No. 6106 76 Alban Street, photograph April 18, 2005.
Date of construction: 1887-1888
Based on deed to Lowell in 1887; Boston Directory 1888 has an entry for Lowell on Alban Street
The following is from Ashmont by Douglass Shand-Tucci, p. 94
… the Lowell-Linnell House, 76 Alban, is architecturally a bit of a mystery. Very handsome, still with its original and highly fanciful front-porch balustrades, this house, built ca. 1884-1888, has a remarkable stucco panel of distinctly abstract design formed by broken shards of glass high up on the eastward side of the tower where the glass always catches the morning sun. As this was one of the more unusual flights of fancy indulged in elsewhere in the country in the early 1880s by Stanford White, this house is certainly worth further study. In later years the home of Dorchester boatbuilder Howard Linnell, the house had as its most notable resident Dr. Daniel Smith Lowell. Educated at Bowdoin College, physician, teacher, and author, Lowell was a master at Roxbury Latin School from 1884 to 1909 and then, from 1909 to 1921, headmaster of this famous school, the oldest in continuous operation in the United States.
[Linnell’s boat yard seems to have been on the north side of Savin Hill]
The following is from the area form for Ashmont Hill, Boston Landmarks Commission.
76 Alban Street was built ca. 1884-1888, for Dr. Daniel Smith Lowell, Bowdoin College-educated ph)
teacher and author. Lowell was a master at Roxbury Latin School from 1884 to 1909 and then, from 1909 to 1921, its headmaster. During the 1920s, this house was purchased by Dorchester boat-builder Howard Linnell and his wife Alice E. Linnell who is listed at this address as a Christian Scientist during the 1930s.
The following is from: Codman Square House Tour Booklet 1999
Year Built: 1884-88
Style: Queen Anne
Architect: Unknown
The lively exterior of this house is animated by an octagonal turret whose stucco is set with shards of colorful glass and pottery, recalling a seventeenth-century practice mentioned by Hawthorne in The Scarlet Letter. Inside, one enters a beam-ceiling reception hall whose oak woodwork includes a corner fireplace. To the left are double parlors, connected by pocket doors; the front room is lit by the five windows of the façade bay, while the rear parlor features a stained-glass window. Above a rear parlor doorway note the model of a ship’s hull that may be the work of the original owner, a boat builder. A sunny kitchen at the rear connects to a dining room with three exposures. Returning to the front hall, the stair rises past original stained-glass windows to the bedroom floor. A handsome sleigh bed occupies the turreted front bedroom. The master bedroom is at the side; its ceiling has been opened to the roof, creating an exciting, loft-like volume. Attributable, perhaps, to the first owner’s nautical bent [note: probably second owner – see description from Codman Square House Tour Booklet 2004 below], is a leaded-glass bay with window seat resembling the stern windows of a frigate captain’s cabin.
The following is from: Codman Square House Tour Booklet 2004
Year Built: 1884
Architect: Unknown
Style: Queen Anne
The exterior coloring of 76 Alban Street—sage green clapboards, dark red trim, and black window sash—is both historically appropriate and visually satisfying. On the corner turret is a well-preserved touch of Queen Anne quaintness: a stucco panel studded with bits of bright-colored glass. The house was built for Daniel O. S. Lowell, a longtime teacher at the Roxbury Latin School, who served as its headmaster from 1909 to 1921.
The period atmosphere in the entrance hall is both pervasive and persuasive. The oak staircase, beamed ceiling, and corner fireplace with geometric-tiled hearth are original and quintessentially Queen Anne. The deep-green wallpaper, small panes of colored glass, and antique hanging lamp added by the present owner are equally redolent of the 1880s. Pocket doors of black walnut lead to the parlor, distinctive for its many-faceted bay window. (A striking neo-realist painting leaves Victoria’s reign figuratively, at least, in the dust.) In Headmaster Lowell’s day, the back parlor served as a library. Here the fireplace retains its walnut mantel and overmantel and another tiled hearth. The half-model of a ship’s hull is a reminder of the house’s second owner, a shipbuilder.
The dining room appears to be as well preserved as the parlors, but appearances can be deceiving. This room was lengthened by five feet early in the last century; the palster ceiling medallion (which matches the originals in the parlors) is new; and the Anglo-Japanese stained glass window was commissioned by the present owner! A steep, narrow back staircase still ascends to the second floor from the kitchen, but the kitchen itself has undergone a complete transformation. It has been enlarged by incorporating former pantry space and enhanced by new mahogany cabinets with birds’-eye maple drawer fronts. What would the Lowells’ cook think of the granite countertops and stainless-steel appliances?
