No. 4485 9 Ashland Street, photograph August, 2004.
Date of construction: by 1854
MACRIS BOS.5649
Thomas J. Allen House
Italianate
circa 1855
The following is from the National Register nomination for Harrison Square Historic District.
9 Ashland Street’s lot was acquired in 1845 by John Robinson with “the buildings thereon” from merchant A.A. Frazer. [But the 1850 maps shows owner as J.P. Clapp] Boston merchant Thomas J. Allen paid Robinson $5,000 for this property nine years later. Allen died in 1887, and his widow Caroline owned the house until 1912. After the First Parish Church burned in 1896, Mrs. Allen funded the Edwin J. Lewis-designed Allen Parlor at the rear of the sanctuary as a memorial to her husband. Later owners of the house included Mrs. Allen’s sister-in-law Anna M. Boach (1918), while Lorenzo Albree lived here from the 1920s until at least the 1950s. Albree was president of the Freeport Marble and Tile Company of Dorchester.
During the mid-19th-century, more modest Italianate bracketed style houses were built along Elm and Ashland Streets. 9 Ashland Street was the home of bookkeeper Thomas J. Allen from the 1850’s to the end of the century. Appears on 1850 map.
The 1978 BLC survey notes: Italianate with substantial roof overhand and undercut brackets, paired brackets at porch and bay window roofs, sawn balustrade over bay and porch. Handsome stained glass windows and plasterwork, floral plaque on Ashland Street bay.
Owners from maps and atlases
1850 J. P. Clapp
1858 T. Allen
1874 Thos. J. Allen
1884 T. J. Allen
1889 Thos. J. Allen Hrs
1894 Thos. J. Allen Hrs
1898 Thomas B. Allen
1904 Hrs. Thos. J. Allen
1910 Hrs. Thomas J. Allen
1918 Anna M. Boak
1933 A. A. Abruzzese
Deed
Nov. 2, 1854 from John H. Robinson to Thomas J. Allen 231.48
consideration $5,000 10,030 sf with a dwelling house and outbuildings
bounded northeasterly on Ashland street 117 ft 6 inches, southeasterly on Elm Street 85 ft
Dorchester. Taxable Valuation 1855
Thomas J. Allen
house $3,000
10,000 feet land $800
the following is the sequence of dees for the lot that A. A. Frazar owned — not the subject property
Oct. 16, 1857 from George Woodman to H. M. Vose, merchant, and Lucy Ann Woodman 260.29
$10,000 11,212 sf
May 27, 1848 from Edward King to George Woodman 180.6
consideration 2900 11,212 sf with the buildings thereon bounded 130 ft by a street leading to Old Colony RR … 75 feet by a street
Jan. 11. 1848 from Amherst A. Frazar to Edward King 177.295
consideration of $1,000 11,212 sf lot with house & out buildings thereon
136 ft 6 inches by a street and 75 feet by a new street
October 3, 1845 A. A. Frazar to John H. Robinson mortgage deed 159.70 136 ft 6 inches by a street leading to OCRR 75 feet on another street
consideration 1500 did Frazar default on the mortgage – no he sold to Edward King
Oct. 3, 1845 from Rachel Robinson to A. A. Frazar of Dorchester, merchant 159.69
consideration 448.48 11, 212 sf no mention of a building