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Charles Sumner House

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1805. 20 Hancock St.
  • Charles Sumner House (NHL/NRD) (Keith Morgan)

Senator Charles Sumner, an abolitionist and champion of the rights of the freed slaves, lived here in an unfashionable section of Beacon Hill, not far from the Hill's black neighborhood. Ebenezer Farley erected this house, the adjoining structure at number 22, and a third that is no longer standing. Purchased by Sumner's father in 1830, the house served as the senator's home until 1867. As originally built the brick house had very minimal Federal treatment, consisting of a stone belt course and splayed lintels. Sumner likely added the Greek Revival Doric portico (continued on number 22). A nineteenth-century description provides documentation that in Sumner's time the brick was painted and there were blinds for the windows.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Keith N. Morgan
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Citation

Keith N. Morgan, "Charles Sumner House", [Boston, Massachusetts], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/MA-01-BH31.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Massachusetts

Buildings of Massachusetts: Metropolitan Boston, Keith N. Morgan, with Richard M. Candee, Naomi Miller, Roger G. Reed, and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2009, 114-114.

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