22 Harley Street

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No. 2847 22 Harley Street, 1898, photograph by Chansonetta Stanley Emmons.

 

No. 15293 22 Harley Street, photograph, November 13, 2015.

 

No. 15294 carriage house at 22 Harley Street, photograph November 13, 2015.

Date of construction: 1894

Architect: Henry McLean

mentioned in the house tour booklets below.

The following is from: Ashmont by Douglass Shand-Tucci, p. 79

To the right is 22 Harley, the Chansonetta Stanley Emmons House, a beauteous Queen Anne confection of 1894, gorgeously mauve in color, which in the 1900s was the abode of a prominent Boston businessman and Dorchester native active in civic affairs, Frank Dewick, the longtime president of Dewick and Flanders.  But the house bears here only the name of its first owner because of her national reputation in her field.  Twenty-two Harley was commissioned in 1983 from architect Henry McLean by one of two extraordinary brothers (F.E. and F.O. Stanley, creators, respectively, of the world-renowned Stanley Steamer automobile and of the Stanley photographic dry plate) as something of a wedding present for their sister, Chansonetta, and her husband, James Emmons.  Chansonetta herself was pretty extraordinary.  of artistic bent, she studied under the highly regarded Boston painter John Joseph Enneking, who settled in the Hyde Park section of Dorchester in 1864 and lived there until 1916, but it was in photography that she excelled.  She was little known in her own day, though she was yet another Ashmont artist-member of the Boston Society of Arts and Crafts and did show her work in the society’s exhibitions.  Today, however, her photographs are much admired, and in 1977 she was the subject of a book by Marius B. Peladeau, Chansonetta: The Life and Photographs of Chansonetta Stanley Emmons, 1858-1937.

Quite aside from their artistic interest, some of the photographs constitute for us important documentation: her pictures of Ashmont Hill, several of which were published in Peladeau’s book, give an excellent idea, in  his words, of “what upper-middle-class life was like in a suburb of Boston when there was still room for a family cow.”  There was such a cow, as well as a horse, and the stable that lodged both still stands behind the house today.  Moreover, at least two other cows nearby can be documented in the 1890s.

The following is from the area form for Ashmont Hill, Boston Landmarks Commission.

22 Harley Street is a full blown Queen Anne / Colonial Revival house with a highly irregular form complete with two story corner tower which is missing its conical roof cap shown in old photographs. The front and smaller second floor porches are set within broad segmental arches. The main facade’s dormer projects from the gable roof’s slope, exhibiting a well rendered Palladian window.

The following is from: Codman Square House Tour Booklet 1997

Year Built: 1894

Architect: Henry McLean

Style: Queen Anne

The Stanley brothers (creators of Stanley Steamer cars) gave this house to their sister, Chansonetta, a well-known photographer, as a wedding present.

The present owners believe the house was originally painted green although its present color is mauve, a variation of the “Bank Street purple.”  The turret, now flat roofed, used to be pointed, but was damaged by fire in 1973.

At one time, this house was broken up into three apartments.  Its present owners were attracted by its many fireplaces and porches, to its Greek Revival woodwork, and, in particular, to its classical staircase which looks up to the third floor.

The carriage house is in particularly good shape, and even the original saddle racks are still in place.

The following is from: Codman Square House Tour Booklet 2003

Year Built: 1894

Architect: Henry McLean

Style: Queen Anne

The Queen Anne mode of the late 19th century has been described as “the Gothic game played with Classical counters,” meaning that the asymmetry and verticality of Gothic architecture was retained, but Gothic ornament and details were replaced with their Classical counter-parts.  The American version of Queen Anne derived its Classical details from the Colonial and Federal periods.  In the dazzling, double-decker front porch of 22 Harley Street, such Colonial details as elliptical arches, Doric columns, and scrolled brackets are used in a fanciful way: the tiny Doric columns at the corners are actually shorter than the brackets that carry the cornices.  Also noteworthy are the patterned shingles, a dormer with a Palladian window, and a round tower, which lost its conical roof in a fire.

Entrance halls with spectacular staircases and cozy sitting areas were a Queen Anne specialty, and 22 Harley Street does not disappoint.  The oak stairway moves to one side as well as vertically as it ascends to the upper floors: the result is a striking diagonal vista from the front door to the top of the house.  The sitting area is centered on a corner fireplace.  The overmantel, an asymmetrical concoction of colonnettes, mirror and shelves, is another touch of Queen Anne whimsy.  The circular bay in the parlor is perfect for a grand piano.  A built-in cabinet door in the dining room displays a delicate fan design in clear leaded glass; the oak mantel replaces a lost original.

The master bedroom is triply blessed: with a circular bay, a door to the upper porch, and another idiosyncratic mantelpiece.  Note the galleries of tiny spindles around the asymmetrically disposed shelves and the textured miniature bricks that frame the fireplace opening.  The old-time feel of the restored bathroom derives from the beadboard wainscoting, hexagonal tiles, and period-style fixtures.

22 Harley Street was built for Chansonnetta Stanley Emmons, whose brothers were investors (of the Stanley Steamer automobile and the Stanley photographic dry plate).  Chansonetta herself was a distinguished photographer: the house appears in a number of her photographs from the 1890s, which help us envision what life was like when the houses of Ashmont Hill were new.

Owners from atlases:

1889 no house on map

1894 C. S. Emmons

1898 C. S. Emmons

1904 Chas. N. Wood

1910 Francis A. Dewick

1918 Francis A. Dewick

1933 Francis A. Dewick

Deed

November 17, 1893  from Henry S. Babbitt to Chansonetta S. Emmons, wife of James N. W. Emmons  2164.595  lot 71 and pt 70

Parcel of land

Feb. 1, 1900 from Chansonetta S. Emmons to Arthur S. Temple   2663.31

July 7, 1903 from Arthur S. Temple et ux to Charles N. Wood 2909.316

Boston Directory

1894 James N. W. Emmons, boots and shoes, 2241 Washington, h. 4 Holborn terace

1895 James N. W. Emmons, boots and shoes, 2241 Washington, h. Harley

1900 Chansonetta S. Emmons, widow of Janes N. W. h. 22 Harley

Skills

Posted on

April 8, 2020