No. 15288 16 Harley Street, photograph November 13, 2015.
No. 11644 carriage house at 16 Harley Street, photograph March 12, 2011.
Date of construction: in the years 1871-1873
appears on 1874 map
The following is from Ashmont by Douglass Shand-Tucci, p. 80
… 16 Harley, the Reed-Loring House [is] an enchanting mansard “cottage” built ca. 1875 with a lovely barn on a big double lot all of which is in pristine condition. (Its fencing is also minimally offensive: wooden and “see-through,” it meanders behind the lot lines.) One of the very oldest houses on Ashmont Hill, it has a color scheme more than a century later that is pretty much the same as it had originally. And its sense of a long summer day in the country is just as palpable today as when Frank HenrytShapleigh, the first of several Boston painters attracted to Ashmont Hill, sojourned for a while in the 1870s with the first owners of 16 Harley. Back home from his student day in Paris, so drawn was Shapleigh to the local scene that he produced the pleasing painting of the Reed-Loring House (reproduced here) recently offered for auction through the Skinner Galleries in Boston and someday, one hopes, to become part of the collection of the Dorchester Historical Society. [note: The Dorchester Historical Society has since acquired the painting.]
According to fragmentary family papers, the family Shapleigh visited was that of Charles and Nellie Reed, whose daughter Clara was born at 16 Harley. In 1882 her father suffered a fatal accident, plunging the family into severe straits, and the house was sold to Stephen L. Emery, a partner in W. H. and S. L. Emery of Federal Street, coal and wood merchants, and perhaps a family friend. At some point in the 1890s, however, the Reeds moved back into their much-loved house, where Clara, by now in early adulthood, became in the Gay Nineties quite the belle of Ashmont, a fact attested to by her still-extant diary, which is full not only of reminiscences but also of swatches of material from gowns worn by her at everything from Ashmont Hall dances to Havard commencement fetes. She married Royden Loring, at that time vice president of the Arnold-Roberts Company on Congress Street, and by 1913 they had taken up permanent residence at 16 Harley, which Clara Reed Loring left (for a rest home) only as a very elderly lady in the early 1970s, nearly a hundred years after her family had come to this house.
The Reed-Loring House is, therefore, a particularly good place to linger in order to get some feeling for the history of this street, on which, after all, one of the most notable women of the twentieth century spent her formative years. Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, whose father’s house stood just beyond the Lorings’, on the corner of Welles Avenue and Harley Street (where small modern houses are now), was fifteen years younger than Clara Reed, but they were good enough neighbors and friends that Rose’s wedding gift, a French court print, was still hanging in Clara Reed Loring’s parlor up to the 1970s. And the Reed-Loring House is not unlike the now long destroyed Fitzgerald House. The mayor’s house was bigger, more of a mansion, but with the same Second Empire style, spacious grounds, and extensive stabling as one sees at 16 Harley, and scenes such as this today young Rose knew well, passing them morning on her way to the big yellow brick Dorchester High School (now apartments) in Codman Square.
The following is from the area form for Ashmont Hill, Boston Landmarks Commission.
Providing a glimpse of Ashmont Hill when it was still rural is the the Reed – Loring House at 16 Harley Street. Dating to ca. 1875, this house was built for Charles and Nellie Reed. During the 1870s. Frank Henry Shapleigh, a house guest of the Reeds immortalized 16 Harley Street in a painting . Shapleigh, the first of several painters attracted to the natural beauty of Ashmont Hill , had recently returned from studying in France. In 1882, Charles Reed death necessitated his family’s sale of 16 Harley to Stephen L. Emery, a partner in W.H. and S.L. Emery of Federal Street, coal and wood merchants. At some point in the 1890s, Mrs Reed and her daughter Clara returned took up residence again in this house. Reputed to have been the “belle of Ashmont Hill” during the 1890s. Clara Reed took up permanent residence in this house by 1913, with her husband Royden Loring. He was vice president of the Arnold Roberts Company on Congress Street. Clara Reed Loring lived here until the early 1970s when she moved into a nursing home.
The following is from: Codman Square House Tour Booklet 1997
Year Built: ca. 1875
Architect: unknown
Style: Mansard cottage
One of the oldest houses on Ashmont Hill, the Loring Estate is the subject of a painting done by the Boston artist Frank Henry Shapleigh in the 1870s. A print of the painting hangs above one of the sister fireplaces in the 30-foot living room.
The house was owned originally by Charles and Nellie Reed, whose daughter Clara was born at 16 Harley. Clara was reportedly quite a belle of Ashmont Hill in the Gay Nineties and eventually married Royden Loring, then vice president of the Arnold-Roberts Company on Congress Street. Clara Reed Loring lived in the house at 16 Harley until the 1970s.
The Reed-Loring house reflects a history of the street, on which Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy spent her formative years. Her father’s house stood just beyond the Lorings’, on the corner of Welles Avenue and Harley Street, where small modern houses now stand. Rose and Clara were close friends and spent many a summer afternoon on Harley Street at this Second Empire style Mansard with spacious grounds.
Reader’s Comment, June 23, 2007
In the Summer of 1965, I bought the house at 16 Harley St. from Roy and Elinor Loring. the Lorings. then in their 90s moved in with a friend in Hingham. I did not keep the house for long and, when I sold it, I returned a painting of the house to the Lorings. I don’t believe it was the painting illustrated. The painting I saw, was probably from the 00s. I recall, perhaps accurately, that it depicted the house in more built up surroundings and, it hung over one of the fireplaces in the quite large living room. the house has since been subdivided and the interior is lost to the exigencies of this age. I was given to believe that it was older than 1875 (by which time Dorchester had been annexed and the use of wooden Mansards was illegal in Boston). All the detail, which I knew at the time, I, unfortunately, didn’t record. In 1965, the interior hadn’t been altered since the beginning of the century, had gas as well as, electric lights and many wonderful decorations, all alas only a memory.
Leo Sullivan
Owners from atlases:
1874 George D. Welles
1884 S. L. Emery
1889 Stephen L. Emery
1894 Stephen L. Emery
1898 Stephen L. Emery
1904 Clara N. Curry, Tr
1910 Henry W. Hart, Tr
1918 John H. Devine, Tr
1933 John H. Devine, Tr
Deed
Aug. 14, 1875 from George D. Welles to Stephen L. Emery 1283.163 lots 67 & 68
Parcel of land; consideration $4,000
June 8, 1904 assignment of mortgage from Stephen L. Emery to George S. Reed 2972.273
Census 1880
Stephen L. Emery, 60, wood & coal
Clara J. Emery, 62
Charles H. Reed, son, 28, hide and leather
Nellie H. Reed, daughter, 27
Will of Stephen L. Emery, proved Nov. 23, 1899
daughter Clara M. Hunt
granddaughter Clara E. Reed – may occupy the house free of rent
granddaughter George S. Reed – may occupy free of rent
Clara N. Curry, all the residue in trust
Death record
Stephen L. Emery, 80, b. about 1819 in Kennebunk, ME, d. November 6, 1899; father John Emery and mother Hannah Locke
Birth record
Clara Elenor Reed b. September 16, 1875, to Charles H. Reed and Nellie F
Marriage record Clara E. Reed, 34, married Aril 7, 1910 to Royden Loring. Her father was Charles H. Reed and mother Ellen F. Emery. Royden lived at 28 Port Norfolk Street and was a salesman. He was the som of Omar F. Loring and Marion Trenear.