On the second floor, the quirkiness of Queen Anne houses is apparent in the oddly angled partitions. To reach the north bedroom, one descends a couple of steps. This room, with its sloping ceiling and leaded-glass windows, was Mr. Lowell’s upstairs library. At the far end of a narrow passage is an elegant, up-to-date bathroom. This room, with its combination of thoughtful design and impeccable craftsmanship, exemplifies the present owner’s approach to restoring and renovating 76 Alban Street.
The following is frome: Advertisement for sale on the internet, 2006
76 Alban Street
Source: Advertisement for sale 7-2006 www.76albanstreet.com
Originally built in 1884 as a single family for Daniel O.S. Lowell, headmaster of the Roxbury Latin School. Owner’s unit is composed of four bedrooms, two baths, immaculately refinished original woodwork, gleaming hardwood floors, two sets of pocket doors and high ceilings, plus an abundance of original windows with Tru Channel
Harvey storms throughout.
The dining room features a new double hung stained glass mahogany window, new paneled wainscoting, crown molding and pendant fixture.
The kitchen boasts hand built mahogany and bird’s eye maple cabinets, two foot crown molding soffit, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, antique hutch, remote in-ceiling speakers, pantry, and mudroom adjacent to new bathroom with tiled shower.
The four bedrooms are located on the second level. One bedroom has a cathedral ceiling, while the turret bedroom offers seven windows and a fireplace. The second floor bath has a walk-in Victorian rain bath shower, Victorian stained glass window and vanity with a limestone bowl on a chest of drawers.
The income apartment features two bedrooms and one bath, a fully applianced kitchen with new cabinets and sink, two porches connected by a spiral staircase, and living room on the third floor with ocean views.
There is an oversized three car garage in the rear of the house with its own breaker box and industrial lighting.
Other features include an extensive and mature Victorian perennial garden, timed lighting along a brick entry path, front porch with a swing and a large horse chestnut tree on the side of the house.
Asking price $859,000
GLA 3380 sq. ft.
Owners from atlases:
1889 Danl Lowell—the house first appears in the 1889 atlas
1894 Danl O.S.Lowell
1898 Daniel O.S. Lowell
1904 Daniel O.S. Lowell
1910 Daniel O.S. Lowell
1918 Daniel O.S. Lowell
1933 Alice E. Linnell
Deed
June 1, 1887 from George Derby Welles to Daniel O. S. Lowell 1774.449 lots 208 & pt lot 209
Parcel of land
Boston Directory
1887 Daniel O. S. Lowell, teacher, Roxbury Latin School, h. 11 Gaston
1888 Daniel O. S. Lowell, teacher, Roxbury Latin School, 16 Alban
Dorchester Blue Books
1894 Residents of 76 Alban Street were Mr. & Mrs. Daniel O. S. Lowell
1896 Residents of 76 Alban Street were Mr. & Mrs. Daniel O. S. Lowell
1900 Residents of 76 Alban Street were Mr. & Mrs. Daniel O. S. Lowell
1902 Residents of 76 Alban Street were Mr. & Mrs. Daniel O. S. Lowell
1904 Residents of 76 Alban Street were Mr. & Mrs. Daniel O. S. Lowell
1906 Residents of 76 Alban Street were Mr. & Mrs. Daniel O. S. Lowell
1908 Residents of 76 Alban Street were Mr. & Mrs. Daniel O. S. Lowell
1910 Residents of 76 Alban Street were Mr. & Mrs. Daniel O. S. Lowell
1913 Residents of 76 Alban Street were Mr. & Mrs. Daniel O. S. Lowell
1915 Resident of 76 Alban Street was Mr. Daniel O S Lowell
The following is from Section 5 of the series of pamphlets issued by Robert Severy detailing the people who are interred at Cedar Grove Cemetery.
Daniel Ozro Smith Lowell was born in East Denmark, Oxford County, Maine, to Daniel Lowell, a Farmer, and Mary A. Smith Lowell who was a daughter of his sister, Mary Lowell Smith. He was a member of the Class of 1874 at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. He studied medicine, travelled in Europe, was employed as a Physician for a time, became a Teacher, then a Master, and from 1909 to 1921 was Headmaster at the Roxbury Latin School on Kearsarge Avenue off of Winthrop Street in Roxbury. During his career he wrote “Jason’s Quest”” and in 1896 edited the Roger de Coverly Papers. In 1896 he journeyed abroad and then lectured on his travels. For years and years his initials of D. O. S. L. were written in chalk on blackboards at the Roxbury Latin School near vacation time and stood for “Days of School Left.”
Death Record
Daniel Ozro Smith Lowell, b. April 13, 1851, Denmark, Maine; d. March 11, 1928, Malden MA
Census 1900
Daniel O Lowell, 49, school teacher
Emma W. Lowell, 51
Muriel E. Lowll, 6
Walter P. Deering, 10, nephew
Mary A. Waters, 25, servant