No. 6029 41 Carruth Street, photograph April 16, 2005.
Date of construction: 1900
Architect: A. H. Black
Building permit: permit application dated August 3, 1900
Owner: Ashmont Cooperative Association
Architect: H. A. Black
Builder: H. A. Black
The Ashmont Co-operative Trust acquired the property April 21, 1896. It appears that Wesley E. A. Legg, Oscar A. Shepard and J. Loring Thayer formed the Ashmont Co-operative Association formed to invest in real estate. Legg lived at 55 Welles Avenue, Shepard at 8 Van Winkle and Thayer at 386 Ashmont Street. Thayer died in late 1899, so he did not see the construction of the house at 41 Carruth Street. The Assocation owned the property until 1911 when they sold to Mary F. Myrtetus.
The building permit seems to list the trustees of the Association. Wesley E. A. Legg appears with two other names: Gordon A. Burleigh and George E. Griffin. Perhaps the Association’s ownership had changed. Burleigh lived at 45 Dracut Street, and Griffin at 175 Ashmont Street.
The following is from the inventory form for Carruth Street – Peabody Square, Boston Landmarks Commission
41 Carruth Street, as noted earlier was the site of the Dix-Humphrey-Mitchell House of 1872-1873. The current house was built after the first house was moved to 80 Van Winkle Street in 1897. 41 Carruth Street was built the following year from designs provided by H.A. Black. Its original owner, Alexander Stromache, followed the well-worn path from residing in the South End to relocating in Ashmont. He was the superintendent of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.
Note: It appears that Stromache was a tenant, not an owner. The Ashmont Co-operative Trust purchased the property from Ellen M. Mitchell, then moved the original house to the back of the lot to face Van Winkle Street. The trust built the house now at 41 Carruth Street to be used for rental. In July of 1911 the trust sold the property to Mary F. Myrtetus. Arthur H. Tripp, who rented here from at least 1904 through 1915, was a pharmacist with a store at Peabody Square. Fred H. Young, another tenant, was a superintendent in a shoe trucking company.
The following is from: Codman Square House Tour Booklet 2006
Year Built: c. 1910
Architect: Unknown
Style: Colonial Revival
The exterior of 41 Carruth Street makes an intriguing comparison to that of 27 Upland Avenue, stop number 6 on the tour. The houses have in common hipped roofs, circular bays on the left, faceted bays on the right, and Colonial Revival details. Yet 27 Upland was built to house a single family while 41 Carruth was designed as a two-suite house. Although the third floor (nor part of the tour) is now a separate apartment, the two apartments which are open to view still show the ingenious planning which gave each apartment all the amenities of a detached single-family house.
The lower apartment’s arrangement is unaltered. Its original architectural details now serve as the background for modern furnishings. The dining room retains dark-stained woodwork, including an oak mantel with Ionic columns and olive-green tiles. On the way to the kitchen, one passes through two pantries. One pantry retains its original cabinets and shelves; the second pantry now serves as a home office. This apartment also has three good-sized bedrooms, two on the first floor and a third, reached by a private stair, on the second.
The upper apartment has undergone more extensive changes. Since the stairway now serves two apartments, it has been walled off from the second-floor apartment. The living room has been enlarged by incorporating what was originally a small room with a Palladian window opening onto a deck over the front porch. The dining room has been expanded by removing the pantry partitions and creating a wide opening to the kitchen, but it retains its original pocket doors, fireplace, and stained glass. Note that while the stained glass and fireplace tiles are similar to those in the apartment below, the colors are different. In counterpoint to the first floor, the second floor features traditional furnishings against a more modern background. The bedroom is both stylish and serene, with Roman shades at the windows matching the deep green walls. The urbane décor reaches its climax in the bathroom, where both tiles and fixtures are jet black. Any potential gloom is banished, however, by the gleam of natural wood in the cabinets, cornice, and Venetian blind.
The two apartments at 41 Carruth Street, each comfortable and appealing in its own right, are now so different in style and atmosphere that is hard to imagine how similar they must have been when the house was new.
owners from atlases
1898 Oscar A. Shepard et al. Trs [of the Ashmont Co-operative Association] Apparently the Ashmont Co-operative Association moved the house that originally stood at the corner of Ashmont and Van Winkle back on the lot to face Van Winkle Street. The Association then built the house now at 41 Carruth to be used for rental.
1904 the house appears for the first time on a Bromley atlas, owned by Wesley E. A. Legg et al Trs [of the Ashmont Co-operative Association]
1910 Wesley E. A. Legg et al. Trs
1918 Mary F. Myrtetus
1933 M. A. Donahue
Dorchester Blue Books
1900 – no entry for 41 Carruth
1902 Mr. & Mrs. Joseph W. Hearn and Mr. & Mrs. Alexander M. Stromache
1904 Mr. & Mrs. Arthur H. Tripp and Mr. & Mrs. Alexander M. Stromache
1906 Mr. & Mrs. Arthur H. Tripp
1908 Mr. & Mrs. Arthur H. Tripp and Mr. & Mrs. John W. Olmtead
1910 Mr. & Mrs. Arthur H. Tripp and Mr. & Mrs. Fred H. Young
1913 Mr. & Mrs. Arthur H. Tripp and Mr. & Mrs. Fred H. Young
1915 Mr. & Mrs. Arthur H. Tripp and Mr. & Mrs. Fred H. Young
deed
Feb. 18, 1884 from John Humphrey to Ellen M. Mitchell 1627.403
April 21, 1896 from Charles H. Mitchell of North Scituate and Ellen M. Mitchell, wife of Charles H. Mitchell to Oscar A. Shepard, J. Loring Thayer and Wesley E. A. Legg Trustees of the Ashmont Co-operative Association from Charles H. Mitchell 2352.135 Lot 74 pl 1097.265
July 12, 1911 from Wesley E. A. Legg et al Trs to Mary F. Myrtetus 3555.629
Census 1910 enumeration district 1630 sheet 12
41 Carruth Street
Arthur H. Tripp, 35, druggist
Clara B. Tripp, 36
Elizabeth B. Tripp, 6
Enumeration district 1630 sheet 4
Fred H. Young, 54, Superintendent, shoe trucking factory
Emma L. Young, 52
Maude L. Young, 32, nurse in a hospital
Anna C. Prescott, 49, lodger
Boston Directory
1900 Wesley E.A. Legg & Co. (G.M.D. Legg), poultry and produce, cellar 6 F.H. mkt. southside, h. 55 Welles Av.
1900 Oscar A. Shepard (Shepard, Clark & Co.), 83 Commercial, h. 8 Van Winkle
1900 J. Loring Thayer, died Oct. 14, 1899. His widow lived at 386 Ashmont
1899 J. Loring, teller Home Savings, 75 Tremond, h. 386 Ashmont
1900 Gordon A. Burleigh, boots and shoes, h. 45 Dracut 1900 George E. Griffin, clerk, h.