79 Marlborough Street

79 Marlborough Street

79 Marlborough Street was built ca. 1864 for shipping merchant and real estate investor John Lowell Gardner, one of nine contiguous houses (71-73-75-77-79-81-83-85-87 Marlborough) he had built as rental property.  He purchased the land for 85 Marlborough (and probably the other houses) from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on March 6, 1863.

The houses at 71-73-75-77-79-81-83-85 Marlborough are designed as a symmetrical composition (following a pattern of c-c-b-a-a-b-c-c).  In the center are 77 and 79 Marlborough, with bow windows and entrances that mark the center of the composition.  75 Marlborough and 81 Marlborough flank the central two houses and are designed to match each other and to have a continuous cornice line with 77-79 Marlborough.  71-73 Marlborough and 83-85 Marlborough flank 75 and 81 Marlborough and are designed to match each other, forming ends to the composition.  87 Marlborough – which gives the impression of possibly having been built as an afterthought –  has the same roof and cornice design as 83-85 Marlborough, extending the composition one house further to the west, but includes an oriole window which sets it apart from the other eight houses.

John L. Gardner continued to be shown as the owner of all nine houses on the 1874 Hopkins map and on the 1883 Bromley map.  He died in July of 1884, and his estate is shown as the owner on the 1888 Bromley map.  The Gardner family continued to own all nine houses until about 1906-1907, when they were sold to individual buyers.

While they were rental houses, the houses tended to change occupants more frequently than most Back Bay homes.

By 1865, 79 Marlborough was the home of Isaac Martin Cate and his wife Charlotte (Abbott) Cate.  He was a wholesale metals merchant and dealer in boilers and flues.

By 1867, it was the home of John Haldane Flagler and his wife, Anna Harper (Converse) Flagler.  They had lived at the Revere House Hotel in 1866.  John Haldane Flagler was a manufacturer of boiler iron and tubing.   He founded the National Tube Company and served as its president until it merged with United States Steel.  By 1868, they moved to 85 Marlborough.

By 1870, 79 Marlborough was the home of Richard Henry Dana, Jr. and his wife, Sarah (Watson) Dana.  Richard Henry Dana, Jr., was an attorney specializing in marine law and author of numerous books, the best known of which was Two Years Before the Mast.  By 1872, the Danas had moved to his parents' home at 43 Chestnut Street.

By 1875, 79 Marlborough was the home of Sebastian Benson Schlesinger and his wife, Bertha.  Sebastian Schlesinger was an iron merchant and manufacturer of nails, in partnership with his brother, Barthold Scheslinger. He also was a noted composer, principally writing "art" songs, setting well-known poems to music.  He also served as German Consul in Boston for seventeen years.

Louis Francois de Pourtales, a noted naturalist and marine zoologist, lived at 79 Marlborough with the Schlesingers in 1875.

The Schlesingers continued to live at 79 Marlborough in 1882.

By 1884, it was the home of Mrs. Eliza R. Fitz and Miss L. R. Fitz.  She appears to have accepted boarders.  She continued to live there in 1898.

The house was not listed in the 1899 Blue Book.

By 1900, it was the home of stockbroker Samuel Shober Gray and his wife, Caroline Balch (Weld) Gray.  They continued to live there in 1907, but had moved to the Hotel Vendome by 1908.

In 1907, John Phillips Reynolds, Jr., and his wife, Lucretia Revere (Munroe) Reynolds purchased 79 Marlborough from the Gardner Estate.  They previously had lived at 279 Marlborough.

John Reynolds was a businessman and investor. In 1902, he had purchased the former home of his great-grandfather, Paul Revere, at 19-21 North Square.  After the current tenant's lease expired in 1905, he raised funds to preserve the house as an historic monument, and in 1907 transferred it to the Paul Revere Memorial Association.

John Reynolds died in December of 1920.

By 1922, 79 Marlborough was the home of attorney and historian Paul Barron Watson and his wife, Katherine (Clarke) Watson.  They continued to live there until 1937, and probably later.  He is shown as the owner on the 1938 Bromley map.

By the early 1970s, 79 Marlborough was owned by Michael and Elizabeth Marcus.  In February of 1977, they legalized the occupancy as a five apartments, indicating that the building had been used for that purpose for "many years" with an accessory use of a medical office.