4 Marlborough Street

4 Marlborough Street

4 Marlborough Street was built ca. 1864.  In his Houses of Boston’s Back Bay, Bainbridge Bunting indicates that 4 Marlborough was built for William Sheafe, a merchant whose wife, Josephine Augusta (Peckham) Sheafe, had died in February of 1863.  He lived in Brookline in 1865 and it is unclear whether he ever lived at 4 Marlborough.

By 1870, 4 Marlborough was the home of Sewall Henry Fessenden and his wife, Louisa Green (Bursley) Fesseden.  In 1865, they had lived at 55 Chauncy Street.   He is shown as the owner of 4 Marlborough on the 1874 Hopkins map and on the 1883 Bromley map.

Sewall Fessenden was agent for the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company.

The Fessendens continued to live at 4 Marlborough until about 1885, but had moved to 17 Hereford Street by 1888.

By 1885, 4 Marlborough was the home of Dr. Franklin Fletcher Patch, a physician, and his wife, Mary Ann (Wentworth) Patch.  He is shown as the owner on the 1888 Bromley map.  Living with them were their son-in-law and daughter, Henry Augustus Gowing and Clara Elizabeth (Patch) Gowing.  Henry Gowing was a woolens merchant.

Franklin and Mary Patch both died in 1891.  The Gowings continued to live at 4 Marlborough until Henry Gowing’s death in December of 1894.

By 1897, 4 Marlborough was the home and medical offices of Dr. Timothy J. Reardon and Dr. D. P. Ronayne.  By 1898, Dr. Ronayne had moved to 17 Marlborough, and several more doctors were listed at 4 Marlborough along with Dr. Reardon, including Dr. John Taylor Bottomley, Dr. Henry A. Cooke, Dr. Daniel Fiske Jones, and Dr. Franklin S. Newell.

By 1899, Dr. Reardon and Dr. Bottomley had moved to 139 Beacon Street, and Dr. Jones and Dr. Newell had moved to The Grosvenor at 261 Beacon Street.

4 Marlborough was not listed in the 1899 Blue Book.

By 1900, 4 Marlborough had become a lodging house (which it may have been from the 1890s), and appears to have continued as such until about 1907, when it became the home of composer and music professor Edward Burlingame Hill and his wife Alison (Bixby) Hill.  They had lived at 480 Beacon Street in 1906.

The Hills continued to live at 4 Marlborough in 1913.  By 1915, they were living elsewhere and it was the home of Mr. and Mrs. Francis R. Hart and Miss Louise W. Hobbey. 

By 1917, the Harts had purchased and moved to 474 Beacon Street, and Miss Hobbey moved with them.  The Hills were once again listed at 4 Marlborough in the 1917 Blue Book.

By January of 1920, 4 Marlborough was rented by ammonia manufacturer Lindsley Loring and his wife, Charlotte Blake (Cochrane) Loring.

By 1922, it was the home of Mrs. Marian (Linzee) Weld, widow of dry goods merchant and banker Christopher Minot Weld.  She had lived at 18 Marlborough in 1920.  She also maintained a summer residence at 130 Milton Avenue in Milton.

Marian Weld continued to live at 4 Marlborough in 1937, and probably later.

The 1938 Bromley Atlas shows W.R. Peabody, et al, trustees, as the owners of this house.

By 1940, it was owned by Mrs. Mabel E. Ward, who converted it into a lodging house.

By 1946, 4 Marlborough was owned by S. Clifford Speed.  He also owned 2 Marlborough, also a lodging house, and in August of 1946, installed fire balconies between the two houses.

4 Marlborough subsequently changed hands several times, remaining a lodging house.

In November of 1959, it was purchased by Anna Louise (Day) Hicks and Mildred M. Baird.  Mildred Baird also owned 2 Marlborough, and she operated both 2 and 4 Marlborough as lodging houses until about 1975, and possibly somewhat later.

Louise Day Hicks was a member of the Boston School Committee from 1961 and was an and outspoken opponent of using busing to integrate Boston’s schools.  In 1967, she was an unsuccessful candidate for Mayor, but in 1969 was elected to the City Council.  In 1970, she was elected to the US Congress, but was defeated for re-election in 1972,  She was reelected to the City Council in 1973 and 1975, but then lost two successive bids in 1977 and 1981.

Mildred Baird probably died in the late 1970s.  Mildred Baird's share of 4 Marlborough apparently was inherited by Louise Day Hicks, who continued to operate it as a lodging house.  In January of 1988, she transferred the property to her son, William Day Hicks.