Bayley House

Location16 Fairmont Avenue, Newtonville, Massachusetts

Built1883–1884


Bayley House
U.S. National Register of Historic Places


Location	16 Fairmont Avenue, Newtonville, Massachusetts
Built	1883–1884
Architect	Peabody and Stearns
Architectural style	Ruskinian Gothic
NRHP reference No.	86001771^[1]
Added to NRHP	October 4, 1986

The Bayley House is a historic house at 16 Fairmont Avenue in Newtonville, Massachusetts, US. Built in 1883–84, it is a prominent example of Ruskinian Gothic architecture, designed by the noted firm of Peabody and Stearns. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.^[1]

The Bayley House stands in a residential area roughly midway between the villages of Newtonville and Newton Corner, on the south side of Fairmont Avenue, a short way west of its junction with Centre Street. It is a large 2+1⁄2-story building, built of brick, freestone, red slate, and wood. It has irregular and asymmetric massing typical of the Queen Anne period, including a tower with steeply pitched pyramidal roof at one corner. Its main gables are adorned with stucco and half-timbering. A single-story porch extends around parts of the building, with balustrades; a porte-cochere provides access to the main entrance via a semicircular drive. The original carriage house, located at the southwest corner of the property, was torn down in the 1930s when that corner of the lot was sold off and a house was built on the site (on Lombard Street). The original lot extended east to Centre Street, three houses were built in the 1920s on those perimeter lots along Centre St, an additional two houses were built on perimeter lots on Lombard St. in the 1930s. The current owners added a freestanding garage in 2018. The landscape design of the property is said to have been done by William Manning, working for Frederick Law Olmsted.^[2]

History

The Bayley House was designed and built in 1883–84 by the Boston-based architectural firm of Peabody and Stearns, noted for its commercial and residential architecture in the late 19th century.^[2] The house was commissioned by James C. Bayley, a Boston shoe merchant who died within months after ground was broken in late 1883. Bayley's widow, Martha R. Bayley, oversaw the completion of the house, but she and her young children never moved in.

The first occupants of the house were the family of Cyrus Anderson, who lived there from 1884 to 1897. Subsequent owners were the Luther Adams family (wife Lizzie), from 1897 through approximately 1901. Adams was a wine merchant in Boston. Also residing with them were daughters Fanny M. and Mabel Adams. Luther Adams died in 1901 at age 68. The house was occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Edgar P. Van Etten (President, Boston and Albany Railroad) in 1903.

From approximately 1905 to approximately 1919, the home was owned by the Charles H. Breck family who formerly lived at 62 Bellevue Street in Newton. Breck was in the agricultural tools business at 51 North Market in Boston, known as Joseph Breck & Company (now called Breck's, founded by his grandfather Joseph Breck and his father, Charles H.B. Breck). Mrs. Charles H. Breck (Marion A.) was a daughter of Luther Adams. Her sister Fanny also lived here. Other children included Charles H. Breck Jr. and Luther J. Breck.

From 1919 to 1925, the home was owned by the John H. O'Brien family, O'Brien was in the wool business at 619 Atlantic Avenue, Boston; his wife was the former Emma M. Matthews. Their children included Byron H. O'Brien and Arnold N. O'Brien. (Arnold, a coal dealer, was born in Dorchester in 1906 and married Helen F. Priest in Keene, New Hampshire on June 10, 1933.)

On a 1929 map of Newton, the home is owned by Christopher C. Crowell, a well-known developer and builder of homes in Newton. Land at the perimeters of the lot have been subdivided and start to show homes on them (northeast corner lot at Centre and Fairmont, southeast corner lot at Centre and Lombard). The carriage house still shows on the southwest corner of the lot, that piece of land has not yet been subdivided. There is no evidence that Crowell actually lived in the house, but rather that he purchased it from the O'Brien family for development of the land.

From 1931 through 1945, the home was used as the Damon Hall Junior College, run by Frank and Annie Damon. The house was lost in foreclosure to the Charlestown Five Cents Savings Bank, the mortgage holder.

A private family (John Ronne, an attorney) purchased the home in foreclosure and then lived in the home from 1945 until approximately 1967 when it was sold to R. Lewis Wright and Sarah G. Wright. The Wrights owned the home from 1967 to 1970, when it was sold to the religious order of Stigmatine Fathers, a Catholic religious congregation of priests and brothers. The order also owned the house next door at 36 Fairmont Avenue. The Stigmatine Fathers owned the home until 1984.

