1886, Allen and Kenway. 348 Beacon St.
The C. C. Converse House represents an attempt to adapt the Romanesque idiom popularized by H. H. Richardson to a row house facade. Given that this is a style largely dependent upon the lively massing imparted by gables, turrets, and deeply recessed entrance porches, it is not surprising that it lends itself with no great success to this relatively narrow midblock elevation. By concealing the roof behind a perforated balustrade of Long-meadow stone, the architects renounced the picturesque roofline and horizontal emphasis that most effectively characterize the Romanesque. Despite this fundamentally maladapted quality, the detailing is competent, if essentially unimaginative, throughout.