CultureNOW - Third Harrison Gray Otis House (American Meteorological Society): Charles Bulfinch, Peter Vanderwarker and Anmahian Winton Architects

Third Harrison Gray Otis House (American Meteorological Society)

Architect
Charles Bulfinch

Renovation Architect
Anmahian Winton Architects

Photographer
Peter Vanderwarker

Dates

1806

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Description

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ABOUT THE BUILDING
The American Meteorological Society occupies two historic buildings at the Harrison Gray Otis property in Beacon Hill, both designed by Charles Bulfinch in 1806. Anmahian Winton Architects radically redesigned the neglected carriage barn, transforming it into a modern office space. Later, the firm engaged to meticulously restore and reconstruct the original mansion. The carriage barn's design creates contemporary office space within an antique building. The barn's limited footprint required introduction of a mezzanine level within the barn. The essence of the design emerged from the relationship between the new mezzanine, the existing masonry walls and exposed heavy timber roof, and the new steel beams required to support the mezzanine. This new level was designed to possess an identity independent of the original shell, having the appearance of being skewered by the new steel beams. The suspended story emphasizes the character of the barn as a singular, historic volume that houses a contemporary structure within. In keeping with the original nature of the barn as an outbuilding, the palette of materials remains simple and direct: plywood, structural lumber, fiberglass panels, and raw steel.

-Anmahian Winton Architects

ABOUT THE HISTORICAL PHOTOGRAPHS
The new photograph shows better architecture, but the old shows better cityscape. A paradox. Both photos depict one of Boston's landmarks, the Harrison Gray Otis house, on Cambridge Street in the West End, built in 1796. The older view, from about 1916, shows the one-time mansion when it served as a rooming house, with shops at street level. The new view, from 1991, shows it restored to its original appearance,
as headquarters of The Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities.

This Harrison Gray Otis house is only the first of three by that name, all built in a single decade for the same owner. The architect of this trio was Charles Bulfinch, who also
created the Massachusetts State House, Faneuil Hall, and Harvard's University Hall. Harrison Gray Otis was a wealthy real estate developer, as well as a congressman,
senator, and mayor of Boston. He loved to give parties and move into new mansions. John Quincy Adams wrote: "It has not fallen to my lot to meet a man more skilled in the useful art of entertaining his friends than Otis." Otis' other two houses still stand, on Beacon and Mount Vernon streets.

Bulfinch copied this first Otis house closely from a mansion he had .seen in Philadelphia - nothing unusual, in that era of pattern-book architecture. As we see it in the new photo, it's a classic example of the Federal style, which coincided with the early years of federal government in the United States. It exhibits most of the Federal trademarks in their purest form. The brick facade, so flat it seems not so much built as drawn on paper, is a simple rectangle, uncluttered by visible roof or corner trim. At the entrance is the shallowest possible porch, with a flat fanlight over the door. A Palladian window at the second floor, and an arched one at the third, mark the stair landings. Such ornament as exists is thin and delicate. This is elegant understatement, taken
to an extreme. It's the opposite of hearty architecture.

The 1916 incarnation is more lovable. By then the West End had long since become an entry point for immigrants. With roomers above and a laundry and shoe repair below,
the Otis house participated fully in the life of the street. The year of this photo is the year the house was purchased by The Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, which gradually restored the mansion to its original appearance, both inside and out. In 1926, when Cambridge Street was widened, the house was moved back 40 feet and joined with two other houses on the side street. Today the
ceremonial front rooms depict the life and times of Otis, the basement is a museum of architectural artifacts, and the upper and rear floors are offices for the society. To the right of the Otis house, in both photos, is Old West Church, another Federal classic, by Asher Benjamin. In 1916 it was a branch library, but it is now again a church. Chilly and withdrawn behind its granite wall and front lawn, the Otis house today offers little interest or pleasure to the passerby - proof that high-style architecture and good cityscape can be very different things.

-Robert Campbell and Peter Vanderwarker, "CITYSCAPES - Harrison Gray Otis House Federal Reserve", Boston Globe, 1991

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Location

45 Beacon Street
Boston , MA 02108
United States

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