Harding, Chester, House - Boston, Massachussetts
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N 42° 21.476 W 071° 03.760
19T E 330132 N 4691578
The four-story Chester Harding town house was built in the Federal architectural style as a private home by real estate developer Thomas Fletcher in 1808. In 1826, portrait painter Chester Harding bought the house, which he occupied until 1830.
Waymark Code: WMJP86
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 12/12/2013
Views: 8
"The Chester Harding House is an historic building located at 16 Beacon Street in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, across from the Massachusetts State House in Beacon Hill.
The four-story town house was built in the Federal architectural style as a private home by real estate developer Thomas Fletcher in 1808, at a time when Park Street and Beacon Street were lined by run-down public buildings. State officials decided to build replacements in other parts of the city, financing the construction of the new public buildings from the sale of the Park Street lots.
In 1826, the famous American portrait painter Chester Harding bought the house, which he occupied until 1830.
According to the Lawyers Pictorial Register, published by the Boston Bar Association in 1981, in the middle of the 19th century, the building was bought by Dr. Henry C. Angell, an art collector. As the neighborhood began to change from residential to commercial, many old houses were torn down and replaced by larger buildings which dwarfed the Chester Harding House. One such building is the 1884 six-floor Claflin Building. In 1919, the house was given by Martha B. Angell to the American Unitarian Association, which housed offices there until 1933. The American Unitarian Association loaned the house to Universalist Church of America until 1961, when the two merged. In January, 1962, the Boston Bar Association bought the house and moved its headquarters there from 35 Court Street. The Chester Harding House remains home to the Boston Bar Association."
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