No. 20224 2 Fairfax Street, photograph March 26, 2020
Date of construction: probably 1883
Architect: possibly W. Whitney Lewis
Boston Directory
1883, no entry for Sarah Sweet, widow
1884 Sarah L. Sweet, widow, h. Fairfax, Dor.
The following is from Ashmont by Douglass Shand-Tucci.
2 Fairfax Street [is] the Widow Sweet House, designed for Sarah Sweet in 1884, probably by Whitney Lewis. Although it has lost its picturesque second-floor porch, this house is such a pleasure to look at, full of charm and distinction
The following is from: Codman Square House Tour Booklet 2004
Year Built: 1884
Architect: Whitney Lewis
Style: Queen Anne
According to Douglass Shand Tucci’s Ashmont, this house was built for Sarah Sweet, a widow. The early 1880s were the heyday of the Queen Anne style, at which Whitney Lewis excelled; the exterior of 2 Fairfax displays the characteristic combination of clapboards below and shingles above. The distinctive design of the front door is based entirely on different-sized squares in both the glazed and solid portions.
By Victorian standards, the interiors of this house are quite simple: there are, for example, no elaborate plaster cornices. In their absence, the owner has made clever use of wallpaper borders. The colorful trompe l’oeil tassels in the foyer are a delightful example; others are found in the parlor and dining room. The door and window trim throughout the house is an individual version of a familiar type, with reeded moldings and plain corner blocks. In the parlor, the trim is painted white, while in the dining room it is stained a deep brown. This light vs. dark contrast between parlor and dining room was usual, though not inevitable, in the late 19th century. The parlor retains is original mantelpiece; the dining room features a built-in china cabinet with leaded-glass doors. The kitchen, renovated by a previous owner, has simple modern cabinets and an oak plank floor. Here, too, wallpaper is used with style and verve.
The staircase is not a particularly decorative feature of the entrance hall; indeed, the stairs at first seem rather constricted and the eccentrically placed windows, well below eye level, do nothing to relieve the closed-in feeling. Only as one reaches the first landing and turns to the right does the stairwell suddenly expand into a spacious upper hall. If this were not surprising enough, the stairs then continue to the third floor, not above the lower flight, as one might expect, but on the opposite side of the house. The décor of this hall is nearly as dramatic as its spatial unfolding. Deep red walls set off a brown-stained balustrade, a parquet floor, and a group of paintings by the owner’s grandfather. Although the combination gas and electric light fixture overhead is a reproduction, it represents a type used in many Dorchester houses a century ago. Opening off the second-floor hall are three bedrooms (note the distinctive window treatments), a playroom, and an updated bathroom; on the third floor is a cozy, south-facing study.
1884 Bromley Atlas shows this house.
deed:
Aug. 18, 1883 from Herbert S. Carruth to Sarah L. Sweet, widow, 1608 233 Fairfax Street Lot 12
no mention of building
deed restriction: until January 1st, 1900, no building shall be erected upon said lot, any part of which stands within thirty-five (35) feet of the line of said Fairfax Street.