10 Charlesgate East or otherwise known as Barnes Mansion is located at the Northeast Corner of Marlborough-street and Charlesgate East. 10 Charlesgate East and 463 Marlborough Street were designed by Rotch and Tilden, architects and built in 1889 by Melville C Grant. The original owners to pull the permits at the time were Thurlow Weed Barnes and his wife Isabel Frances Morris Barnes on July 29th, 1889 for 10 Charlesgate East and later Sept 16th, 1889 for 459 Marlborough Street. Prior to them coming across The Barnes Mansion Isabel and Thurlow called the Hotel Vendome home along with 247 Marlborough. Isabel and her husband moved to 10 Charlesgate East in fall of 1891 and they later moved to New York City in 1892 which it was then acquired by the owner of 4 Charlesgate East which was designed by architect J Pickering Putnam and built by 1891 by Gibson and Knight builders as a seven-story apartment hotel.
The Charlesgate was owned by members of the Putnam Family. Horace Putnam was vice president of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad. The Charlesgate accepted both travelers and permanent guests, but the emphasis was on permanent guests, and unlike the Hotel Vendome and Hotel Somerset The Charlesgate did not have a ballroom or other large rooms for public events. The Charlesgate occupied the irregularly shaped lot of frontages of about 103 feet on the beacon and 105 feet on Charlesgate East. When 10 Charlesgate East was acquired it built additional floors to match the height of its original building. The Addition resulted in the Charlesgate western facade extending the entire length of Charlesgate East between Beacon and Marlborough. J Pickering Putnum died in Feb 1917 and Grace Putnam continued to live at the Charlesgate East. In 1923 Herbert Summers acquired The Charlesgate along with Mary G Potter. His wife and he continued to live there till Herbert died in 1937. Herbert family continued to live there till 1947
. In 1947 the Charlesgate Hotel was acquired by Boston University. Sept 1st, 1947 all residents at The Charlesgate were required to move among grace Putnam and Fanny Summers. July 1947 Boston University applied for permission to convert the property into a dormitory of 400 female students to be called Charlesgate Hall. It remain a Boston University Dorm till 1970 when it was purchased by Boston University by Anthony Wine and Shirley J Wine Trustees of the Charlesgate Realty Trust. The Property changed hands and even went into foreclosure and in November 1975 was acquired by Marcor Assoc and even though it was a dorm it was also used as a lodging house but Boston University was able to use it for housing. In 1981 Emerson College Purchased the property and used it as dorms. In September 1995 4 Charlesgate East LLP purchased Charlesgate hall from Emerson College. In April of 1996 4 Charlesgate, east LLC applied and got permission to convert the property from a dormitory into 102 apartments transferring property to Charlesgate Realty LLC. December 1996 Charlesgate Realty LLC filed for and received permission to subdivide the property creating one lot of 12,259 square feet at 4 Charlesgate east and the second lot of approximately 7,3339 at 10 Charlesgate east 10 Charlesgate East
as 24 apartments and 4 Charlesgate east went from having 57 units to 56 units. In January 1998 Charlesgate Realty LLC converted the two buildings into two separate condominiums The Charlesgate Condominium at 4 Charlesgate East and Barnes Mansion with 24 units.
In the Back Bay dates back to the late 1800’s and has lots of rich history and if you love history you really should check out 4 Charlesgate East and 10 Charlesgate East. Both exclusive addresses come on the market for sale or rent only once and awhile, but when they do they rarely disappoint. If you would like more information about either building for Sale or rent contact me
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