Title
Archive for the 'Area Info' Category
Spring Hill Somerville – Somerville MA Real Estate, Architecture and History
Somerville’s Spring Hill neighborhood is a popular option for Somerville real estate buyers given its proximity to Porter Square and its stock of handsome, architecturally significant houses.
Spring Hill History and Architecture
Much of Spring Hill was developed on former farm land in the 1840s when the Greek Revival architectural style was popular. Many fine example of Greek Revival architecture remain and Spring Hill is a designated historic district. Development continued as a horse-drawn streetcar line to Boston was extended through the neighborhood in the 1870s. Other architectural styles found in Spring Hill include Gothic Revivals, Italianates, Queen Anne Victorians, and Second Empire Mansards. Triple deckers filled remaining empty lots in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Spring Hill is set high enough that you can glimpse wonderful views of Boston and Cambridge as you walk around the neighborhood. The views are even better from the houses in the neighborhood many of which are topped with cupolas.
Spring Hill, Somerville Real Estate
Real estate options for Somerville buyers in Spring Hill include single families, multi-families and condos including units in the converted Carr School on Atherton Street.
Recent real estate sales on Spring Hill from MLSpin include:
- a Victorian three-bedroom single family on Berkeley St. sold in Jan. 2009 for $426,000
- a Greek Revival six-bedroom house on Atherton St. sold for $580,000 in Nov. 2008
- a six-room, two-bedroom condo on Berkeley St. sold in Dec. 2008 for $400,000
- a seven-room, three-bedroom condo on Porter St. sold in Nov. 2008 for $550,000
- a newly renovated 2400 sq.ft. three-bedroom condo on Benton Rd. sold for $733,750 in Jan. 2009
- a two-family on an 8500 sq.ft. lot on Harvard St. sold for $500,500 in Dec. 2008
- an Italianate used as a multi-family on Laurel St. sold for $830,000 in June 2008
SEARCH FOR SOMERVILLE SINGLE FAMILY HOUSES
SEARCH FOR SOMERVILLE CONDOMINIUMS
SEARCH FOR MULTI-FAMILY HOUSES IN SOMERVILLE
The Round House In Somerville – Atherton Street, Somerville MA
It looks like things are improving for one of Somerville’s most unusual – and most neglected – houses. The Round House on Atherton Street in Somerville, Massachusetts has a new owner who’s working on its restoration.
I hadn’t realized the Round House had sold until I went to a brokers’ open house on the corner of Harvard Street. That house, also suffering from years of neglect, had been owned by the woman who owned the Round House for some forty years, prompting me to take a closer look at the landmark around the corner at 36 Atherton Street across the street from the Carr Schoolhouse condos. Sure enough there were signs that someone was working on the house and a quick call to the city of Somerville confirmed that the house had changed hands. The new owner is a contractor and previous recipient of preservation awards from the Somerville Historic Preservation Commission. The Harvard Street house renovation is now well under way but things seem to be proceeding more slowly at the Round House – which may be a good thing considering the scope of the needed restoration.
Interior of the Round House. Courtesy of the Frances Loeb Library, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University.
The Round House was built in 1856 by inventor and manufacturer, Enoch Robinson. Robinson’s company manufactured high quality hardware still in use in many significant buildings including the Old State House and Old City Hall in Boston, and the United States Treasury Building in Washington, DC. A showpiece at the time it was built, the 40 foot diameter Round House had rooms on three floors including an oval parlor and round library on the first floor. A glass dome at the center of the building’s roof added light to the interior and the many windows took advantage of the views from Spring Hill. Before opening his own business, Robinson worked with pressed glass at his family’s company, the New England Glass Company and not surprisingly his house was well equipped with beautiful hardware including decorative glass knobs on all the doors. The French scenic wallpaper in the house can be seen in the vintage lantern slide image at right.
At the time the Round House was built, octagon houses were all the rage. Octagon houses were popularized by amateur architect, Orson Fowler, author of the 1848 book A Home For All: The Gravel Wall and Octagon Mode of Building. Fowler believed that the round form was ideal but the octagon style the most practical to construct. Many octagon houses were built in the United States between 1850 and 1860, a number in Massachusetts, but round buildings were relatively rare.
The Round House was offered for purchase to the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities in 1920. The Society chose not to purchase the house and reported in its April 1921 Bulletin, Old-Time New England, that “In many ways this would make an ideal period house for the display of mid-Victorian black walnut, but the present is probably fifty years too early for anything of the kind, since to most people that period represents the very quintessence of the ugly.” During its consideration of a purchase, the Society had the floor plans of the Round House drawn that are shown at right and below.
The Round House lay vacant for years and its owner was deaf to the pleas of the City and of preservationists who were alarmed at its deteriorating condition. In 1997 Historic Massachusetts included it on that year’s Ten Most Endangered Historic Resources List. Sadly, another architectural favorite of mine included on that year’s list, the largely unchanged buildings built to house prison workers at the Concord Reformatory, were subsequently demolished. It is heartening that the Round House seems destined to meet a better fate. I wish the new owner all the best. His is a daunting, but very important, endeavor. We’re all looking forward to a tour!
