Graceful Ladies ~ A Stroll Down Melville Avenue

Where do I start this article, I wonder?  Do I tell you about sleeping in the front room bedroom with my two sisters on the second floor of an old Victorian house and listening to the Ragman peddle his wares on an early Saturday morn?  "Rags, rags, pots and pans" his voice calls out.  Or do I tell you about a stern grandfather who never smiled and who made you sit at the mahogney dining table until your plate was clean?   Maybe  I should begin with my Nana, an Irish woman who spoke little, her words locked up in a mind that had seen her small daughter go up in flames one July 4th long before I was born.  For the most part Nana spoke jibberish but every now and again, when her sons and daughters were not present, she spoke to us, her granddaughters, about a castle in Ireland "that waited for us". 

"The House" in Dorchester holds many memories for me.  I don't know why we called Nana's home, "The House" but from my earliest memories that's what we called it.  Unlike all my uncles and aunts, my Dad had married a country girl, and chose to live in a small rural town outside Plymouth, Massachusetts rather then take up residence in Dorchester, Charlestown or Southie.  And yet, every holiday we would travel back to the House for Christmas parties, Easter hunts, and birthday parties.  The year I was in first grade I lived at The House when my Mom was "mentally unstable" and incarcerated at Lakeville Hospital for depression.  

And so despite the fact I am a country girl at heart, the city was no stranger to me.  Dorchester was my second home.  During my high school years, on Friday afternoons I would accompany my Dad, who worked at Walter Baker's Chocolate Mill, to work.  If he was running late and couldn't drop me off at Nana's, I would take the trolley from Lower Mills to Ashmont Station and then walk up Ashmont Hill to "The House".  Friday nights I would go with my cousins to the Boston College High School dances and on Saturday morn I would take the subway into the Fine Arts Museum for drawing classes.  I guess you might call me a hybrid...a cross between being a country bred girl and a city girl.

In the late afternoons after visiting Mom in the hospital in Quincy, Fran and I have taken the short ride over to Dorchester so I could reacquaint myself with the various neighborhoods.  One afternoon we spent hours in Lower Mills and I was able to take photos at Walter Baker's Chocolate Mill, another day we explored Ashmont Hill on foot and still another day we went to Melville Avenue and Wellesley Park.

The architecture of Melville Avenue is famous for its cavalcade of commodious, unusually ornate Queen Anne style Victorian homes.  This Avenue can certainly be compared in both form and exuberance of color to the famous "Painted Ladies" of San Francisco.  We parked the car across from 4 Melville Avenue and started our stroll.  On our side of the street was a beautiful blue three story home with gorgeous hand carved flowers on the car portico and a wrap around porch.

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Next door was another home that was quite spacious and had a second floor enclosed balcony.


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Across the street at #4 Melville was this newly renovated Victorian with gorgeous grounds and  a lovely gazebo for  late afternoon tea parties.

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Further down the street at 10 Melville is the Jubilee House, owned by The Salvation Army. This House was designed by George Meacham in 1880 and is a fine example of an asymmetrical Stick Style House.  It rises 2.5 stories from a granite block basement to an intersecting gable roof.  Jubilee has an extensive front lawn, gorgeous old copper beech trees, and a meandering driveway.  

Jubilee House is quite commodious and its Stick Style architecture represents a miraculous survival.  It is the type of large Victorian residence that because of prohibitive heating and maintenance costs, often disappears from our landscape.  Today, the Salvation Army occupies this home and runs many programs that benefit the Dorchester community at large.   We met Justin, one of the volunteers and he explained the mission of the Dorchester House.

We asked if we could see the barn...just a gorgeous structure from the previous century.  A young volunteer was cleaning the second floor.
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Once inside I took this image of the main house.

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In the corner I spied a hammock just calling my name...but Fran said, "No power naps today, Bob."

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Leaving the barn, Fran asked if she could use the bathroom.  Justin was more then willing and invited us inside.  I loved the old blue basin and the brass faucets.

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Next door to the Jubilee Home is a run-down beautiful structure with many nice features.  Despite the condition it appears that work has already begun renovating this lovely lady.

