No. 6099 65 Alban Street, photograph April 18, 2005.
Date of construction: 1889
Base on deed dated January 1889, to Furbush and the house appears on the 1889 map.
Architect: Harrison H. Atwood
The following is from: Ashmont by Douglass Shand-Tucci, p. 95
The third house by him [Harrison Henry Atwood], 65 Alban, the Furbush House, built for Everett and Hattie Furbush in 1889, stands just to the left of Atwood’s own house. With so pleasant a domain to preside over, Mrs. Furbush appears to have been very sociable, being especially active in a local travel club called “The Ashmont Tourists,” which met chiefly at 65 or 92 Alban or 30 Ocean. The Beacon in 1892 described a meeting: “Mrs. Harriet Furbush, 65 Alban Street, received the ‘Tourists’ in her cozy library … flooded with sunlight and good cheer. A table stood in the middle of the room with the most inviting books and pictures.” Evidently a paper was read, and a luncheon was served. Afterward, perhaps the members took coffee n the wonderful front porch of 65 — which, if not original, should be, so exquisite is the effect of the extremely thin muntins and the old, ripply glass. Nor should you miss the first purposefully built accommodation for the new “horseless carriage” on Ashmont Hill. Today, it is a kind of New England Shingle Style version of a Southern Green Revival ruin — all rather beautiful in a romantic way, but not, probably, for very long. …
The following is from the Dorchester Historical Society’s Dorchester House Tour Ashmont/Carruth Street Neighborhood, June 11, 2016
Year built: 1888
Architect: Harrison H Atwood
Style: Shingle Style/Colonial Revival
65 Alban Street is one of a cluster of five houses designed by Harrison Henry Atwood, including his own remarkable home next door at 61 Alban (also 1888). Atwood was only in his mid-205 when he began these projects, which also include 515 and 521Talbot Avenue and 87 Alban Street. Appointed City Architect of Boston in 1889, in this prestigious position he designed schools, firehouses, and other public buildings.
Atwood’s domestic work is very fine, and his Ashmont Hill houses demonstrate his facility with the Queen Anne and Shingle styles. 65 Alban is rather more Colonial Revival in feel; note the Classical details such as the “Palladian” arrangement of the windows and paneled decoration in the front gable of the gambrel roof.
The front porch, enclosed in the 192os, provides a foretaste of what is to come inside the main house, which is a showcase of fine architectural detail, furnishings, and art. Wood of various species—oak, cherry, fruitwood—is used in copious amounts in parquet floors, paneling, moldings, and mantelpieces. Not surprising given the business of one of the owners, stained and artistic glass is everywhere, most executed by his studio. (Only the window in the entry vestibule is original to the house.) Note how the careful use of window treatments, which do not cover the decorative window frames, helps preserve and enhance the sense of proportion in the rooms.
The trompe l’oeil paintings on the living room walls and vestibule ceiling, along with the luxurious upholstered walls in the the dining room, customize the spaces and provide a distinctive backdrop for the owners’ carefully curated collections. The imposing mantelpiece in the dining room faces a bright, curved bay window; the fully-stocked butler’s pantry leads to the kitchen, where vintage tiles combine with the best modern amenities to create an inviting and highly functional space for cooking and entertaining.
When the third floor was converted to an apartment in the 197os, the main stair was altered and a new stair hall was created at the rear of the house; the massive newel and railing were salvaged from another building. The rear door provides a view into the beautifully landscaped yard, where the garage serves as a sort of garden folly and a beehive is a reminder of the neighborhood’s long-time bee-keeping tradition.
The following is from: Codman Square House Tour Booklet 1997
Year Built: 1888
Architect: Unknown, possibly Harrison Atwood
Style: Exterior: Colonial Revival; interior: Edwardian
This house was purchased two years ago [i.e., 1995] by its present owner, Jim Anderson, who instantly loved its cherry library, oak reception hall, dark oak dining room with carved fireplace, oak butler’s pantry, and the fruitwood on the second and third floors. Note the lovely stained glass in the vestibule and hallway and the back hall stairway which came originally from Louisburg Square on Beacon Hall.
