56 Commonwealth Avenue

56 Commonwealth Avenue

56 Commonwealth Avenue was designed by architect George Nelson Jacobs and built in 1930 as a five story, 22-family apartment house.  It was built for Frederick E. Johnston, who is shown as the owner on the original building permit application, dated February 10, 1930.  The Charlestown Five Cent Savings Bank is shown as the owner on the 1938 Bromley map.

By 1974, 56 Commonwealth was owned by 56 and 60 Commonwealth Associates, which also owned 60 Commonwealth.  In September of 1974, they converted 56 Commonwealth into 28 condominiums and 60 Commonwealth into eight condominiums.

When it was built in 1930, 56 Commonwealth replaced a townhouse that had been designed by Snell and Gregerson, architects, and built ca. 1866. It had been one of four contiguous homes (54-56-58-60 Commonwealth) built at the same time in a Georgian Revival style, with bow fronts and balustraded parapets above the main cornice.

The original house was built as the home of Mrs. Maria (Francoeur) Sayles, the widow of Willard Sayles, a textile manufacturer and merchant.  At the same time, her son, banker and broker Henry Sayles, had 58 Commonwealth built next door, and her her son-in-law and daughter, Dr. John Cauldwell Sharp and Helen Sharp, had their home built next door, on the other side, at 54 Commonwealth.  Henry Sayles lived only briefly at 58 Commonwealth, if at all, and by 1870 was living with his mother at 56 Commonwealth.  He was unmarried.

Maria Sayles died in February of 1874, and Henry Sayles continued to live at 56 Commonwealth in 1876.  He had moved by 1877, however, and subsequently maintained his Boston residence at the Somerset Club.  56 Commonwealth remained the property of Maria Sayles’s estate.

By 1877, it was the home of Arthur Cheney, who continued to live there in 1878, By 1879, of former China shipping merchant James Murray Forbes and his wife Alice (Bowditch) Forbes.  The Forbes had lived at 249 Berkeley Street in 1877, and lived at 56 Commonwealth while the new home they were building at 107 Commonwealth was being completed.  They had moved there by 1880, and 56 Commonwealth was the home of attorney Charles Taylor Lovering and his wife, Marian Shaw (Sears) Lovering, who were also awaiting completion of a new home, at 263 Commonwealth. After they moved, 56 Commonwealth became the home of William Arnold Buffum, a noted collector of amber, and his wife, Marian (Simmons) Buffum.  They had lived at 222 Beacon Street in 1880.  They continued to live at 56 Commonwealth in 1886.

By 1888, 56 Commonwealth had become the home of Henry Sayles’s brother-in-law and sister, Charles Francis and Harriet (Sayles) Francis.  Harriet Francis died in late 1891.  At the time of her death, Francises' son-in-law and daughter, architect Herbert Jaques and Harriet (Francis) Jaques, were living with them.

They probably moved soon thereafter, and by 1894, 56 Commonwealth was the home of woolen manufacturer Frederic Simmons Clark and his wife Isabella (Talbot) Clark.  They had lived at 181 Beacon Street in 1893.  They continued to live at 56 Commonwealth in 1895.

By 1897, the Clarks had purchased and moved to 17 Commonwealth, and Charles Francis was once again living at 56 Commonwealth, joined by Herbert and Harriet Jaques.  The Jaqueses had moved by 1898, but Charles Francis continued to live there in 1900.

By 1901, 56 Commonwealth had once again become the home of Henry Sayles.  From about 1902, he was joined there by his nephew, George Tappan Francis and his wife, Frances (Brown) Francis.  George Francis was a piano manufacturer and later a mechanical engineer.

Henry Sayles died in 1918, and 56 Commonwealth became the Francises home.  The Heirs of Henry Sayles are shown as the owners on the 1928 Bromley map.  They also maintained a summer home in Charles River Village in Needham.

They continued to live at 56 Commonwealth until about 1929, but then moved to an apartment at 172 Beacon Street and 56 Commonwealth was razed in 1930.