49-51 Commonwealth Avenue

49-51 Commonwealth Avenue

49-51 Commonwealth
49 Commonwealth Avenue was designed by Cummings and Sears, architects, and built in 1877 by Weston & Shepard, builders.  51 Commonwealth Avenue was built in 1876 by J. & H. Harmon, builders, and probably also was designed by Cummings and Sears (Bainbridge Bunting’s Houses of Boston’s Back Bay indicates that 51 Commonwealth was designed by Cummings and Sears; the original permit application and final inspection reports do not identify the architect).

The two houses were built to form a complementary design and, according to Bainbridge Bunting’s Houses of Boston’s Back Bay, were the last houses of the French Academic design built in brownstone in the Back Bay.  49 Commonwealth was built on a single 26 foot wide lot; 51 Commonwealth was built on a double lot, 52 feet wide.

49 Commonwealth
49 Commonwealth Avenue was built as the home of marble manufacturer and dealer Charles Torrey and his wife, Adelaide (Bowen) Torrey.  He is shown as the owner on the original building permit application, dated July 30, 1877, and on the final building inspection, dated October 22, 1878.  He also is shown as the owner on the 1883 and 1888 Bromley maps.

The Torreys continued to live there until his death in April of 1905.

In November of 1905, 49 Commonwealth was purchased from Adelaide Torrey by Mrs. Mary Elizabeth (Woodhull) Perry, the widow of Gardner Blanchard Perry.  She also maintained a summer home, Montpelier, in Middletown, Rhode Island.

Gardner Blanchard Perry had died in March of 1899.  He had been a successful hide dealer in Buenos Aires for many years.

Mary Perry is shown as the owner of 49 Commonwealth on the 1908 Bromley map.  She continued to lived there until her death in December of 1910.

By 1913, 49 Commonwealth was the home of dry goods merchant Henry Coffin Everett and his wife, Ellen Crocker (Tufts) Everett.  In 1911, they had lived at 353 Commonwealth.  They also maintained a summer home at Old Colony Hill in Hingham.

Ellen Everett died in September of 1930, and Henry Everett continued to live at 49 Commonwealth until about 1936.

In January of 1936, he applied to convert the house from a residence into a lodging house.  The application was denied because of the lack of two independent means of egress.  He subsequently installed fire balconies, and the building was approved as a lodging house in January of 1937.

The 1938 Bromley Atlas shows Henry Everett as the owner of this house.

51 Commonwealth
51 Commonwealth was built as the home of shipping merchant and investor George Augustus Gardner.  He previously had lived at 81 Marlborough Street with his wife, Eliza Endicott (Peabody) Gardner, who died in January of 1876.

George A. Gardner is shown as the owner on the original building permit application, dated April 24, 1876, and on the final inspection, dated September 1, 1877.  His father, John  Lowell Gardner, is shown as the owner on the 1883 Bromley map, but George A. Gardner is shown as the owner on the 1888, 1908, and 1917 maps.

George Gardner's unmarried son, John Lowell Gardner, II, lived with him at 51 Commonwealth.  His daughter, Olga, also lived with him until her marriage in June of 1897 to Dr. George Howard Monks, after which they moved to 267 Beacon Street.

George Gardner continued to live at 51 Commonwealth until his death in 1916.

In November of 1916, 51 Commonwealth become the home of George Gardner's son-in-law and daughter, George and Olga Monks.  They previously had lived at 67 Marlborough Street, where they had lived since about 1902.  Olga E. Monks is shown as the owner of 51 Commonwealth on the 1928 and 1938 Bromley maps.

George Howard Monks was a surgeon, specializing in plastic surgery, and professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Dental School.

The Monks also maintained a summer home in Monument Beach.

George Monks died in January of 1933.  Olga Monks continued to live at 51 Commonwealth in 1937, and probably later.

49-51 Commonwealth
By the mid-1940s, 49 and 51 Commonwealth had been acquired by Simmons College.  In September of 1944, the College changed the occupancy of 51 Commonwealth from residential to college use, and in April of 1945, it changed the use of 49 Commonwealth and combine the two houses by cutting through doorways on several floors.

49-51 Commonwealth continued to be owned and used by Simmon College for the next 55 years as its School of Social Service.

In September of 2002, Beal Ventures XI, LLC, bought 49-51 Commonwealth from Simmons College.  It remodeled the buildings and in October of  2003, converted them into eight condominiums.  Several of the condominiums were purchased by the same owner and combined, and in February of 2004, the number of units was reduced to five.