Family Homes

348 Beacon Street, Boston

348 Beacon St. was designed by Allen and Kenway, architects, and built in 1886-1887 by Norcross Brothers, builders, as the Boston home of Elisha Slade Converse and his wife, Mary Diana (Edmands) Converse, and their son-in-law and daughter, Costello Coolidge Converse and Mary Ida (Converse) Converse. Costello and Mary Converse were first cousins (he was the son of Elisha Slade Converse’s brother, James Wheaton Converse). Both families lived in Malden. Elisha and Mary Diana Converse also previously had maintained a Boston residence at the Hotel Vendôme and, before that, at 1 Gloucester.

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347 Beacon Street, Boston

347 Beacon was designed by architect John H. Besarick and built in 1884-1885 by J. H. Kelley, mason, and Samuel M. Chesley, carpenter, as the home of James Wheaton Converse and his wife, Emeline (Coolidge) Converse. James Converse is shown as the owner on the original building permit application, dated August 4, 1884.

On May 19, 1885, as 347 Beacon was nearing completion the Boston Evening Transcript reported that “on Beacon street, at the corner of Fairfield, is a new house which commands attention even in this section containing so many handsome residences. It is being built by Mr. J. H. Besarick for Mr. J. W. Converse. It is in the Romanesque style of architecture, is four stories in height, and is built of brick, with richly-carved freestone trimmings, the first story of the two bays at the front being entirely of freestone. At the left of the entrance hall is a large reception room; at the right of the hall are the drawing room, library and dining-room. The walls and ceilings of the large square hall in the centre of the house are all finished in wood, mahogany being used for the first floor and cherry for the upper stories.”

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Belmont Hill, Malden