Captains Row

The three surviving temple-front houses are all that remain of at least six identical structures that stood on raised lots overlooking the Chelsea River. Chelsea's first major period of development did not begin until the early 1830s, and these houses were built outside the village center in what was then a bucolic waterfront setting. Said to have been built for wealthy sea captains, these houses represent surviving elements of an unusual Greek Revival housing development. Although these modest houses are not large, this group displayed architectural pretension, each one facing the street with a two-story portico supported on four fluted Doric columns. Originally there were decorative cast-iron balconies at the second-floor level. The house at number 88 is the most intact. The industrialization of the Chelsea waterfront in the nineteenth century robbed these houses of their splendid view.