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We asked the lady working out in the garden in the front yard if we could walk around the side of the building and she was pleased to show us around.

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I had to get a closer look at this set-out window.

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Continueing our stroll, Fran wanted to show me 35 Melville Avenue.  "Bob, you'll love this house.  It was owned by a boxer when we were little.  It's just incredible."

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I had to agree, 35 Melville was one of the finest houses we viewed that day.  Doing some research at home, I found out this house was designed by and built for Arthur H. Vinal, one of Boston's premier architects, in 1882.  I found the following description of this home in the Dorchester Atheneum:  Landmarks of Dorchester:

"Compact, yet asymmetrically massed, this Queen Anne house is enclosed by steeply pitched and intersecting hip roofs. Still intact are its slate shingles and terra cotta ridge tiles. The main facade features the rare use of masonry materials in an area of overwhelmingly wooden buildings. Access to 35 Melville A venue's main entrance is reached via an open front porch with low rusticated brownstone railings. Rising from these railings are short squat Romanesque Revival columns which support broad segmental arches. Projecting from its main facade is a narrow gable roofed bay. This gable contains raised lattice work detail. To the left of this gable is a polygonal oriel with bell cast, finial topped roof cap. Around the corner, on the east wall is a more grand oriel which presumably lights a stairway. Enlivened by stained glass windows and enclosed by a canopy-like cast metal roof, this polygonal oriel is a particularly noteworthy feature. In general, and in typically Queen Anne fashion, this house's walls are pierced by windows representing a variety of shapes including standard size, arched and an ornately enframed oval attic window on the Allston Street side. According to architectural historian Douglas Shand Tucci, "35 Melville Avenue is part of one of the most sumptuous ensembles in the city of late nineteenth century street-car suburb architecture."

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Nearby, on the same side of the street was this home.  For the life of us we couldn't understand what the orange balls were....could they be some sort of lighting?

Across the street was this red and cream house.  I liked the little porch on the side.

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Further down the street was this interesting asymmetrical residence with its conical roof cap on the porch and a second floor corner tower.

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At the bottom of Melville Avenue at #92 is the home of the Twelve Tribes, a community of several families and a number of single people.  They bought this house over twenty years ago and through hard work restored it to it's former glory.  Once again, we will refer back to the Dorchester Atheneum for a description of this home:

"Further to the east 92 Melville Park (1890) is a Queen Anne house noteworthy for its asymmetrical form which includes a large corner tower which is enclosed by a bell-shaped roof. To the left of the tower is a steeply pitched gable which surmounts a trio of small, square attic windows. On the first floor of the Melville Avenue facade is an open front porch with paired Tuscan columns which rise from granite block piers. Rising from the east side of the hip roof is a paneled, yellow brick chimney."

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When we first started out on this adventure, Fran suggested that we play our old game of "Hosey"...a game that used to occupy us for hours when we were young.  When the new Sears catalog would come into the house, we would methodically go through it, pointing out on each page, that which we would buy should money be no problem.  "So, Bob, you can have any house on Melville Avenue, after we finish our stroll."  In the end, Fran chose this modest three-story purple house.  "It reminds me of "The House", Fran said.

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I, on the other hand, decided on a small Bungalow style dwelling.  The only trouble is was the fact it wasn't on Melville Avenue.  It was on a side street off Melville in an area called Centerville Park.  I liked the fact that it seemed to be a hybrid ....there were elements of the Queen Anne, the Colonial Revival and the bungalow styles all wrapped up in one cohesive whole.  It was L-shaped and had a hip roof that sloped down to enclose an open front porch with tall rubble stone piers which supported paired Tuscan columns.  I liked the Queen Anne elements...the broad, polygonal bay of the main facade and the one story tower with its distinctive bell-shaped roof cap.   Yes, this is the house I would choose!

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Thanks for coming on a stroll this morning through one of Dorchester's neighborhoods.  Another day we will tour Wellesley Park and then Ashmont Hill.  What house would you choose on Melville Avenue if you had a choice?  Why not sit down on the porch and rest your feet while you think about it.