Arlington Neighborhoods – Kelwyn Manor
History of Kelwyn Manor
Kelwyn Manor is one of Arlington’s most distinctive neighborhoods. Kelwyn Manor is sited on land that sits between Lake Street and Spy Pond in Arlington, Massachusetts.
Neighborhood development began in 1938 when the Kelly Coal Company began building the first of 194 houses on the 39 acre former Wyman farm. The name “Kelwyn” is a contraction of the two names: “Kelly” and “Wyman”. Houses in the development originally were priced between $6,000 and $8,000.
The Arlington Historical Commission, in minutes from a 2003 meeting, notes that “the unprecedented scale of this subdivision, and the nearly uniform use of period Colonial Revival style, make Kelwyn Manor unique in Arlington’s emergence as a suburban community.”
Living in Kelwyn Manor
Kelwyn Manor is close to the Minuteman Bike Path, the Capital Theatre, and of course Spy Pond. The neighborhood has a private beach on Spy Pond and a park with playground. Route 2 is nearby and provides quick and easy access to Boston and Cambridge or to routes 95 and 128.
Voluntary annual dues for membership in the Kelwyn Manor Association are $25 for each member of the household 18 years of age or older.
Kelwyn Manor Real Estate
A waterfront ranch was recently listed for sale in Kelwyn Manor for $599,000.
Information about recent sales in Kelwyn Manor follows and includes date sold, days on market (DOM), asking price, sale price, number of rooms, bedrooms and baths, architectural style, year built, interior size, and lot size. Included sales info is from sales in the multiple listing service, MLSpin. Waterfront properties are marked with an asterisk (*) in the Style column.
Recent Real Estate Sales in Kelwyn Manor, Arlington MA
Would you like more information about real estate in Kelwyn Manor and other Arlington, MA neighborhoods? I’m only a phone call or email away - and I’d love to help!
Cambridge Neighborhoods – Strawberry Hill
History of Strawberry Hill in Cambridge
The Strawberry Hill neighborhood of Cambridge, Massachusetts is in the western corner of Cambridge where Cambridge, Belmont and Watertown meet. Town boundary lines were more fluid in the past than many realize – Strawberry Hill was first part of Watertown, then made a part of the newly incorporated town of Belmont in 1859 and eventually annexed to Cambridge in 1880.
Strawberry Hill is situated between two of Cambridge’s loveliest spots – Fresh Pond Reservoir to the north and the historic Mount Auburn cemetery on the southern border. The wide tree-lined boulevard, Aberdeen Avenue, at the edge of the neighborhood, connects these two landmarks. Aberdeen, lined with two families, is unusually wide because trolley tracks originally ran down its now grassy center.
While much of Strawberry Hill was divided into lots in the mid-1800s, economic downswings slowed development and many of the neighborhood’s houses were not built until the late 1800s and early 1900s. Many of the houses have generously sized lots and grape arbors, expansive gardens and even chickens can be found in the neighborhood. Between the main roads that flank the neighborhood – Huron Avenue, Mount Auburn and Belmont Streets – a number of the side streets are one-way which cuts down on traffic.
Strawberry Hill Resources
Neighborhood conveniences include the large grocery store, Star Market, and the Cambridge Public Library Collins Library branch. Fresh Pond Reservation has a public golf course, playground, and a 2.25 mile path around the pond. The Haggerty School for grades K to 6 is on Cushing Street. Trolleys and buses run on the main routes making the neighborhood very accessible by public transportation even though it is about 1.75 miles to the T at Alewife or two miles to the Harvard Square T stop. Two trolleys serve the neighborhood – the 71 and the 72, and two buses – the the 73 and the 75.
Real Estate In Strawberry Hill
Like other neighborhoods in Cambridge, MA, real estate options for buyers in Strawberry Hill include condos, single family homes and multi-unit properties, primarily two-families with a few three-families in the mix.
Condominiums in Strawberry Hill include inexpensive one- and two-bedrooms in converted brick apartment buildings on Homer Avenue, loft style units in a converted industrial building on Aberdeen Way, and renovated units in multi-families. Newer townhouse style condominiums are scattered throughout the neighborhood in small associations and the larger development at Fresh Pond Place on Huron Avenue. Sales prices for Strawberry Hill condos in the last few years have ranged from $190,000 for a one-bedroom on Homer Ave in 2008 to $705,000 paid in 2005 for a three-bedroom condo on Huron Avenue with views of Fresh Pond.
Only a handful of single families have sold in Strawberry Hill in the last few years and those that did sold for prices ranging from the mid-$400,000s to $600,000.
Multi-family sales in Strawberry Hill since 2005 have ranged from a three-family in need of major renovation that sold for $360,000 in 2007 to an unrenovated triple-decker with a single family house on one parcel that also sold in 2007 for $1,175,000.
Copyright © 2008 Centers And Squares Log in Design by Real Estate Tomato Powered by Tomato Blogs
