (Bradford) Fiske, the widow of attorney Augustus Henry Fiske.  He had died in March of 1864 and it appears likely she purchased 36 Commonwealth soon thereafter.  The Estate of A. H. Fiske is shown as the owner on the 1874 Hopkins map.

Living with Hannah Fiske in 1868 were her son, Charles Henry Fiske, an attorney, and her daughter, Sarah Ripley (Fiske) Willard, the widow of Major Sidney Willard (killed at the Battle of Fredericksburg in 1862).  By 1869, they were joined by Mrs. Fiske's son-in-law, attorney Frank Morison, the widower of her daughter, Lucy Ann (Fiske) Morison (who died in 1866).

Charles Fiske married in June of 1868 to Cornelia Frothingham Robbins.  They lived briefly with his mother but had moved to 241 Beacon Street by 1870.  Cornelia Fiske died in February of 1872, and Charles Fiske and their infant son, Charles, moved back to 36 Commonwealth to live with his mother.  Sarah Willard and Frank Morison also continued to live with Mrs. Fiske, along with her brother, George Partridge Bradford, a teacher.

In June of 1874, Sarah Willard remarried, to Rev. Chandler Robbins, pastor of Second Church, and moved to his home at 114 Marlborough Street.  He was the father of Cornelia Robbins, the deceased wife of Sarah Willard's brother, Charles Fiske.

George Bradford, Frank Morison, and Charles Fiske continued to live with Hannah Fiske in 1875.  George Bradford moved by 1877.  In April of 1878, Frank Morison had re-married, to Leslie McGregor, and by 1880 was living with his new mother-in-law, Mary (Mrs. James) McGregor, at 44 Chestnut Street on Beacon Hill.

By 1882, 36 Commonwealth was the home of dry goods merchant (and former East India merchant) George Richards Minot and his wife, Harriet (Jackson) Minot.  They also maintained a home, Woodbourne, in West Roxbury.

In 1883, they built a new home at 245 Marlborough Street.  George Minot died in December of 1883, probably before their new home was finished.  When it was completed, Harriet Minot moved there and continued to live there until her death in December of 1886.

By 1884, 36 Commonwealth was the home of Eugene H. Sampson, Henry T. Wing, and Walter Potter.

Eugene Sampson was treasurer of the Everett Mills, Henry Wing was a dealer in wool shoddy, and Walter Potter was a dealer in commercial paper.

By 1885, Eugene Sampson and Henry Wing had moved to 16 Newbury Street, and Walter Potter had moved to 18 Commonwealth.

36 Commonwealth was not listed in the 1885 Blue Book.

By 1888, it was the home of Miss M. Louise Putnam, a teacher.  She had lived at 68 Marlborough Street in 1885, where she had operated a private school for young ladies.

She had moved by 1890.

By 1891, 36 Commonwealth was the home of Mrs. Grace Morris (Cary) Kuhn, the widow of Hartman Kuhn.  At about the same time, her unmarried sisters, Ellen and Anne Cary, moved to 34 Commonwealth.  In 1890, they had all lived at 64 Beacon Street (which had been the home of their parents, who had died in the 1880s) with their sister-in-law, Lena (Laight) Cary, the widow of William F. Cary, Jr. (who had died in 1880). 

After purchasing 36 Commonwealth, Grace Kuhn retained architect Arthur Little to remodel the house.  It appears likely that the two-story addition on the west side of the house, with a sidewalk-level entry, was added at this time.

Mrs. Kuhn’s son, Hamilton Kuhn, lived with her until his death in January of 1902.

Grace Kuhn continued to live at 36 Commonwealth until her death in October of 1908.  The Heirs of H. and G. M. Kuhn are shown as the owners on the 1908 Bromley map.

The house was not listed in the 1909 Blue Book.

By 1910, it was the home of Henry Lyman and his wife Elizabeth (Cabot) Lyman.  They had been married in December of 1908 and 36 Commonwealth probably was their first home together.  Prior to their marriage, Elizabeth Cabot had lived with her widowed mother at 109 Commonwealth.

Originally a businessman, Henry Lyman entered Harvard Medical School and graduated in 1912.  He subsequently became a biological research chemist at Harvard.

They continued to live at 36 Commonwealth in 1911. 

By 1913, the Lymans were living elsewhere and 36 Commonwealth had become the home of Mrs. Susan (Shattuck) Cabot, the widow of Dr. Arthur Tracy Cabot (Elizabeth Lyman's uncle).  Dr. Cabot had died in November of 1912; prior to his death, they had lived at 3 Marlborough Street.

Mrs. Cabot continued to live at 36 Commonwealth in 1915.

By 1917, Henry and Elizabeth Lyman once again were living at 36 Commonwealth.  H. N. and H. B. Cabot, Trustees, are shown as the owners on the 1917 Bromley map (H. N. Cabot probably was Helen Nichols Cabot, Elizabeth Cabot Lyman's mother). 

By 1920, the Lymans had moved to 109 Commonwealth, which had been the home of Elizabeth Lyman's parents, and 36 Commonwealth had become the home of ornithologist John Eliot Thayer and his wife, Evelyn Duncan (Forbes) Thayer.

By 1922, it was the home of Walter Hunnewell, Jr., and his wife, Minna Cornelia (Lyman) Hunnewell.  In 1917, they had lived at 173 Beacon Street.  He is shown as the owner of 36 Commonwealth on the 1928 Bromley map.

They also maintained a summer home in Wellesley.

The Hunnewells continued to live at 36 Commonwealth in 1937, and he continued to be shown as the owner on the 1938 Bromley map.

In 1943, 36 Commonwealth was converted from a single-family dwelling into the Knights of Columbus Clubhouse, with social and recreation rooms on the second and third floors, and dormitories for soldiers on the fourth and fifth floors.

By 1946, 36 Commonwealth was owned by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boston, Inc. (which may have owned it when it was the Knights of Columbus Clubhouse), and in December of 1946, the Archbishop converted it into offices and residences for priests.

In May of 1954, the Archbishop transferred the property to the Sisters of Saint Martha, who continued to own it until June of 1987, when they transferred it back to the Archbishop.

In February of 1988, the Archbishop converted the house back into a single-family dwelling.

In May of 1988, 36 Commonwealth was purchased by Fashid Banani, trustee of the Dara Nominee Trust, who converted it into a two-family dwelling.