Tasteful friends: an 1895 Georgian Revival in Brookline, Mass. $2.5M
Who wouldn't want to live in the Pill Hill Historic District, where afternoons are marked by the sounds of ice hitting the sides of Old-Fashioned glasses as handfuls of psychiatric meds are downed?
The 2-1/2 story frame house features corner pilasters, dormers, Palladian windows, and extensive original millwork and details from 1895.
It has 3872 square feet (360m²). The ground floor has a vestibule and center stair hall (with secondary stairs and w/c behind), and a dining room, kitchen, and butler's pantry to one side, and to the other a very large living room/study. The upper floors contain five bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, the top floor rooms are under the eaves which always appeals to me.
I especially like the big living room with the colonnaded fireplace decorated with Delft tiles, and the quality of the original woodwork is very good. The paint scheme is a little dulled by all those pills and would show to better advantage in stronger colors. The principal bedroom suite is quite large and a little curious in plan, but pleasant. I wouldn't change anything aside from paint and maybe a few very small changes in the kitchen.
| by Anonymous | reply 10 | June 5, 2025 5:59 AM
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That is a beautiful house, and reasonably sized too. As you say the paint colours are a bit clinical and lifeless bar that one red bathroom. I'd go one further than paint, I'd do wallpapers, that would liven it up, period patterns and colours. They have been rather stingy with the rugs too which doesnt help, especially in a cold climate
Otherwise.... pretty much perfect
| by Anonymous | reply 2 | June 4, 2025 12:18 PM
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ceilings too low for that style. pass.
| by Anonymous | reply 3 | June 4, 2025 12:23 PM
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The ceilings have been lowered to accommodate forced air HVAC (and central air). They don't look that bad, overall. Does it have a shallow lot? The house on the next block looms up rather closely in one of the pics.
| by Anonymous | reply 4 | June 4, 2025 12:57 PM
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the last time I was in a large old Brookline house it had been divided into condos.
| by Anonymous | reply 5 | June 4, 2025 1:00 PM
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Something genuinely Tasteful for once! V8fairy is right though -- it cries out for color and pattern.
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | June 4, 2025 1:04 PM
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Also in Brookline, and built just a year later, a Tudor Revival exterior with some Georgian Revival interior details. Much larger at 6300 square feet with 7 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms, it's pricier at $4M, but in a more private setting bordered at the rear by a reservoir.
The interiors are a little sparer but still good - especially that stairway. But it requires looking past the seriously underwhelming colors and furnishings
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | June 4, 2025 5:21 PM
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the lowered ceilings ruin the rooms' proportions.
| by Anonymous | reply 9 | June 5, 2025 5:45 AM
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It's got lots of natural light and many beautiful features. Like Joey, I like blue. I suspect they didn't show the backyard because it's overlooked by the looming house behind this one.
| by Anonymous | reply 10 | June 5, 2025 5:59 AM
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