No. 6091 45 Alban Street, photograph April 18, 2005.
Date of construction: by 1882
The following is from Ashmont by Douglass Shand-Tucci, p. 98
The architecture and landscape of this passage of Alban, very close to the hill crest, came into being between 1882 and 1884. (To see it at its best, stay on the left sidewalk.) Development in the 1870s has proceeded very slowly, owing to the depression of that decade; on Alban, for example, these eight houses — 60, 52, 44, 34, and 24 on the right, 45, 35, and 25 on the left — were the first houses built on the street. this act, the rural ideal of the Welles legacy, and the lack of a resident developer (Carruth lived on Carruth’s Hill; George Welles lived in Paris) doubtless explains the apparent confusion of siting and setback. (Three were setback restrictions, of course, but only minimums, not maximums.) On the left side for instance, the picture-postcard Victorian Caldwell House, 45 Alban, where Thomas C. Caldwell and his family, the three Misses Caldwell, lived from the 1890s right through to the 1930s, was built, like the Wyman House of a few years later, quite close to the street. But a much deeper setback, in the manner of Beaumont Street, is essayed at 35 Alban, the Mumford House, and at 25 Alban the Twitchell House.
The following is from: Codman Square House Tour Booklet 1998
45 Alban somewhat cautiously synthesizes the Stick and Queen Anne styles. But for the small area of board-and-batten sheathing in the right-hand side gable, this circa-1880 house is sheathed entirely in clapboards, as if distrustful of the shingles which are soon to become a popular—and highly expressive—exterior material. All such caution is thrown to the winds, however, in the boldly turned posts and fan detailing of its gabled entry porch. Notice, too, the paired, leaded-glass sunbursts of the entry transom and the colored glass inserts in the door itself.
Owners from atlases:
1884 L Wendle
1889 Thos C. Caldwell
1894 Thos C. Caldwell
1898 Thomas C. Caldwell
1904 Thomas C. Caldwll
1910 Charlotte E. Caldwell et al
1918 Charlotte E. Caldwell et al
1933 Charlotte E. Caldwell et al
Deed
April 11, 1881 from George Derby Welles to Louisa Wendté, wife of William C. Wendté 1520.421 lots 228 & 229
Parcel of land
July 21, 1884 from Louisa Wendté of Lancaster and William C. Wendté to Thomas C. Caldwell of Fitchburg 1644.9 lots 228 & 229
Parcel of land, but the house is on the 1884 map with the name Wendle
Boston Directory
1881 William C. Wendte, mechanical engineer, 7 Exchange place, rm 41, hl Elmo, Dor.
1882, 1883 William C. Wendté mechanical engineer, 7 Exchange pl. rm 41, h. Alban, Dor.
1885 Thomas C. Caldwell, h. Alban, Dor.
Dorchester Blue Books
1885 There are no street numbers, but Thomas C. Caldwell is listed as resident of Alban Street.
1894 Resident of 45 Alban Street was Mr. Thomas C. Caldwell
1896 Resident of 45 Alban Street was Thomas C. Caldwell
1900 Resident of 45 Alban Street was Thomas T. Caldwell
1902 Residents of 45 Alban Street were Thomas C. Caldwell, Miss Charlotte E. Caldwell, The Misses Caldwell
1904 Resident of 45 Alban Street was Thomas C. Caldwell
1906 Residents of 45 Alban Street were The Misses Caldwell
1908 Residents of 45 Alban Street were The Misses Caldwell
1910 Residents of 45 Alban Street were The Misses Caldwell
1913 Residents of 45 Alban Street were The Misses Caldwell
1915 Residents of 45 Alban Street were The Misses Caldwell
Census 1900
Thomas Caldwell, 85, widowed
Charlotte E. Caldwell, 57
E. May Caldwell, 46
Louise W. Caldwell, 40
Hannah Matheson, 38, servant
Census 1910
Charlotte E. Caldwell, 67
E. May Caldwell, 56
Louise w. Caldwell, 50
Ella Maclean, 19, servant