Harrison Gray Otis House

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There are three houses named the Harrison Gray Otis House in Boston, Massachusetts. All were built by noted American architect Charles Bulfinch for the same man, Harrison Gray Otis.

[edit] 1st Harrison Gray Otis House)

The 1st Harrison Gray Otis House is located at 141 Cambridge Street, next to the Old West Church. This house is now owned by the Historic New England organization, and open as a nonprofit museum.

Although similar to the other two houses, it is the simplest and in that way perhaps the most appealing. The design is said to be inspired by a William Bingham house that Bulfinch saw in 1789 in Philadelphia, in turned derived from a London example. The house is three stories, in five bays, with elegant string courses. Today's graceful entrace was added after 1801. Above it is a fine Palladian window, and above that a lunette. The third floor is very short; ceilings are just over 6 feet tall. Floor plan is in the Colonial fashion, with two rooms on either side of the central hallway. The kitchen was in an ell.

[edit] 2nd Harrison Gray Otis House)

The 2rd Harrison Gray Otis House is located at 85 Mount Vernon Street. It is a fine, large, Federal-style mansion in densely developed Beacon Hill. Here Bulfinch has made the 1st floor, with his characteristic recessed brick arches, here ornamented with Chinese fretwork balconies in iron. The facade has four bays, with somewhat odd use of Corinthian pilasters on the 2nd and 3rd floors. There is a roof balustrade and a largish, octagonal cupola. Otis lived here until 1806.

[edit] 3rd Harrison Gray Otis House)

The 3rd Harrison Gray Otis House is located at 45 Beacon Street. It is now the home of the American Meteorological Society. This is the last and largest of the houses, also built in the Federal style, and the residence of Otis until his death in 1848. Its four stories are organized into five bays. The center entrance has a small, rectangular portico with delicate pairs of Ionic fluted columns. The modest ground floor, now faced in stone, originally had the recessed brick arches typical of Bulfinch houses. When built, the house was freestanding, surrounded by the Boston Common and English gardens.