Date of construction: 1894
Architect: Willard M. Bacon
In The Second Settlement appendix, Douglass Shand-ucci cites a building permit from 1894 – Willard M. Bacon architect, C. Stone builder, F. Percival owner, estimated cost to build $7,000. The Boston Directory for 1895 is the first entry showing Percival at this address.
The following is from Ashmont by Douglass Shand-Tucci.
26 Carruth, the Percival House, which takes its name from Frank Percival, a Boston investment manager whose family resided here for nearly half a century, wax built in 1894. It is the work of Willard Bacon, who studied architecture in the office of Sturgis and Brigham and, though he did large-scale work–the Niles Block on School Street intown, for example, and the Winthrop Public Library–was chiefly known for houses, designs for which by him have also been documented in Jamaica Plain, Allston, and Winthrop. He was the architect in 1906 of the charming half-timbered First Baptist Church on the corner of Ashmont and Adams streets. In pristine condition, painted just the right colors, and set in gracious lawns with no fencing, the Percival House is the most refined on Carruth Street, particularly notable for its superb north facade, as fine a free classic essay as exists anywhere in Greater Boston. Indeed, 26 Carruth in its attenuated elegance and admirable restraint reminds one of Arthur Little’s work.
The following is from: Codman Square House Tour Booklet 2001
26 Carruth Street, built to the designs of Winthrop architect Willard Bacon in 1894, is defiantly “Free Classic.” Typifying the genre, classically derived motifs—urns, swags, modillions—bedeck the elevations of the house asymmetrically and indeed, almost at random.
The following is from the inventory form for Carruth Street – Peabody Square, Boston Landmarks Commission.
26 Carruth Streetwas built in 1894 for Frank Percival, a Boston investment manager whose family resided here for nearly half-a-century. This house represents the work of Willard M. Bacon who studied architecture in the office of Sturgis and Brigham and lived in Winthrop, MA. from1887 until his death in 1947. He was responsible for all of Winthrop’s Municipal buildings including its Italian Renaissance Revival Library (1898), Winthrop Center Fire Station (1898) and Winthrop Town Hall (1928). Bacon is said to have been a prolific designer of suburban residences in Jamaica Plain and Allston as well as Winthrop.
Owners from atlases:
1889 no house on lot – lot owned by Ellen & Emma Carruth hrs.
1894 Frank Percival
1898 Frank Percival
1904 Frank Percival
1910 Frank Percival
1918 Frank Percival
1933 Frank Percival
deed March 31, 1894 from Herbert S. Carruth Jr. under will of Emma Carruth to Frank Percival Book 2188 p 187 part of lot 3 pl. 1867.588 parcel of land consideration $3000
deed Jan 4. 1895 from Herbert S. Carruth Jr to Frank Percival Book 2248 p 11 more of lot 3 pl. 1867.588
Boston directory
1894 no Frank Percival on Carruth St
1895 Frank Percival, clerk, 152 Congress, h. Carruth, cor. Beaumont
Census 1900
Frank Percival, 41, cashier in a bank
Amelia Percival, 29
Census 1910
Frank Percival, 51, bookkeeper in cotton company
Millie F. Percival, 46
Maria H. Dolan, 25, servant
Census 1920 cashier in importing company
Census 1940 office work in textile importing business
Note: the Boston Directory for 1900 shows the company Stoddard, Haserick, Richards, & Co. Cotton, Worsted and Woolen Machinery at 152 Congress Stret