No. 20271 10 Beaumont Street, March 31, 2020
Date of construction: 1897 – based on entry in Boston Directory 1897 for Fred M. Wood
Architect: Joseph Greene
The following is from Ashmont by Douglass Shand-Tucci
[17 and 11 Beaumont Street] are related in the most intimate way with each other, and a glance across the street at 16 Beaumont, the Alden-Moseley House, and 10 Beaumont, the Wood House, next door , shows a similar pairing. Later the residence of the artist Katherine Alde, 16 Beaumont was the home of the Moseleys, a family prominent in Dorchester back to the seventeenth century, evidence that old money as well as new settled here. Built in 1899, the house reveals the happy balances of the more formal and stately mode coming to the fore in this period. On the other hand, 10 Beaumont, built in 1895 and named after Frederick Wood, a Park Street jeweler, is equally serene in a more informal, shingled mode. Both play well off each other. Sure enough, 16 and 10 are also the work of the same designer, Joseph Greene, a Milton architect.
The following is from the inventory form for Carruth Street – Peabody Square
10 and 16 Beaumont Street were designed by Milton architect Joseph Green. The former was built in 1895 for Frederick Wood, a Park Street jeweler, while the latter was built in 1899 for the Moseley family who traced their Dorchester ancestry back to the 17th century. The Moselys’ [sic] (see the Crescent Avenue area) purchase of 16 Beaumont signaled that “old money” was settling in Herbert Carruth’s new development 11 and 17 Beaumont Street represent two houses by Whitney Lewis built ca.1884. The former has the distinction of being one of the first half-timbered buildings in the country while the latter was builtfor Samuel Nightingale, a partner in Nightingale and Childs, railroad suppliers, of Pearl Street, Boston.
Owners from atlases:
1894 no house on map
1898 Annie B. Wood
1904 Annie B. Wood
1910 Annie B. Wood
1918 Annie B. Wood
1933 Jas. J. & C. M. Murrin
Deed:
Jun 8, 1895 from Herbert S. Carruth, as trustee under the will of Emma Carruth, to Annie B. Wood, wife of Frederick M. Wood 2283.312
parcel of land with the buildings thereon
Boston Directory:
1896 Fred M. Wood (N. G. Wood & Sons), 467 Washington, h. 6 Westmoreland
1897, 1898 Fred M. Wood (N. G. Wood & Sons), 467 Washington, h. 4 Beaumont
Note: a billhead owned by Historic New England for the company N. G. Wood & Son describes their services as Watches, Jewelry, Solid Silver & Plated Ware
1900 Census:
Fred M. Wood, 39, 4 Beaumont Street, jewelry
Annie T. Wood, 38
Edith Wood, 11
Ethel G. Wood, 9
Emma Brown, 35, servant
Mary Evans, 32, nurse
Ruth G. Thayer, 77, mother-in-law