I'm having an open house at 84 Seaverns Street this Sunday (Valentine's Day). This is a very special landmark property at the base of Sumner Hill. As I was writing the blog post about this very unique example of Second Empire architecture I got sidetracked onto the Remember JP blog. I wrote to the author, Mark Bulger to see what he knew about the property. This is what he wrote back:

"At the time that Mansard roofs were popular - around 1870 - there were no zoning laws, so the municipality would have had nothing to say about
it. There were restrictions on some deeds requiring that buildings be
set back a certain distance from the street, but I've never seen any
legal restrictions on building. Houses put up between 1851 and 1874
were in the short-lived town of West Roxbury, and little is known about
town regulations. The three houses were built by George H. Williams, a
major real estate speculator between 1850-74.

My mother spent the war years living on one of those three houses with her mother and younger brother, and then moved into another one
for the first 6-7 years of my parent's marriage. She remembered it as
hot as hell under the slate roof in the summer sun."

I love this stuff! Jamaica Plain is so chock full of history - I highly recommend you spend some time on the Jamaica Plain Historical Society website and Mark's blog, Remember JP.

Also, come to my website, www.TheBostonHomeTeam.com for more on this unique home, or visit the virtual tour at www.84Seaverns.com.