The house was returned to use as a private residence in 1984, and has been owned by the current residents since 2022.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 4, 1986.^[1]

v t e National Register of Historic Places in Newton, Massachusetts
Historic districts	Boston College Main Campus Brae Burn Road Charles River Reservation Parkways Chestnut Hill Chestnut Hill Reservoir Commonwealth Avenue Crystal Lake and Pleasant Street Day Estate Farlow Hill Farlow and Kenrick Parks Gray Cliff Hammond Pond Parkway Hyde Avenue Lasell Neighborhood Monadnock Road Morton Road Myrtle Baptist Church Neighborhood Newton Highlands Newton Lower Falls Newton Railroad Stations Newton Theological Institution Newton Upper Falls Newton-Wellesley Hospital Newtonville Old Chestnut Hill Our Lady Help of Christians Pine Ridge Road–Plainfield Street Putnam Street Saco–Lowell Shops Housing Sudbury Aqueduct Sumner and Gibbs Streets Union Street Washington Park Webster Park West Newton Hill West Newton Village Center Windsor Road
Historic properties	Adams Claflin House Adams Street Shul Amos Adams House Amos Judkins House Arthur F. Luke House Bartlett–Hawkes Farm Bayley House Bemis Mill Boston Edison Power Station Brackett House Brandeis University President's House Building at 1–6 Walnut Terrace C. G. Howes Dry Cleaning-Carley Real Estate C. Lewis Harrison House Capt. Edward Durant House Capt. Edward Fuller Farm Celia Thaxter House Central Congregational Church Charles D. Elliott House Charles Haskell House Charles Maynard House Charles Riley House Charles W. Noyes House City Stable and Garage Claflin School Colby Hall Crafts Street City Stable Dr. Henry Jacob Bigelow House Dr. Samuel Warren House Dupee Estate–Mary Baker Eddy Home E. C. Hammond House East Parish Burying Ground Echo Bridge Edward B. Stratton House Edward Parsons House Eleazer Hyde House Ephraim Ward House Evangelical Baptist Church F. Lincoln Pierce Houses First Baptist Church in Newton First Unitarian Universalist Society in Newton Frank B. Hopewell House Frank H. Stewart House Fred R. Hayward House Frederick Collins House Galen Merriam House George W. Eddy House Gershom Hyde House H. P. Page House Hammond House Harding House-Walker Missionary Home Henry Bigelow House Henry Gane House Henry I. Harriman House House at 1008 Beacon Street House at 102 Staniford Street House at 107 Waban Hill Road House at 115–117 Jewett Street House at 15 Davis Avenue House at 152 Suffolk Road House at 170 Otis Street House at 173–175 Ward Street House at 203 Islington Road House at 215 Brookline Street House at 2212 Commonwealth Avenue House at 230 Melrose Street House at 230 Winchester Street House at 3 Davis Avenue House at 307 Lexington Street House at 309 Waltham Street House at 31 Woodbine Street House at 41 Middlesex Road House at 47 Sargent Street House at 511 Watertown Street House at 60 William Street House at 68 Maple Street House at 729 Dedham Street House at 81–83 Gardner Street Hyde House Jackson Homestead Jackson House James Lorin Richards House John A. Fenno House John Buckingham House John Harbach House John Souther House John Woodward House Jonas Salisbury House (62 Walnut Park) Jonas Salisbury House (85 Langley Road) Jos. Gunderson House Joseph L. Stone House Joshua Jennison House King House Kingsbury House Kistler House Lafayette Goodbar House Levi F. Warren Jr. High School Loren Towle Estate Mayall Bruner House Mayor Edwin O. Childs House Mount Pleasant Nathaniel Topliff Allen Homestead Needham Street Bridge Newton Centre Branch Library Newton City Hall and War Memorial Newton Street Railway Carbarn Nichols House Old Shephard Farm Peabody-Williams House Peirce School Plummer Memorial Library Potter Estate Prescott Estate Railroad Hotel Rawson Estate Rev. Francis E. Clark House Riverside Concrete Company-Lamont's Market Rufus Estabrook House S. Curtis Smith House Saco–Pettee Machine Shops Samuel Farquhar House Samuel Jackson Jr. House Samuel Wheat House Second C. A. Sawyer House Second Church in Newton Seth Adams House Seth Davis House Simpson House Smith-Peterson House South Burying Ground St. Mary's Episcopal Church Staples-Crafts-Wiswall Farm Strong's Block Thayer House The Chestnut Hill The Eminence Thomas A. Crimmins House United Parish of Auburndale Waban Library Center Walker Home for Missionary Children Ware Paper Mill Weeks Junior High School West Parish Burying Ground Whittemore's Tavern William Blodgett House William Curtis House William F. Kessler House William L. Church House Winslow–Haskell Mansion Working Boys Home
National Historic Landmarks	Reginald A. Fessenden House
Former	Allen Crocker Curtis House-Pillar House
See also: National Register of Historic Places listings in Newton, Massachusetts, and List of National Historic Landmarks in Massachusetts

History

See also

References

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