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Mount Vernon Proprietors
Mount Vernon Proprietors was a real estate development syndicate operating in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded at the end of the 18th century, it developed land on the south slope of Beacon Hill into a desirable residential neighborhood. History In 1795 a syndicate formed by Harrison Gray Otis sought to speculate on land development around the newly formed government buildings on Boston's Beacon Hill. The Mount Vernon Proprietors, as the group was named, included founders Otis, Jonathan Mason, Joseph Woodward and Charles Ward Apthorp. Membership in the Proprietors changed frequently but partners included Charles Bulfinch, Hepzibah Swan, Henry Jackson, Dr. Benjamin Joy, William Scollay.Allan Chamberlain. ''Beacon Hill: Its Ancient Pastures and Early Mansions''. 1925. As probably the first organized real estate syndicate in early Federal period America, the Proprietors' contribution to real estate development formulated the model by which much of America was built. The Proprietor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beacon Hill, Boston, Massachusetts
Beacon Hill is a historic Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, and the hill upon which the Massachusetts State House resides. The term "Beacon Hill" is used locally as a metonym to refer to the state government or the legislature itself, much like Washington, D.C., Washington, D.C.'s "Capitol Hill" does at the federal level. Federal architecture, Federal-style rowhouses, narrow gas lighting, gaslit streets and brick sidewalks adorn the neighborhood, which is generally regarded as one of the more desirable and expensive in Boston. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood is 9,023. Etymology Like many similarly named areas, the neighborhood is named for the location of a former beacon atop the highest point in central Boston. The beacon was used to warn the residents of an invasion. Geography Beacon Hill is bounded by Storrow Drive, and Cambridge, Bowdoin Street, Bowdoin, Park Street, Boston, Park and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harrison Gray Otis (lawyer)
Harrison Gray Otis (October 8, 1765October 28, 1848), was a businessman, lawyer, and politician, becoming one of the most important leaders of the United States' first political party, the Federalists. He was a member of the Otis family. One of the wealthiest men of Boston, Otis was reportedly worth at least US$800,000 in 1846, . Early life Otis was born in Boston, Massachusetts on October 8, 1765 to Elizabeth (née Gray) and Samuel Allyne Otis. His uncle was American colonial leader and activist James Otis, and his father was active in early American politics as a member of Massachusetts state house of representatives, delegate to Massachusetts state constitutional convention, and Continental Congress delegate from Massachusetts. His aunt was Mercy Otis Warren, a well-known poet. Otis himself graduated from Boston Latin School in 1773 and Harvard University in 1783, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1786 when he commenced practice in Boston. Career In 1794 he w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jonathan Mason (politician)
Jonathan Mason (September 12, 1756November 1, 1831) was a Federalist United States Senator and Representative from Massachusetts during the early years of the United States. Mason was born in Boston in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. He attended Boston Latin School the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), graduating in 1774. After studying law, he was admitted to the bar in 1779. On April 13, 1779, Mason married Susannah Powell (1761–1836). They had seven children—five daughters and two sons: *Miriam Clarke (1790–1870); married David Sears. *Susan Powell (d.1841); married John Collins Warren on November 17, 1803. *Anna Powell (d.1861); married Patrick Grant. *Mary Bromfield; *Elizabeth (1784–1826); married Samuel Dunn Parker on December 12, 1807 in Boston, MA. *Jonathan (1795–1884); married Isabella Cowpland Weyman. *William Powell (1791–1867); married Hannah Rogers and had Elizabeth Rogers Mason Cabot. In 1780, Mason delivered the annual address ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Bulfinch
Charles Bulfinch (August 8, 1763 – April 15, 1844) was an early American architect, and has been regarded by many as the first American-born professional architect to practice.Baltzell, Edward Digby. ''Puritan Boston & Quaker Philadelphia''. Transaction Publishers (1996), p. 322-24. . Life Bulfinch split his career between his native Boston, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C., where he served as Commissioner of Public Building and built the intermediate United States Capitol rotunda and dome. His works are notable for their simplicity, balance, and good taste, and as the origin of a distinctive Federal style of classical domes, columns, and ornament that dominated early 19th-century American architecture. Early life Bulfinch was born in Boston to Thomas Bulfinch, a prominent physician, and his wife, Susan Apthorp, daughter of Charles Apthorp. At the age of 12, he watched the Battle of Bunker Hill from this home on the Boston side of the Charles River. He was educated at Bo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hepzibah Swan
Hepzibah Swan née Clarke (died August 14, 1825) was an American socialite of Boston, Massachusetts. She was a wealthy and well connected heiress who was among the most cosmopolitan, intelligent, and erudite of ladies in Federal Boston. Madame Swan was said to be charismatic, not least because of her wealth but also in good measure because of her effusive personal charm. Lifelong friends included revolutionary war heroes Henry Knox, Henry Jackson, Charles Bulfinch, Sarah Wentworth Apthorp Morton, and Harrison Otis. Life In 1776 she married Scotland-born James Swan, and in the course of the marriage had four children: Hepzibah, Christiana, Sarah and James. With her close friend Sarah Wentworth Aprthorp Morton, they founded the Sans Souci Club in Boston, which revelled without regret. Her estranged husband, James Swan, who lived out his adult life in splendour in a Paris debtors' prison, also sat for his portrait that was painted by Gilbert Stuart. She was to commission a p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Jackson (Continental Army General)