Of particular interest is the original wallpaper in the dining room, shown in the photo above, which the owner cleaned to reveal its beauty. In the living room are trompe l’oeil murals by the “faux” painter Maddia Esquerre, who used classical methods to render the illusion of moldings and shadows. Upstairs are a master bedroom with a solarium, and a white marble bathroom with the feel of a Newport mansion.
Outside is the 1,500 square foot piazza added in 1922—wonderful for entertaining—and a 1906 Atwood carriage house restored by the owner.
The following is from: Codman Square House Tour Booklet 1998
Architect: Harrison Atwood [attributed to Atwood without caveat]
The following is from: Codman Square House Tour Booklet 1999
65 Alban Street was designed by Harrison Atwood and shares the large and relatively simple footprint he favored for his own home at no. 61 Alban Street. The gambrel roof of no. 65 is more explicitly Colonial Revival in derivation, however, a feeling reinforced by the decoratively glazed windows of its front porch which was enclosed in 1922.
The following is from: Codman Square House Tour Booklet 2000
Year Built: 1888
Architect: Harrison Atwood
Style: Queen Anne/Colonial Revival
This house was purchased five years ago by its present owner, who immediately fell in love with its cherry library, oak reception hall and dining room, and the fruitwood of the second and third floors. As you enter from the large glazed piazza added in 1922—wonderful for both entertaining and relaxing—note the brilliant stained glass windows of the vestibule and hallway. Also glass, though as fluid as silk, is the Venetian ceiling fixture that lights the foot of the main staircase.
In the living room to the left of the hall neoclassical trompe l’oeil murals provide the illusion of moldings and shadows against the flat wall surfaces. Next is the club-like library, where one can imagine Teddy Roosevelt enjoying a good cigar in front of the corner fireplace. To the right of the hall is the dining room whose ornate fireplace is complemented by the original damask-patterned wallpaper, restored to beauty by a gentle cleaning. Beyond the dining room a new kitchen provides all the amenities of today in a manner sympathetic to the period. Upstairs are a master bedroom with a solarium and a white-marble bathroom whose air of virile luxury would not be out of place in a Newport mansion.
Owners from atlases:
1889 Hattie Furbush—the house shows up on the 1889 atlas for the first time
1894 Hattie Furbush
1898 Hattie Furbush
1904 Hattie Furbush
1910 Hattie Furbush
1918 Harry Mahler
1933 Harry Mahler
Dorchester Blue Books
1894 Residents were Mr. & Mrs. Everett W. Furbush
1896 Residents were Mr. & Mrs. Everett W. Furbush
1900 Residents were Mr. & Mrs. Everett W. Furbush
1902 Residents were Mr. & Mrs. Everett W. Furbush
1904 Residents were Mr. & Mrs. Everett W. Furbush
1906 Residents were Mr. & Mrs. Everett W. Furbush
1908 Residents were Mr. & Mrs. Everett W. Furbush; Nelson L. Furbush; Lawrance M. Furbush
1910 Residents were Mr. & Mrs. Everett W. Furbush; Lawrence M. Furbush
1913 Residents were Mr. & Mrs. Everett W. Furbush; Lawrence M. Furbush
1915 Residents were Mr. & Mrs. Everett W. Furbush; Mr. Lawrence M. Furbush
Deed
January 1, 1889 from George Derby Welles to Hattie Forbush, wife of Everett W. Furbush 1855.534 lot 234 & pt lots 233 & 235
Parcel of land
Boston Directory
1889 Everett W. Furbush, salesman, 170 Tremont, h. 1681 Dorchester av.
1890 Everett W. Furbush, salesman, 170 Tremont, h. 65 Alban
Census 1900
Everett W. Furbush, 45, salesman, iano?
Harriet Furbush, 53
Nelson L. Furbush, 16
Lawrence M. Furbush, 8
Census 1910
Everett W. Furbush, 55, manager, Mass. Chemical Co.
Harriet Furbush, 53
Lawrance M. Furbush, 18
Alphild Bjurstrom, 33, servant