No. 6075 14 Alban Street, photograph April 18, 2005.
Date of construction: 1883-1884
Based on deed to Smith in 1883, and the Boston Directory for 1884 has an entry for Smith on Alban Street.
The following is from the Dorchester Historical Society’s Dorchester House Tour Ashmont Hill, June 12, 2016.
Built: c. 1885
Architect: Unknown
Style: Stick Style
14 Alban Street is one of a group of Stick Style houses on Alban Street, where much of Ashmont Hill’s development was concentrated in the 188os. Bridging the mid-I800s Carpenter Gothic and later Queen Anne styles, Stick Style derives its name from the applied “sticks” or exterior trim boards meant to suggest half-timbering or underlying structural members.
The current owner removed the white aluminum siding that obscured the building’s exterior and supplied missing features such as a large bracket attached to one of the turned porch posts. He also replaced the weathered front doors with sturdier versions based on those found on a nearby house. The historically informed paint scheme highlights the Stick Style elements.
This is one of many homes in the neighborhood that were modified over the years to bring in rental income. The small reception room off the foyer was turned into a bedroom, and much of the foyer itself was walled off as a bathroom. Happily, the owner has reversed these changes and restored the entry hall, including the staircase with its interesting turned newel post. Simple, scribed detailing such as that on the newel is common to much of the woodwork in the house—see also the staircase balusters, mantelpieces (don’t miss the unusual owl and full moon tiles in the dining room!), and wood wainscot in the dining room.
The house has many intriguing details, such as the elaborate pattern of the door panels and the occasional trim-less, sloped-corner archways that delineate subsidiary spaces within the foyer, parlor, a rear bedroom, and elsewhere. The one-story bay that spans the south side of the house forms a seating nook in the parlor, but in the dining room it is enclosed by glass doors to form a small solarium. The stained glass window at the stair landing is characteristic of the 188os, especially in its use of deeply-colored crown glass “bullseyes” set into patterned or abstract mosaic backgrounds. The owner’s antiques and art fit well in this fine architectural setting.
The barn was recently restored; built not long after the house, it had long been in poor condition, being first cited as a “common nuisance” in 1924. A kitchen renovation now in the works will mark the completion of a sensitive and highly successful effort to update this house while preserving its unique architectural character.
Owners from atlases:
1889 Sarah Smith—the house first appears in 1889
1894 Sarah E.W. Smith
1898 Sarah E.W. Smith
1904 Sarah E.W. Smith Heirs
1910 Sarah E.W. Smith Heirs
1918 Sarah E.W. Smith Hrs
1933 Sarah E.W. Smith Hrs
Deed
August 21, 1883 from George D. Welles to Sarah E. W. Smith, wife of John G. R. Smith 1608.204 lots 192, 193, 194
parcel of land
Sept. 17, 1883 from Thomas L. Sprague to Sarah E. W. Smith 1610.465
Oct. 31, 1885 from George D. Welles 1699.239 Ashmont Streets pt lots 192, 193, 194
May 22, 1891 from Addington M. Bartlett to Sarah E. W. Smith 1997.142 pt lots 192, 193, 194 & 195
Boston Directory
1883 John G. R. Smith. (Johnson & Smith), 49 Bromfield, house 24 Williams, Rox.
1884, 1885, 1886, 1887, 1888, 1889 John G. R. Smith (Johnson & Smith), 49 Bromfield, h. Alban
Johnson & Smith were in fish and oysters
Dorchester Blue books
1894 Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Mair
1896 Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Mair; Reginald H. Mair
1898 no entry for 14 Alban
1900 Mr. & Mrs. Florentine A. Jones
1902 Mr. & Mrs. Edmund Tarbell
1904 Mr. & Mrs. Donald B. Newell
1906 Mr. & Mrs. Carl Brady
1908 Mr. & Mrs. John Bowers
1910 Mr. & Mrs. John Bowers
1913 no entry
1915 Mr. & Mrs. John W. Collins