Henry Jackson (bapt. October 19, 1747January 4, 1809) was a Continental Army officer from Boston, Massachusetts during the American Revolutionary War. For most of the war he was colonel of Jackson's Additional Continental Regiment, which was redesignated the 16th Massachusetts in 1780. He commanded the last regiment of the Continental Army, the 1st American, which was disbanded in 1784. Jackson was a lifelong friend of Henry Knox, another Continental Army officer, whose business affairs he was also heavily involved in. Life Jackson was the youngest son of Joseph and Susannah (Gray) Jackson. Before the American Revolutionary War, he was an officer of the First Corps of Cadets in Boston, which was disbanded during the British occupation. After the evacuation, six former cadet officers organized a company of seventy-eight officers and men called the Boston Independent Company on 17 March 1776, with Jackson as their commander. In January 1777, the unit was taken into Continental ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Scollay
Colonel William Scollay (1756–1809) was an American developer and militia officer from Boston during the American Revolution who gave his name to the infamous Scollay Square. He was the only surviving son of John Scollay, a strong supporter of colonial rights and a member of Boston's Board of Selectmen in 1764. William was extremely active in the community and was named a Colonel in the Boston Regiment. The Scollays originally came from the Orkney Islands. Scollay gave his name to the area through his ventures in real estate. In 1795 William Scollay purchased a two-story house on Court Street, locally known as Scollay's Building. The name arose as the stage line's last stop was at the Scollay Building and the conductors would yell "Last stop, Scollay's Building! Everybody off." Eventually the name changed to Scollay's Square and was officially recognised by Boston in 1838. The Scollays ended their association with the square in 1868 when they sold Scollay's Building. Three ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Real Estate
Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more generally) buildings or housing in general."Real estate": Oxford English Dictionary online: Retrieved September 18, 2011 In terms of law, ''real'' is in relation to land property and is different from personal property while ''estate'' means the "interest" a person has in that land property. Real estate is different from personal property, which is not permanently attached to the land, such as vehicles, boats, jewelry, furniture, tools and the rolling stock of a farm. In the United States, the transfer, owning, or acquisition of real estate can be through business corporations, individuals, nonprofit corporations, fiduciaries, or any legal entity as seen within the law of each U.S. state. History of real estate The natural right of a person t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Singleton Copley
John Singleton Copley (July 3, 1738 – September 9, 1815) was an Anglo-American painter, active in both colonial America and England. He was probably born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Richard and Mary Singleton Copley, both Anglo-Irish. After becoming well-established as a portrait painter of the wealthy in colonial New England, he moved to London in 1774, never returning to America. In London, he met considerable success as a portraitist for the next two decades, and also painted a number of large history paintings, which were innovative in their readiness to depict modern subjects and modern dress. His later years were less successful, and he died heavily in debt. Biography Early life Copley's mother owned a tobacco shop on Long Wharf. The parents, who, according to the artist's granddaughter Martha Babcock Amory, had come to Boston in 1736, were "engaged in trade, like almost all the inhabitants of the North American colonies at that time". His father was from Lim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beacon Street
Beacon Street is a major thoroughfare in Boston, Massachusetts and its western suburbs Brookline and Newton. It passes through many of Boston's central and western neighborhoods, including Beacon Hill, Back Bay, Fenway–Kenmore, the Boston University campus, Brighton, and Chestnut Hill. It is not to be confused with the Beacon Street in nearby Somerville or others elsewhere. Description Beacon Street begins as a one-way street from the intersection of Tremont Street and School Street. From this point, it rises up Beacon Hill for a block where it meets Park Street in front of the Massachusetts State House. From that intersection it descends Beacon Hill as a two-lane, bi-directional street until it reaches Charles Street. At Charles Street, it becomes a one-way avenue that runs through the Back Bay neighborhood until it reaches Kenmore Square. From Kenmore Square, Beacon Street skirts the area around Fenway Park and follows a southwesterly slant through Brookline along ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louisburg Square
Louisburg Square is a street in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, bisected by a small private park. The park is maintained by the Louisburg Square Proprietors. While the Proprietors pay taxes to the City of Boston, the city does not own the park or its garden. Louisburg Square was named for the 1745 Battle of Louisbourg, in which Massachusetts militiamen led by William Pepperrell, who was made the first American baronet for his role, sacked the French Fortress of Louisbourg. Louisburg Square has become one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in the United States, with townhouses listing for over $15,000,000. Description The parl itself is a small grassy oval surrounded by a wrought-iron fence; there is no public access. There is a statue of Christopher Columbus at the north end and of Aristides the Just at the south end. History and residents The Greek Revival houses around the square reflect the rarefied privilege enjoyed by the 19th century upper class ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
